Vale, Georgia

Vale (Georgian: ვალე) is a town in southwestern Georgia, 12 km from the city of Akhaltsikhe, Samtskhe-Javakheti region, at the border with Turkey. Its population is 5,031 (2002 Georgia census).

The town is situated on the right bank of the Potskhovi River (a tributary to the Mtkvari (Kura)), on the slopes of the Lesser Caucasus at 1,000-1,200 m above sea level.

Vale is first recorded as a village in the 10th-century. It emerged as a center of lignite industry in the Soviet era and acquired the town’s status in 1962.

Vale houses a medieval Georgian church originally built in the 10th century, but reconstructed as a three nave basilica in the 16th century. The town is a home to a sizable Armeno-Georgian Catholic community.