The territory of modern Zaqatala was once a province of Caucasian Albania. After that, the region was a separate kingdom within Georgian cultural and political influence. During the medieval era what later became known as Saingilo was mostly controlled by the kingdom of Georgia and Shirvan. In the
Middle Ages seven Georgian schools operated in Saingilo which included the courses of theology, philosophy, orthography, church history, and the history of Georgia and for the students. These schools played an essential cultural and educational role. They put a vital contribution in establishing cultural relations among the peoples of the Caucasus. Zaqatala has several sites of historic significance, most of which are centred on its 19th-century town centre. The main square, formerly called Lenin Square, features a pair of 700-year-old
plane trees. The city's most prominent feature is a ruined fortress (), built in the 1830s by occupying
Russian forces during the
Caucasian War to defend the city from rebels (See
Djaro-Belokani league). In the 1850s, the town was the site of battles between Russians and Dagestani leader
Imam Shamil. It was center of
Zakatal Okrug ("district") of the
Tiflis Governorate between 1893 and 1905. It was part of the
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic briefly in 1918 before passing to the
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and later the
Azerbaijan SSR. In the 20th century the town and its fortress became more famous when the fortress was used as one of the prisons for the mutinous crew of the
battleship Potëmkin, whose actions in the failed
1905 Revolution were a precursor to the eventual 1917 revolution. At the end of the 1980s, however, the fortress was in a neglected and extremely dilapidated state and its area was used for cattle
pasture in the summer. Currently, the fortress still houses a
military garrison as well as several
Soviet-style apartment buildings. Near the northern part of the ramparts and off of the main square is a beautiful, but abandoned, church. The town now sports a sizable new
mosque. == Overview ==