Landslide Hazard Assessment, Monitoring and Conservation of Vardzia Monastery Complex

The rock-cut city of Vardzia is a cave monastery site in south-western Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some eight hundred meters and up to fifty meters within the rocky wall. The monastery consists of more than six hundred hidden rooms spread over thirteen floors, which made possible to protect the monastery from the Mongol domination. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. The site is by the time affected by frequent slope instability processes along the entire volcanic tuff façade of the slope. Due to this phenomena the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia (NACHPG) has promoted, with the support of ISPRA, a landslide hazard assessment for the entire area through rock mechanics characterization, geotechnical engineering survey, geostructural and kinematic analysis, slope stability model, 3D laser scanner acquisitions and elaborations, and a real time monitoring system (GB_Radar interferometry) for the identification of deformation path of the most hazardous areas. A field analysis was conducted to reconstruct geometry of the rocky cliff, characteristics of discontinuities, main failure modes and volume of potential unstable blocks and geomechanical parameters

Landslide hazard assessment, monitoring and conservation of Vardzia monastery complex

The rock-cut city of Vardzia is a cave monastery site in south-western Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some eight hundred meters and up to fifty meters within the rocky wall. The monastery consists of more than six hundred hidden rooms spread over thirteen floors, which made possible to protect the monastery from the Mongol domination. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. The site is by the time affected by frequent slope instability processes along the entire volcanic tuff façade of the slope. Due to this phenomena the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia (NACHPG) has promoted, with the support of ISPRA, a landslide hazard assessment for the entire area through rock mechanics characterization, geotechnical engineering survey, geostructural and kinematic analysis, slope stability model, 3D laser scanner acquisitions and elaborations, and a real time monitoring system (GB_Radar interferometry) for the identification of deformation path of the most hazardous areas. A field analysis was conducted to reconstruct geometry of the rocky cliff, characteristics of discontinuities, main failure modes and volume of potential unstable blocks and geomechanical parameters

Landslide hazard assessment, monitoring and conservation of Vardzia monastery complex

The rock-cut city of Vardzia is a cave monastery site in south-western Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some eight hundred meters and up to fifty meters within the rocky wall. The monastery consists of more than six hundred hidden rooms spread over thirteen floors, which made possible to protect the monastery from the Mongol domination. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. The site is by the time affected by frequent slope instability processes along the entire volcanic tuff façade of the slope. Due to this phenomena the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia (NACHPG) has promoted, with the support of ISPRA, a landslide hazard assessment for the entire area through rock mechanics characterization, geotechnical engineering survey, geostructural and kinematic analysis, slope stability model, 3D laser scanner acquisitions and elaborations, and a real time monitoring system (GB_Radar interferometry) for the identification of deformation path of the most hazardous areas. A field analysis was conducted to reconstruct geometry of the rocky cliff, characteristics of discontinuities, main failure modes and volume of potential unstable blocks and geomechanical parameters

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Landslide hazard, monitoring and conservation strategy for the safeguard of Vardzia Byzantine monastery complex, Georgia

This paper reports preliminary results of a feasibility project developed in cooperation with National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, and aimed at envisaging the stability conditions of the Vardzia monastery slope (rupestrian city cave in the south-western Georgia). The aim is the implementation of a low-impact monitoring system together with long-term mitigation/conservation policies. A field analysis was conducted to reconstruct geometry of the rocky cliff, characteristics of discontinuities, main failure modes, and volume of potential unstable blocks and geomechanical parameters. Instability processes are the combination of causative factors such as the following: lithology, frequency and orientation of discontinuities, slope orientation, physical and mechanical characteristics of slope-forming materials, and morphological and hydrological boundary conditions. The combined adoption of different survey techniques (e.g., 3D laser scanner, ground-based radar interferometry) could be the best solution in the interdisciplinary field of cultural heritage preservation policies. The collected data will be the basis for future activities to be completed in collaboration with local authorities for a complete hazard and risk characterization for the monastery site and the development of an early warning system to allow safe exploitation for touristic activities and for historical site preservatio

Landslide hazard, monitoring and conservation strategy for the safeguard of Vardzia Byzantine monastery complex, Georgia

This paper reports preliminary results of a feasibility project developed in cooperation with National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, and aimed at envisaging the stability conditions of the Vardzia monastery slope (rupestrian city cave in the south-western Georgia). The aim is the implementation of a low-impact monitoring system together with long-term mitigation/conservation policies. A field analysis was conducted to reconstruct geometry of the rocky cliff, characteristics of discontinuities, main failure modes, and volume of potential unstable blocks and geomechanical parameters. Instability processes are the combination of causative factors such as the following: lithology, frequency and orientation of discontinuities, slope orientation, physical and mechanical characteristics of slope-forming materials, and morphological and hydrological boundary conditions. The combined adoption of different survey techniques (e.g., 3D laser scanner, ground-based radar interferometry) could be the best solution in the interdisciplinary field of cultural heritage preservation policies. The collected data will be the basis for future activities to be completed in collaboration with local authorities for a complete hazard and risk characterization for the monastery site and the development of an early warning system to allow safe exploitation for touristic activities and for historical site preservation