The first place is tbilisi capital city of georgia
Tbilisi (
Georgian:
თბილისი), commonly known by its former name
Tiflis, and often mispronounced as
Tiblisi, is the capital and the
largest city of
Georgia, lying on the banks of the
Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgia's ancient precursor the
Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under
Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the
Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire
Caucasus.
Located on the crossroads of
Europe and Asia, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west
trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of
medieval,
classical, Middle Eastern,
Art Nouveau,
Stalinist and
Modernist structures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tbilisi#/media/File:2014_Tbilisi,_Widoki_z_Twierdzy_Narikala_(36).jpg
History
Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC. According to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisi's founding states that King
Vakhtang I Gorgasali of
Georgia went hunting in the heavily wooded region with a
falcon (sometimes the falcon is replaced with either a
hawk or other small
birds of prey in the legend). The King's falcon allegedly caught or injured a
pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby
hot spring and died from burns. King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name
Tbilisi derives from
Old Georgian T'bilisi(
თბილისი), and further from
T'pili (
თბილი, "warm""). The name
"T'bili" or
"T'bilisi" (literally, "warm location") was therefore given to the city because of the area's numerous
sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground.
King
Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of
Vakhtang I Gorgasali, moved the capital from
Mtskheta to Tbilisi according to the will left by his father. Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of
Colchis. It was, however, the capital city of
Eastern Georgia/
Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the fortress wall that lined the city's new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the region's favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade and travel routes between Europe and Asia.
The status of Tbilisi, as the nation's capital, is defined by the Article 10 in the
Constitution of Georgia (1995) and the
Law on Georgia's Capital – Tbilisi (20 February 1998).
[26]
Administratively, the city is divided into
raions (districts), which have their own units of central and local government with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs. This subdivision was established under Soviet rule in the 1930s, following the general
subdivision of the Soviet Union. Since Georgia regained independence, the raion system was modified and reshuffled. According to the latest revision, Tbilisi raions include:
Most of the raions are named after respective historical neighbourhoods of the city. The citizens of Tbilisi widely recognise a system of the smaller non-formal historical neighbourhoods. Such neighbourhoods are several, however, constituting a kind of hierarchy, because most of them have lost their distinctive topographic limits. The natural first level of subdivision of the city is into the Right Bank and the Left Bank of the Mt'k'vari. The names of the oldest neighbourhoods go back to the early Middle Ages and sometimes pose a great linguistic interest. The newest whole-built developments bear chiefly residential marketing names.
In pre-Revolution Tiflis, the Georgian quarter was confined to the southeastern part of the city; Baedeker describes the layout succinctly:
In the north part of the town, on the left bank of the Kurá and to the south of the railway station, stretches the clean German Quarter, formerly occupied by German immigrants from Württemberg (1818). To the south is the Gruzinian or Georgian Quarter (Avlabár). On the right bank of the Kurá is the Russian Quarter, the seat of the officials and of the larger business firms. This is adjoined on the south by the Armenian and Persian Bazaars.
— Karl Baedeker, Russia: A Handbook for Travelers
Avlabari is considered "the integral component of the so-called 'old Tbilisi'" and is currently the object of planning and cultural heritage preservation
Geography[edit]
Location
Tbilisi is located in the
South Caucasus at 41° 43' North Latitude and 44° 47' East Longitude. The city lies in
Eastern Georgia on both banks of the
Mt'k'vari River. The elevation of the city ranges from 380–770 metres
above sea level (1,250–2,530 ft) and has the shape of an amphitheatre surrounded by mountains on three sides. To the north, Tbilisi is bounded by the
Saguramo Range, to the east and south-east by the
Iori Plain, to the south and west by various endings (sub-ranges) of the
Trialeti Range.
The relief of Tbilisi is complex. The part of the city which lies on the left bank of the Mt'k'vari River extends for more than 30 km (19 mi) from the
Avchala District to River Lochini. The part of the city which lies on the right side of the Mt'k'vari River, on the other hand, is built along the foothills of the
Trialeti Range, the slopes of which in many cases descend all the way to the edges of the river Mt'k'vari. The mountains, therefore, are a significant barrier to urban development on the right bank of the Mt'k'vari River. This type of a geographic environment creates pockets of very densely developed areas while other parts of the city are left undeveloped due to the complex topographic relief.
To the north of the city, there is a large reservoir (commonly known as the Tbilisi Sea) fed by irrigation canals.
