Why go
Shenako clings to the southern slope of the Pirikiti Alazani valley at 2,080 meters, one of the few Tushetian villages never fully abandoned during Soviet-era deportations. Its 19th-century St. George church—built entirely of carved wood without a single nail—rises with a steep shingle roof against the Caucasus peaks, the last functioning example of Tusheti's wooden church tradition. The village preserves the highest concentration of traditional slate-roofed towers and houses in Tusheti, where families still spend summers with flocks in the high pastures. Shenako rewards those who seek living heritage: no reconstructed museum, but a community where polyphonic singing still echoes at festivals and the architecture has evolved organically across centuries of isolation.