towers and walls. The walls and towers of the fortress are built of bluish basalt and lime mortar. The Kyurikids gradually lost their influence under the Seljuk grasp by the end of the 12th century. The monastic life was revived in Akhtala when the Zakarians heading the combined Georgian and Armenian forces liberated most of Armenia. The 13th-century historians Kirakos Gandzaketsi and Vardan Areveltsi called the area Pghndzahank (copper mine), because of rich copper deposits in the surroundings. Gandzaketsi writes the following: "Ivane, Zakare's brother, also died [that year] and was buried at Pghndzahank' near the church which he himself had built, taking it from the Armenians and making it into a Georgian monastery." Pghndzahank became the property of Ivane Zakarian in the 1180s. While Ivane's brother Zakare was Armenian Apostolic, Ivane had accepted Georgian Orthodoxy in the Georgian court. Several monasteries in northern Armenia were converted by the Zakarians-Mkhargrdzeli to Georgian Orthodoxy, a prominent example is the monastery of Kobayr. By doing so Ivane enhanced his position within the Georgian court and gained influence among the Chalcedonian Armenians who mostly inhabited Northern and North-Western Armenia. The Zakarians began to lose control starting in the 1220s during the disastrous Mongol invasions of Georgia. The son of Ivane, Avag was forced to recognize his subordination to the Mongol leader Chormaqan. The Mongol rule continued until 1340 when it was interrupted by successive conquests of Turkic tribes. The Turkic tribe of Kara Koyunlu began attacking the Caucasus and took control of most of Armenia proper by 1400. Their rule was interrupted by the conquests of Tamerlane. One of the cliffs that surrounds Akhtala is known as Lenktemur, named after Tamerlane who according to local tradition buried one of his wives under the cliff. Since the late 18th century the monastery serviced ethnic Greeks who had settled in Akhtala in order to work in the gold and silver mines. Roughly 800 Greek families were moved from Gümüşhane in the Ottoman Empire to Akhtala in 1763 by the Georgian King Erekle II. The Greeks called the monastery "Meramani". The Greek miners have left inscriptions on the monastery walls. In the 19th century Akhtala was taken over by the Armenian princely family of Melikovs. Currently the monastery has its pilgrimage days on September 20–21. Armenians, Greeks and Georgians visit the monastery on this occasion. The Ambassador of Greece, Panayota Mavromichali visited the monastery on September