Tbilisi today is one of the brightest and most colorful cities in the entire post-Soviet space. But where did it all begin? The history of Tbilisi consists entirely of events that took place on its territory for 15 centuries. Each street of Tbilisi keeps a memory of these events, unlike many cities where their rich history is not reflected. So let's learn more about the colorful capital of Georgia!
To the bottom
The history of Tbilisi and Georgia as a whole is inextricably linked with the Kart peoples who settled on the Borjomi and Gombor plains. But the capital of Georgia, unlike the rest of the country, began to exist in the era of antiquity. In the districts of Didube and Digomi, numerous ancient settlements were found. There is a hypothesis about the presence of life on the Metekhi rock. Tbilisi, until its foundation, was not a flat gorge - the Sololaki Range extends to the eastern part of the country and meets the Kuru River, on which the Nurikala Fortress is located. In the north is the Caucasian ridge, Mount Mahata rests on a cliff river called Metekhi. Between it and the Sololaksky ridge there is a gorge through which the Kura River breaks free. This gorge offers a wonderful view of the inner part of the country, enlarged by the canyon of the Tsavkisistskali river. In order to overcome the gorge, you need to make a loop, go around the canyon, walk to the Botanical Garden and go around the mountain where the Narikala fortress is located. This fortress is inextricably linked with the history of Tbilisi, which is why the ancient city began to be laid here. But why did this settlement, so necessary for people and the country, come so late?
The base of the capital
How old is Tbilisi? According to some reports, the history of the city began in 458, when Vakhtang Gorgasal ruled in Georgia. In addition to the future capital of Georgia, Vakhtang founded other cities in Kakheti. Unfortunately, the story has not retained the details. Nothing other than the fact that the ruler founded the city is not known. There is only a beautiful legend about the founding of Tbilisi: Tsar Vakhtang hunted for local game, and sulfuric springs caught his eye. The well-known twentieth-century novel "Ali and Nino" by Kurban Said was even written about this.
The history of Tbilisi has preserved this legend in its streets. Near the sulfur baths you can see a statue of a falcon with a pheasant in its claws. The coat of arms of Tbilisi is also decorated with a drawing of a pheasant. In the Georgian cafe "Maidani" you can order a dish called "Pheasant Gorgosali". In the last century, a statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasal was established on the Metkh rock, making the decision to found the city. Cafe "Gorgasali" near the sulfur baths recalls these important historical events. But, despite the beautiful legends, it is difficult to say exactly how old Tbilisi is. Also, historians do not know what Tsar Vakhtang expected from the city he organized. Probably, Tbilisi was originally conceived as a fortress near the Mtskheta River, but it could also serve as a fortification at sulfur springs. The first buildings of the new city were built on a cape between the Kura and Tsavkisistskali rivers. Now the temple of the Forty Sebastian Martyrs rises here, and on the site of the canyon Tsavkisistskali planted Aliyev Square. In 2012, archaeologists managed to find the remains that were identified as the ruins of the palace of King Vakhtang.
Name history
Why was the city called Tbilisi? Georgian connoisseurs can easily see the word ααααα (Tbili), which translates as "warm". But this sound is later, earlier it was pronounced as α’α€ααα (tpili), and the name of the city was Tpilisi. That was the name of the city back in the 19th century.
But this name could not be pronounced by the Greeks, who did not have a combination of the letters T and P, and they replaced the letter P with the letter I, which gave the name "Tiflis". From Greece, it migrated to Arabia, where it was pronounced "Tiflis." To this day, it remains in Turkish. Interestingly, the word βwarmβ could be replaced by the word βhotβ (tskheli), and the capital of Georgia would be called Tskhelisi.
Middle Ages
King Vakhtang passed away in 502, and his kingdom ceased to exist even earlier. At this time, Persians occupied Georgia. Vakhtang handed over the reins to his son Dachi, who grew up in the fortress of Ujarma. He is famous for finally making Tbilisi the capital of sunny Georgia, although no one remembers the reasons. It is said that the young king avoided Mtskheta due to the abundance of Persian spies. Tsar Dachi was also remembered for having founded the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Anchiskhati) Church in Tbilisi, which has been preserved in our time and is the oldest building in Georgia. And although all the buildings of the temple have not completely reached our days, some vaults and columns that remember the era of Tsar Dacha, on which time did not have time to work, have survived to the present day. They are places of pilgrimage for thousands of tourists.