Climate
Tbilisi has a
humid subtropical (
Köppen climate classification Cfa) with considerable
continental (
Dfa) influences. The city experiences very warm summers and moderately cold winters. Like other regions of Georgia, Tbilisi receives significant rainfall throughout the year with no distinct dry period. The city's climate is influenced both by dry (Central Asian/Siberian) air masses from the east and
oceanic(Atlantic/Black Sea) air masses from the west. Because the city is bounded on most sides by mountain ranges, the close proximity to large bodies of water (Black and
Caspian Seas) and the fact that the Greater
Caucasus Mountains Range (further to the north) blocks the intrusion of cold air masses from Russia, Tbilisi has a relatively mild
microclimate compared to other cities that possess a similar climate along the same latitudes.
The average annual temperature in Tbilisi is 13.3 °C (55.9 °F). January is the coldest month with an average temperature of 2.3 °C (36.1 °F). July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 24.9 °C (76.8 °F). Daytime high temperatures reach or exceed 32 °C (90 °F) on an average of 22 days during a typical year. The absolute minimum recorded temperature is −24.4 °C (−11.9 °F) on January 1883 and the absolute maximum is 42.0 °C (107.6 °F) on 17 July 1882Average annual precipitation is 495.5 mm (19.5 in). May is the wettest month (averaging 77.6 mm (3.1 in) of precipitation) while January is the driest (averaging 18.9 mm (0.7 in) of precipitation). Snow falls on average 15–25 days per year. The surrounding mountains often trap the clouds within and around the city, mainly during the Spring and Autumn months, resulting in prolonged rainy and/or cloudy weather. Northwesterly winds dominate in most parts of Tbilisi throughout the year. Southeasterly winds are common as well.
Sports
Up until the beginning of the 19th century, sports such as horse-riding (
polo in particular),
wrestling,
boxing, and
marksmanship were the most popular city sports. As Tbilisi started to develop socially and economically and integrate more with the West, new sports from Europe were introduced.
The Soviet period brought an increased popularization of sports that were common in Europe and to a certain extent, the United States. At the same time, Tbilisi developed the necessary sports infrastructure for professional sports. By 1978, the city had around 250 large and small sports facilities, including among others, four indoor and six outdoor Olympic sized pools, 185 basketball courts and halls, 192 volleyball facilities, 82
handball arenas, 19 tennis courts, 31 football fields, and five stadiums. The largest stadium in Tbilisi is the
Dinamo Arena (55,000 seats) and the second largest is the
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium (24,680 seats). The
Sports Palace which usually hosts basketball games with high attendance and tennis tournaments can seat approximately 11,000 people.
Tbilisi's signature football team,
Dinamo Tbilisi, has not won a major European championship since the
1980–1981 season, when it won the European
UEFA Cup Winners' Cupand became the easternmost team in Europe to achieve the feat. The basketball club Dinamo Tbilisi won the
Euroleague in
1962 but also never repeated any such feat.
Media
The large majority of Georgia's media companies (including television, newspaper, and radio) are headquartered in Tbilisi. The city is home to the popular
Rustavi 2 television channel which gained considerable fame after its coverage of the
Rose Revolution. In addition to Rustavi 2, the remaining three out of the four major public television channels of Georgia (including
Imedi TV Mze and the Public Broadcasting Channel) are based in the city. Tbilisi's television market has experienced notable changes since the second half of 2005 when Rustavi 2 successfully bought out the Mze TV company and
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation became a shareholder of Imedi Media Holding at the beginning of 2006.
Tbilisi has a number of newspaper publishing houses. Some of the most noteworthy newspapers include the daily
24 Saati ("24 Hours"),
Rezonansi ("Resonance"),
Alia, the English-language daily
The Messenger, weekly
FINANCIAL, Georgia Today, and the English-language weekly
The Georgian Times. Out of the city's radio stations Imedi Radio (105.9
FM), Fortuna, and Radio 105 are some of the most influential competitors with large national audiences.
Radio stations in Tbilisi include 5 Lines Radio (93.8 FM), Europe +Tbilisi (99.6 FM), and Georgian Patriarchy Radio (105.4 FM).
[38]
Architecture
The architecture in the city is a mixture of local (Georgian) and
Byzantine,
Neoclassical,
Art Nouveau,
Beaux-Arts, Middle Eastern, and Soviet
Stalinist architectural styles.
[39] The oldest parts of town, including the Abanot-Ubani, Avlabari, and to a certain extent the Sololaki districts clearly have a traditional Georgian architectural look with Near Eastern influences. The areas of downtown Tbilisi which were built or expanded mainly in the 19th century (Rustaveli Avenue, Vera district, etc.) have a chiefly Western European look, but they nevertheless contain individual examples of European pseudo-Moorish architecture, such as the
Tbilisi Opera.
