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Gérard Castello-Lopes: Plantação dos jardins da Torre de Belém, Lisboa, Portugal, 1956

Bica, Lisboa, Portugal, 03-06-23

Vardzia, a Medieval Cave City in Georgia (South Caucasus), built in 1150-1200 CE: Vardzia was designed to be used as a fortress/monastery; it was accessible only through hidden passageways, and it contained more than 6,000 caves, 15 chapels, 25 wine cellars, an apothecary, a forge, a bakery, farming terraces, and an irrigation system

The monastic caves at Vardzia cover an area of about 500 meters. They are carved into the cliffs along the Erusheti mountains, which are located in Javakheti (a southern province near the borders between Georgia, Turkey, and Armenia).

Vardzia was originally meant to serve as a fortress, particularly in the event of a Mongol Invasion. It was protected by defensive walls, and the cave system itself was largely concealed within the mountain (though much of it is now exposed); it also contained a secret escape tunnel and several dead-end tunnels that were designed to delay/confuse enemy forces. The cave city could only be accessed through a series of hidden passageways that began near the banks of the Mtkvari River (which runs through the valley below the cave complex). Water was supplied through an irrigation system that was connected to the river, providing the inhabitants with both drinking water and agricultural irrigation, as the site contained its own terraced farmland.

The cave complex also functioned as a monastery, with a large collection of manuscripts and relics ultimately being housed at the site.

In its prime, the complex at Vardzia was inhabited by tens of thousands of residents.

Unfortunately, most of the original structures at Vardzia were destroyed by an earthquake that struck the region in 1283 CE, just a century after its construction; the earthquake sheared away the outer layer of the cliffside, exposed many of the caves, and demolished almost two-thirds of the site. The surviving structures represent only a fraction of the cave complex that once existed at Vardzia, with only about 500 caves still intact.

When the earthquake tore through the site in 1283, much of the fortress and many of its defenses were also destroyed, and Vardzia lost most of its military/defensive purposes. Still, it continued to operate as a Georgian Orthodox monastery for several hundred years after that. It narrowly escaped the Mongol Invasions of the 1290s, but it was raided by the Persians during the 16th century; the invading forces burned many of the manuscripts, relics, and other items that were stored within the cave system, leaving permanent scorch marks along the walls of the inner chambers. The site was abandoned shortly thereafter.

Medieval portrait of Queen/King Tamar: this portrait is one of the Medieval frescoes that still decorate the inner chambers of Vardzia; Tamar was the first queen regnant to rule over Georgia, meaning that she possessed the same power/authority as a king and, as a result, some Medieval sources even refer to her as "King Tamar"

Vardzia is often associated with the reign of Queen Tamar the Great, who ruled over the Kingdom of Georgia from 1184 to 1213 CE, during a particularly successful period that is often known as the "Golden Age" of Georgian history. Queen Tamar was also recognized as the Georgian King, with Medieval sources often referring to her as King Tamar. She possessed the powers of a sovereign leader/queen regnant, and was the first female monarch to be given that title in Georgia.

The initial phases of construction at Vardzia began under the command of King George III, but most of the complex was later built at the behest of his daughter, Queen Tamar, who owned several dedicated rooms at Vardzia and frequently visited the cave city. Due to her relationship with the cave complex at Vardzia, Queen Tamar is sometimes also referred to as the "Mountain Queen."

Despite the damage that the site has sustained throughout its history, many of the caves, tunnels, frescoes, and other structures have survived. The site currently functions as a monastery once more, with Georgian monks living in various chambers throughout the cave system.

I visited Vardzia back in 2011, during my first trip to Georgia. It's an incredible site, though some of the tunnels are very narrow, very dark, and very steep, which can get a bit claustrophobic.

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New Howl piece! :D Very proud of it ^^ Took me quite a while to draw all those little houses, haha! XD

Tallon Overworld.

Did someone say SEASON 2???! ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

THE LEGEND OF KORRA 4x13 ➢ The Last Stand

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER / THE LEGEND OF KORRA ↳ 3x06: "The Avatar and the Firelord" / 4x02: "Korra Alone"

Breaking from SDCC: The first Avatar Studios movie coming to theaters in 2024 will follow Aang! And, exclusive from Avatar News: it will be set in a time period where Team Avatar are young adults!

At today’s Braving the Elements panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Janet Varney (the original voice of Korra) announced that Avatar Studios’ first animated movie coming to theaters will be about Aang and his friends!

Avatar News previously revealed Avatar Studios’ slate of movies with a different project, Kyoshi, coming first. As I mentioned in that post, the order/dates of the projects could change, since it’s super early. I’ve even heard that some of their projects have shifted between being movies and shows, so it’s obviously still all very fluid. (Update: We now have a full understanding of how this change happened, which can be read here. A Kyoshi movie was definitely in development at the time, but has been delayed.)

I have an additional exclusive to add though: Team Avatar will be adults/young adults in this movie. I know a more specific age range, but I’m not allowed to reveal that yet.

If you follow Avatar News on social media, you’ll know I had plans to reveal live-action news on Thursday and Friday and animation news on Saturday and Sunday of SDCC. My post tomorrow was going to be that they’ll be adults in the Zuko movie (here’s proof), so that has obviously been bamboozled. I’m not sure if the Aang movie is the “Zuko-focused” movie, but I can tell you that the/a “Zuko movie” was definitely scheduled to be the second one at one point, and it makes total sense they would do Aang era first instead!

As for Kyoshi, I don’t know what’s happening with her place in animation. An earlier version of the schedule I saw had Aang in 2024 and Korra in 2025, so it’s possible that was always the case, or they switched the schedule or switched back, or… who knows! As I mentioned, some projects have shifted between movie and show, so it’s possible her movie became a show, or it will take the 2025 or 2026 slots, all of which could still change, obviously.

I guess my last note should be that theoretically the adult Gaang project could be a different project than the 2024 Aang movie, but I highly doubt it. But, I’ll say that’s possible here for posterity.

Get hype! And thank you to Avatar Studios for the official update!

Jill poster

Sword eating pests

“So you remember that tragic part of your backstory?”

ALUCARD in CASTLEVANIA: NOCTURNE (2023)

Concert AP Edition prints by Ken Taylor.

On sale Wednesday May 25 at 2pm CT through Posters And Toys.