After the Summer Residence, Georgia was ruled by Bakur II, Farsman V, Farsman VI and Bakur III, but the latter had to live in the Ujarma fortress, since the Persians already ruled in Tbilisi. In 580, King Bakur passed away, and the Persians abolished royal power. It was at this time that Assyrian warriors came to neighboring Iberia and settled near the Mtskheta river. Then they began to disperse throughout the country, and David, the future David of Gareja, settled in the mountain cave of Mtatsminda near Tbilisi. About once a week he went down the grocery along the path where Besiki Street is now, to the place where the modern Marriott Hotel is now located. By that time, many people from Persia had already lived in Tbilisi. Due to the interethnic conflict, a trial took place over David, on the site of which the Kashveti temple was later built. In recent years, the king spent in Gareji, but his cave and spring, located near it, remained a place of pilgrimage for many tourists. The trail itself also became a historical monument.
Tamara
In Georgia, Queen Tamara is on a par with St. Nino. The Georgian people have the brightest feelings for both of them. Despite the inexorable passage of time, this popular love has not abated. Her extraordinary lightness and attractiveness did not become an obstacle to wise and strong government decisions. Contrary to prejudice, she managed to become one of the wisest and most merciful rulers of Georgia.
Over the thirty years of her reign, Tamara significantly improved the lives of her subjects and raised Georgia to a new level:
- she managed to continue the aggressive campaigns of her predecessors, to conquer Erzurum and Temriz;
- overthrew the Ardebil Sultan;
- won the Battle of Shamkor, defeating the Aleppo Sultan Nukardin;
- thanks to her, Georgian poetry and prose began an incredible development;
- propagandized the development of citizenship and Christianity among the peoples of the mountainous Caucasus.
Thanks to tribute and trophies, the Georgian state is becoming one of the most influential countries in the Middle Ages. Tamara used the funds she managed to build temples, castles, and fortresses, including the Vardzia Palace (cave monastery) in Javakheti. The queen knew that the progress of the state is impossible without the education of her subjects, which is why the school curriculum was expanded and improved. Children studied theology, arithmetic, astrology, foreign languages ββand many other subjects that were not known in other countries. When Tamara was at the head of the state, the best figures of music, poetry, philosophy and prose gathered at the court. It was during the reign of Queen Tamara in Georgia that the poem βThe Knight in the Tiger Skinβ was written, where the writer Shota Rustaveli glorifies such human qualities as honor, courage, breadth of soul and the value of friendship.
Tiflis province
In 1802, a decision was made to liquidate the Georgian kingdom, and Tbilisi began to appear on the map as the capital of the province, the main base of the Russian army. Since the uprisings against the king did not extend to Tbilisi, the situation in the city was relatively calm. Large-scale construction began. Earl Knorring, head of Georgia, built the first uncomplicated residence for the commander in chief. Then came the arsenal and gymnasium. In 1802, the walls and towers of the fortress began to be destroyed, the first streets of the city began to form. In 1804, the royal baths were rebuilt under the mint. In 1807, the population of Tbilisi was already 16,000 people. Tbilisi slowly but surely came back to life after the destruction in 1795.
In 1816, the general of the Russian army Ermolov gave Metekh Castle under demolition for the construction of a prison on its site. In 1824, the building of the corps of the Caucasian Army was built. In 1827, the elements completely destroyed the Anchiskhati temple, which was built during the time of Queen Tamara. By the forces of the local population, in 1818 a huge building was built: a caravanserai called Artsruni. In May 1829, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin visited the capital of Georgia. Compared with our time, it was akin to the arrival of a fashion blogger at an unknown resort. The capital of Georgia is becoming known not only in military circles. Pushkin was located in house No. 5 on modern Pushkin Street and could observe the construction of the Zubalashvili caravanserai, which construction began in 1827.
Confederation Capital
In early 1918, the Reds abolished the Constituent Assembly, which did not decide the fate of the Caucasus, so the region became, one might say, autonomous. Transcaucasia became an independent federation, and Tbilisi became its capital. The Transcaucasian Sejm in the building of the Vorontsov Palace played the role of parliament. Tbilisi has been in the status of the capital all these years. Soon the federation broke up. In May 1918, Georgia announces its independence. Tbilisi becomes the capital of the Georgian Democratic Republic in 1918-1921. The pen with which the relevant documents were signed is in the Georgian National Museum. Soon, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their independence. In summer, the German Republic appeared in the Union Republic of Tbilisi. A joint parade of two armies took place in the central square. At the same time, Turkish forces tried to capture Tbilisi, but the German army stopped them. At the end of 1918, the German army left the city, and at the beginning of 1919 the British army entered the city, but soon left Georgia.
Despite the many events that took place in the state, the way of life did not change much. But in May 1920, the Red Army revolted: on May 3, an officer school was captured in Tbilisi. Everything worked out, the Bolsheviks eventually signed a peace treaty with Georgia, but this only postponed irreversible events.