[3]
The start of the 20th century was marked by an architectural revival, notably, with an
art nouveau style. With the establishment of the communist government, this style was decreed as bourgeois and largely neglected. An example of
Stalinist architecture in Georgia was the 1938
Institute of Marx, Engels, Lenin (მარქს-ენგელს-ლენინის ინსტიტუტის შენობა) building, also referred to by the abbreviation
IMELI (იმელი) in Georgian.
Following privatization, this building was supposed to be converted from 2006 to 2009 into a five-star luxury
Kempinski hotel by the
UAE-based
Dhabi Group.
[40] As of 2013, no refurbishment had been achieved.
The architecture of the later 20th century can mainly be identified with the building style that was common during the Soviet era throughout the Soviet Union and the countries under
Soviet occupation.
This included building large, concrete apartment blocks as well as social, cultural, and office facilities, like for example the
Tbilisi Roads Ministry Building. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Tbilisi has been the site of uncontrolled/unsanctioned building projects. Since 2004, the city government has taken new initiatives to curb uncontrolled construction projects with mixed success. In the near future, Tbilisi will have three skyscraper complexes. The
Axis Towers, Redix Chavchavadze 64, and the new
Ajara Hotel/Business Complex, which is currently under construction will be the tallest buildings/
skyscrapers in the
Caucasus.
Main sights
Tbilisi has important landmarks and sightseeing locations. The
Parliament and the government (
State Chancellery) buildings of Georgia, as well as the
Supreme Court of Georgia, are in Tbilisi. The city has important cultural landmarks such as the
Georgian National Museum,
Tbilisi State Conservatoire,
Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre,
Shota Rustaveli State Academic Theatre,
Marjanishvili State Academic Theatre, the
Sameba Cathedral, the
Vorontsov's Palace (also known as the Children's Palace today), many state museums, the
National Public Library of the Parliament of Georgia, the
National Bank of Georgia,
Tbilisi Circus,
The Bridge of Peace and other important institutions. During the Soviet times, Tbilisi continuously ranked in the top four cities in the Soviet Union for the number of museums.
Transport
Airport
Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport is Tbilisi's only airport, located about 17 kilometres (11 miles) south east of the city center.Handling 1.85 million passengers in 2015, it is the busiest airport in Georgia and the
twenty-fifth-busiest airport in the former Soviet Union. The airport has experienced rapid growth, having more than doubled passenger numbers from roughly 822,000 in 2010 to approximately 1,847,000 in 2015.
[42] Tbilisi International Airport in 2016 started to consume Solar Energy and has been the first “Green airport” in the region of Caucasus since 2008. This means that TAV Georgia has already been operating in conformity with international environmental standards and requirements for years.
Natakhtari airfield, located at 33 km of Tbilisi, is in the town of
Natakhtari. It's used only for domestic flights to Mestia, Batumi and Kutaisi.
A new airport between Tbilisi and Mtskheta is under construction.
Metro
Tbilisi Metro, known for its depth underground, transports nearly 9 million commuters per month.
The
Tbilisi Metro serves the city with
rapid transit subway services. It was the Soviet Union's fourth metro system. Construction began in 1952 and was finished in 1966. The system operates two lines, the
Akhmeteli-Varketili Line and the
Saburtalo Line. It has 22 stations and 186 metro cars. Most stations, like those on other Soviet-built metro systems, are extravagantly decorated. Trains run from 6:00 am to midnight. Due to the uneven ground, the rail lines run above ground level in some areas. Two of the stations are above ground.
Tram
Tbilisi had a
tram network, since 1883 starting from horse driven trams and from 25 December 1904 electric tramway. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, electric transport went to a degradation state within the years and finally the only tram line left was closed on 4 December 2006 together with two trolleybus lines which were left. There are plans to construct a modern tram network.
Minibus
The most dominant form of transportation is the
marshrutka. An elaborate marshrutka system has grown in Tbilisi over the recent years. In addition to the city, several lines also serve the surrounding countryside of Tbilisi. Throughout the city, a fixed price is paid regardless of the distance (80
tetri in 2014). For longer trips outside the city, higher fares are common. There are no predefined stops for the marshrutka lines, they are hailed from the streets like taxis and each passenger can exit whenever he likes.
