MULTITUR - Tbilisi, City of Dreams

Legend has it that the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forest as late as the AD 458. According to one account King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the heavily wooded region with a falcon (sometimes the falcon is substituted either by a hawk or another small birds of prey in the legend). The King's falcon caught/injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby hot spring and died. King Vakhtang became so impressed with the discovery that he decided to build a city on this location. The name Tbilisi derives from the Old Georgian word "Tpili", meaning warm. The name Tbili or Tbilisi ("warm location") therefore was given to the city because of the area's numerous sulfuric hot springs.

Archaeological studies of the region have revealed that the territory of Tbilisi was settled by humans as early as the 4th millennium BC. The earliest actual (recorded) accounts of settlement of the location come from the second half of the 4th century AD, when a fortress was built during King Varaz-Bakur's reign. Towards the end of the 4th century the fortress fell into the hands of the Persians after which the location fell back into the hands of the Kings of Kartli (Georgia) by the middle of the 5th century. King Vakhtang I Gorgasali (reigned in the middle and latter halves of the 5th century), who is largely credited for founding Tbilisi, was actually responsible for reviving and building up the city but not for founding it. The present-day location of the area, which Gorgasali seems to have built, includes the surroundings of Metekhi Square (Abanot-Ubani historical district).

When talking about Georgia, lovely imagination of Tbilisi – a city of dreams, love and sunshine, comes in the mind’s eye.
The capital of Georgia has not become so beautiful at once. Its 15-century-old history remembers war times, legendary heroism and patriotism of the Georgian people. Like phoenix Tbilisi repeatedly revived from ashes and thanks to its culture and powerful economy over and over it ranked with the world’s biggest cities. Ancient legend concerning the foundation of the city has passed on from one generation to another. While hunting king Vakhtang Gorgasali shot down a pheasant. The bird was chased by the King’s falcon and they both fell into a hot spring. The King saw the birds were boiled. He liked the place and ordered a city to be built there. The name of the city is originated from the warm springs of sulphur water. Georgian "tbili" is "warm". The Tbilisi sulphur springs are mentioned in the works of many historians, writers and travelers of the world. The French writer Alexander Dumas even regretted that these springs weren’t in Paris. There is a page dedicated to the unique healing sulphur springs in the Glory Book of Tbilisi. The temperature of some of the springs often reaches 47˚C. Tbilisi is situated in the East Georgia in the latitude of 41˚43’ North and longitude of 44˚48’ East. It is at the distance of 350 km. from the Black Sea and 550 km. from the Caspian Sea. The city is situated at different altitudes – it is 397 m. at the Metekhi Citadel, 488 m. at the foot of Mtatsminda mountain, but the mountain itself is 727 meters a.s.l. What kind of a city was Old Tbilisi? In 1876 the population of the city reached 104 thousand and the territory – 804 hectares from which different erections occupied 55 percent, park – 17, squares and cemeteries each – 4. There were only 14665 constructions, 205 streets, 101 by streets and 16 squares. After Georgia was annexed by Russia (1801) Tbilisi became administrative center of the Tran Caucasus. From now on the city begins to acquire an European look. Being of peculiar color the city always attracted people from different parts of the world. It was a dream of world’s outstanding poets, scientists and travelers to visit Tbilisi.

Thoughts of famous figures about Tbilisi.

Well-known traveler Marco Polo called Tbilisi a beautiful city, the Pope Joan XXII marked that Tbilisi was not only the centre of Georgian kingdom, but it also was one of the most beautiful cities of the world. Being fascinated by Tbilisi, the French novelist Alexander Dumas with great admiration gives his impressions and praises the capital of Georgia in the book "Le Caucase".
Travelers often compared the capital of Georgia with Paris. Emile Levier, the French botanist, wrote: "The city is charming from the top of Mtatsminda. It seems to me as if I were looking at illuminated Paris from the Eiffel Tower". Rumors about beautiful Tbilisi reached the great French novelist Honoré Balzac who afterwards wrote to his friends: "We want to go to the Crimea and the Caucasus and visit Tbilisi". Russian writers and travelers give interesting reminiscences about Tbilisi. Evgeni Markov: "Tbilisi belongs to the number of ancient cities not only in the Russian empire but also in Europe. Antiquities of Kiev and Novgorod belong to some hundred years’ later period than those of Tbilisi. Basil Sidorov: "The streets are bubbling with life and I felt the pulse of a big city. Yes, it was Tbilisi, one of the most original cities of our planet".
Jacob Polanski: I’m fond of walking here,
Tacitly watch and admire
The scenery and songs so sweet to hear,
Never to forget those happy years".

The second part of the 19th century is marked by a rapid growth of industry in Tbilisi and the formation of local proletariat that played a great role in the revolutionary movement of Georgia. In the first years after the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia (1921), the population of the capital hardly reached 230 thousand. 40 years later it made the number of 800 thousand and already in 1974 Tbilisi is ranking with the cities with a million population. At present it occupies the territory exceeding 36 thousand hectares that is 40 times as much as in 1876. The climate in Tbilisi is continental. Average temperature total to +12.6 C. Sharp fluctuation of the temperature is caused by the main Caucasian ridge that is hundreds of kilometers far from Tbilisi. The summer is long, dry and hot in Tbilisi. Modern Tbilisi is a city of powerful industry, the centre of the Tran Caucasian economic region. There are over a thousand factories and plants of machine – tool building, metal and woodworking, electric apparatus, canning, food and light industries. Trams, buses, mini-buses, taxis, the underground, the funicular railroad and rope-ways serve the citizens. Tbilisi is a great railway, motor transport and air line junction.