A valley of living memory.
Explore the villages, Georgian speech, songs and everyday heritage of Imerkhevi—a growing archive of places, people and shared memories.
Historical Imerkhevian house · published in Marr’s travel diary (1911). Photographer and capture date unverified. Image credits.
PLACE · LANGUAGE · MEMORY
Stories rooted in the mountains.
Imerkhevi is a Georgian-speaking valley in Şavşat, Artvin. Explore its villages, local words, songs and everyday heritage through this growing community archive.
Villages
Follow the valley through its places and names.
Language
Discover Georgian speech, words and local voices.
Songs
Listen to music and the stories it carries.
Family names
Trace documented names and village connections.
Places with more than one name.
Follow village histories through Georgian names, present-day Turkish names and the voices of their communities.
FAMILY NAMES & CONNECTIONS
Find your family connections
Enter a Turkish surname or Georgian family name to explore the collection.
Imerkhevian Georgian
Explore the local Georgian variety of Imerkhevi, also discussed in the context of Shavshian Georgian. Local words, audio recordings and fieldwork videos will bring its voices into the archive.
Songs of the valley
Discover regional songs and songs sung in Imerkhevi. Recordings, lyrics and translations will be gathered here as the collection grows.
Looking back. Looking closer.
A living archive. An ongoing conversation.
Documenting Imerkhevi through language, places, songs and shared memories.
Created by Ömer Faruk Bülbül · Sources & image credits