The fight for the capital
In early February 1921, the Bolshevik army surrounded Georgia from almost all sides, in particular from Baku. On February 18, the 11th Army was at the outskirts of the city itself. On February 19, Georgia was attacked for the first time in the vicinity of the Soganlug station and at the Shavnabad monastery. The left flank of the Bolshevik army began a western detour and an attack on the Kodzhorsky heights. The Georgian army valiantly held the defense. At the end of February, another performance begins with the participation of tanks and aircraft. Tbilisi was able to withstand all attacks on the Kodjor and Shavnabad heights, but the Red Army surrounded Georgia more and more. On the night of February 25, the Bolshevik tanks broke through to the Navtlug fortress. On the morning of February 25, Georgia surrendered its capital. Red armored trains arrived at the Tbilisi station.
Tbilisi and the Georgian SSR
Oddly enough, the initial changes that occurred in Tbilisi with the advent of Soviet power were not dramatic. The leadership of the new country held meetings, as before, in the Vorontsov Palace; the Metekhi prison also remained a prison, but with a large number of prisoners. The leaders of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1931 did not differ in radical actions, so they died from execution in 1937. In November 1931, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria came to power in Georgia, and the appearance of the city began to change dramatically.
The USSR did not last long, and at its sunset a terrible catastrophe occurred: on June 1, 1990, the Rustaveli-Mtatsminda cableway cut off, one of the stations collapsed on a residential building. The number of victims of the tragedy reached 20 people. On October 28, 1990, the USSR era was finally completed - in the Supreme Council elections, the Communist Party gets only 64 seats out of 155. On November 14, the chairman of the Supreme Council, Irakli Abashidze, resigns. In his place came Zviad Gamsakhurdia. From that moment, the era of the USSR in Georgia finally ended.
Dogwood flag
In the fall of 1990, Zviad Gamsakhurdia took over as president. The whole year was the lull before the storm, and then the National Guard fighters besieged the president in the parliament building. A fierce war for parliament lasted the whole month. Almost all of the surrounding neighborhoods burned in flames. The Oriant Hotel, the first gymnasium, the Marriott Hotel, the communications house, and Tbilisi airport have disappeared from the face of the earth. Somehow the Kashveti temple stood, although there were traces of shots on it. The city began to resemble Stalingrad after the surrender of Paulus. In winter, the parliament fell. The power in Tbilisi was concentrated in the hands of the Kitovani-Ioseliani-Sigua triumvirate. But one of the Georgian provinces called Megrelia was unhappy with the current state of things. The split was obvious: Tbilisi is a province. And to this day this war is secretly waged. Tbilisi in this war was assigned the role of a relic of Soviet life. Megrelia rebelled several times - in March and July 1992 and a year later in September. Tbilisi managed to put out these numerous revolts. For a while everything in the city calmed down, but it did not add calm. Restoration work began: Parliament, gymnasium and Marriott were rebuilt. But many buildings were gradually collapsing. The restaurant on Mtatsminda was abandoned and soon sunk into oblivion. On June 21, 2000, the cable broke again and the funicular became unusable. Symbols of the city, such as the Adzharia and Iveria hotels, were settled by refugees in 1995 and gradually turned into terrifying slums. In November 2003, the confrontation between Tbilisi and the provinces began again: the people did not like the numerous election irregularities. Now the residents of Megrelia and Imereti have joined the protesters. Actions took place on Freedom Square. In parallel, a rally of loyalists gathered in front of the parliament building. On November 20, Shevardnadze escaped from the parliament building. The victory of the province over the capital in history received the beautiful name "Rose Revolution".
Tbilisi now. What changed?
The final phase of changes in the Georgian capital Tbilisi began in the spring of 2014, when all the numerous construction and reconstruction of the city were finally completed. The city acquired a well-groomed appearance, and for two years in a row, nothing terrible happened. The tradition of celebrating a city day in Tbilisi has resumed. Private small business stagnated, but there was no cardinal stop. However, as practice shows, the lull in Georgia always occurs before a storm - in June 2015, a terrible tragedy occurred in Tbilisi - it broke a dam on the Vera River and washed away half of the Tbilisi Zoo with water. According to official figures, 20 people died, almost 200 animals lost the zoo. In the next 2016, which was pre-start, Baratashvili bridge was overhauled, the Pushkin Street was reworked, and a new cableway was launched from Vake Park to Turtle Lake. Some streets were paved. At the end of 2016, the repair of the ancient Narikalav fortress began, in particular its lower part. But contrary to many expectations, the 2016 elections did not change the situation in the country - the capital defeated the province.