Municipal bus
The second largest form of transportation are the municipal buses which are operated by Tbilisi Transport Company. As of July 2016, 672 buses of various size were servicing the city, all of them were Ukrainian Bogdan A144 (148 buses) and A092 (524 buses) models. In accordance to the Tbilisi City Hall's 4-year-long renovation program for the municipal buses on July 13, 2016 was signed an agreement with MAN Truck & Bus company to purchase 143 new energy efficient buses MAN Lion's City. On October 6, 2016 first new 10 buses were put into service on route 61. As it is planned rest of the buses will be received till the end of March, 2017.
Aerial tramways and Funicular
Aerial tramway connecting Europe Square to Narikala, the fortress that overlooks the city.
Historically, the city had 7 different aerial tramways but all of them closed after Soviet era.
Some of the Soviet time aerial tramways are reopening in 2016 and some are due to reopen in 2017.
Since 2012, Tbilisi has a modern, high capacity
gondola lift which operates between Rike Park and the
Narikala fortress, each gondola can carry up to 8 persons. The system was built by the Italian manufacturer
Leitner ropeways.
Since October 6, 2016, Turtle lake aerial tramway (originally opened in 1965) reopened after 7 years being out of service. It went under major reconstruction but keeping the old design gondolas and stations. Tramway connects Vake Park with Turtle Lake. Reconstruction was carried out by L.T.D "Bagirmsheni".
As of December 2016 another Soviet era aerial tramway between State University and Bagebi in Saburtalo District (originally opened in 1982) is being reconstructed after 25 years of abandonment and is due for opening in 1 month. Original Italian produced gondolas with a capacity of 40 passengers each are being kept as well as the stations.
Due to mismanagement at the hands of Soviet authorities, one of the main Aerial Trams experienced a major malfunction, causing the
1990 Tbilisi Cable car accident and remaining closed ever since. Since October 2016 aerial tram went under reconstruction keeping the old cultural heritage lower station but the gondolas, masts, upper station and other infrastructure will be new. The project is carried out by
Doppelmayr Garaventa Group.
Education
Tbilisi is home to several major institutions of higher education including the Tbilisi State Medical University and the Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy, famous for their internationally recognised medical education system. The biggest Georgian university is
Tbilisi State University which was established on 8 February 1918. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region. Over 35,000 students are enrolled and the number of faculty and staff (collaborators) is approximately 5,000. Tbilisi is also home to the largest medical university in Caucasus region —
Tbilisi State Medical University, which was founded as Tbilisi Medical Institute in 1918 and became the Faculty of Medicine within the Tbilisi State University (TSU) in 1930. Tbilisi State Medical Institute was renamed to Medical University in 1992. Since that university operates as an independent educational institution, TSMU became one of the high-ranking state-supported institutions of higher education in the Caucasus region. Currently, there are almost 5000 undergraduate and 203 postgraduate students at the university of whom 10% come from foreign countries.
The
University of Georgia (Tbilisi) is the largest private University in Georgia, with more than 3500 international and local students. It was established in 2005 and soon became a market leader within Georgian educational sector. In 2010, the UG received financing from OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) for a development of the University's infrastructure and technical equipment. The University of Georgia has various undergraduate and graduate programs and it's the first company in Georgia which offers international certificate programs of the Oracle Corporation, Microsoft,Zend technologies and Cisco Academy. Caucasus University was established in 2004 as an expansion of the Caucasus School of Business (CSB) (established in 1998) by a consortium consisting of Tbilisi State University and Georgian Technical University in partnership with Georgia State University (Atlanta, USA). The Free University of Tbilisi was established in 2007 through the merger of two higher education schools: European School of Management (ESM-Tbilisi) and Tbilisi Institute of Asia and Africa (TIAA). Today Free University comprises three schools — Business School (ESM), Institute of Asia and Africa and Law School — delivering academic programs at the undergraduate, graduate and doctorate levels. In addition, Free University conducts a wide array of short-term courses and runs several research centers and summer school programs.
Higher educational institutions in Tbilisi:
Twin towns and sister cities
 Saarbrücken, Germany (1975) Nantes, France (1979) Ljubljana, Slovenia (1977) Innsbruck, Austria (1982) Atlanta, United States (1987) Palermo, Italy (1987) Bristol, United Kingdom (1988) Bilbao, Spain (1989) Yerevan, Armenia (1996) Kiev, Ukraine (1999)
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Partnerships[edit]
Thats all on Tbilisi we were advacing travell and rest in Tbilisi Georgia
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Ashkelon, Israel
Ganja, Azerbaijan
Kars, Turkey
Newport, Wales[10]
Nikaia, Greece
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Poznań, Poland[11]
Rasht, Iran
Tianjin, China
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