Sights in Tbilisi
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Fine Arts Museum
Just off the northeast corner of Tavisuplebis moedani is the Fine Arts Museum, a comprehensive if underwhelmingly presented storehouse of Georgian art and artisanry from several centuries BC up to the late 20th century. Sections may be closed because of air-conditioning problems, and at the time of research the museum was due for renovation, which may put it out of action altogether for a while. The major highlight is the treasury section, which can only be entered with a guide (no extra charge). This contains a great wealth of icons, crosses and jewellery in precious metals and stones from all over Georgia and old Georgian churches and monasteries on what is now Turkish …
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Tsminda Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral
High on Elia Hill above Avlabari rises the biggest symbol of Georgia's post-Soviet religious revival, the Tsminda Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral, (an unmissable landmark by night and day) consecrated in 2004 after a decade of building work. A massive expression of traditional Georgian architectural forms in concrete, brick, granite and marble, it rises 84m to the top of the gold-covered cross above its central dome.
The main entrance to the cathedral's extensive grounds is on Uritski, reached via Meskhishvili up the hill from Ketevan Tsamebulis moedani. The cathedral is five-aisles wide but its emphasis is on verticality, with a result like one single, many-bulwarked tow…
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Metekhi Church
At least twice foreign conquerors (Jalaledin in 1226 and the Persians in 1522) used the bridge for forcible conversion of the Georgian population to Islam (many resisted and were tossed into the river). The bridge was controlled by a fortification on the rocky outcrop above it, where you can now see the Metekhi Church and a 1960s equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali. This is where Gorgasali built his palace, and the site’s original church, when he made Tbilisi his capital in the 5th century. King David the Builder had his palace here too, and it was here that Queen Tamar married her second husband, David Soslan. That palace and its accompanying church were destroy…
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Open-Air Museum of Ethnography
The Open-Air Museum of Ethnography is about 3km beyond, and uphill from, the Vake Park. This collection of nearly 70 traditional, mostly wooden houses from around Georgia is spread over a wooded hillside with good views, and makes an enjoyable visit. The most interesting exhibits are in the lower section of the museum (near the entrance), where the buildings are kitted out with fine traditional furnishings, rugs and utensils. There’s also an archaeological section, which includes a basilica from the 6th and 7th centuries. You can reach the open-air museum by walking up from Vake Park, or down the road from Kus Tba (about 2km). Or take bus 59 from opposite Marjanishvili me…
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Narikala Fortress
Dominating the city skyline (until the TV tower came along, anyway), Narikala Fortress is an ancient symbol of Tbilisi’s defensive brilliance. The fortress walls date from various periods, the earliest from the 4th century, when it was a Persian citadel. The foundations of the towers and most of the present walls were built in the 8th century by the Arab emirs, whose palace was inside the fortress. Subsequently Georgians, Turks and Persians captured and patched up Narikala, but in 1827 a huge explosion of the Russian munitions stored here ruined not only the fortress but also the Church of St Nicholas inside it. The church was rebuilt in the 1990s with the help of fundi…
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Anchiskhati Basilica
Shavteli was once the throbbing medieval hub of the Old Town. Here you'll find the Anchiskhati Basilica, the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi, built by King Gorgasali's son Dachi in the 6th century. The name comes from the icon of Anchi Cathedral in Klarjeti (now in Turkey), brought here in the 17th century and now in the Fine Arts Museum.
The church is a three-nave basilica that has been restored several times, most notably in the 17th century, when the brick pillars and upper walls were made. In 1958 restorers found the remains of 17th-century frescoes under the 19th-century ones. Just west of the church is a brick bell tower and gatehouse, typical of late-medieval ea…
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Kashveti Church
Opposite School No 1 stands the Kashveti Church, on a spot where it is said pagan rituals used to take place. The first church here is supposed to have been built in the 6th century by Davit Gareja, one of the ascetic 'Syrian fathers' who returned from the Middle East to spread Christianity in Georgia.
According to legend, a nun accused him of impregnating her. He replied that if this were true, she'd give birth to a baby, and if not, to a stone, which duly happened. Kashveti means 'Stone Birth'. The existing 1910 building was designed by architect Leopold Bielfeld as a copy of the 11th-century Samtavisi Church, 60km northwest of Tbilisi.
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Sioni Cathedral
The cathedral was originally built in the 6th and 7th centuries, but it has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times that it is difficult to say which part comes from when, although the south portico is undeniably the work of a shabby 1990s contractor. What you see is mainly 13th-century, though the southern chapel was built and the cupola restored in 1657. The most important sacred object here is the cross of St Nino which, according to legend, is made from vine branches bound with the saint’s own hair. A replica of this is displayed to the left of the altar, with the real thing kept safe inside.
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Museum of Georgia
North along Rustaveli from Tavisuplebis Moedani, almost opposite Tavisuplebis Moedani metro station, is the Museum of Georgia, Georgia’s top museum. The main rooms cover Georgia’s history, including a section on the Soviet occupation and an exhibit on the 1.75-million-year-old skulls found at Dmanisi, 80km southwest of Tbilisi, which may be the oldest human remains found outside Africa. Most stunning of all is the basement treasury (guide obligatory) with an outstanding collection of archaeological finds including gold artefacts and jewellery from pre-Christian Georgia.
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Vake
Considered Tbilisi's most prestigious neighbourhood, home to many nouveaux riches and expatriates, Vake is said to have been built over the graves of the victims of the 1930s purges. It's a pleasant neighbourhood of apartment blocks and houses, with a good sprinkling of bars, cafés and shops. Bus 55 from Tavisuplebis moedani runs along Rustaveli, up Kostava then along the length of Vake's main avenue, Chavchavadzis gamziri. Vake's main claim to fame is Tbilisi State University, near the start of Chavchavadzis gamziri. Attractive Vake Park (Vake) is about 2km beyond the university.
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Old Town
Tbilisi grew up below the walls of the Narikala Fortress which stands on the Sololaki ridge above the west side of the Mtkvari gorge. Today the twisting alleys of the Old Town, which is known locally as Kala, are still full of hidden courtyards and carved wooden balconies leaning at rakish angles. Though almost no buildings here survived the destruction by the Persians in 1795, many of those standing today date from soon after that and still have the Eurasian character of earlier times.
The main thoroughfare of the Old Town today (though sometimes traffic-clogged) is Leselidze.
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Parliament
The high-arched Georgian Parliament was constructed as the Soviet government building between 1938 and 1953 and finished off by German POWs. Momentous events in Georgia's recent history have taken place here: the Soviet massacre of 20 Georgian hunger strikers on 9 April 1989; Georgia's independence declaration on 9 April 1991; on 6 January 1992 President Gamsakhurdia fled the building after being besieged in it for two weeks; and the Rose Revolution on 22 November 2003.
A small monument in front of the Parliament commemorates the dead of 1989.
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Avlabari
Avlabari is the dramatically located slice of Tbilisi above the cliffs on the left (east) bank of the Mtkvari, across the Metekhi Bridge from the Old Town.
At least twice foreign conquerors (Jalaledin in 1226 and the Persians in 1522) used the bridge for forcible conversion of the Georgian population to Islam (many resisted and were tossed into the river). The bridge was controlled by a fortification on the rocky outcrop above it, where you can now see the Metekhi Church and a 1960s equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali.
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Rustavelis gamziri
Tbilisi's main artery is Rustavelis gamziri, running 1.5km north from Tavisuplebis moedani. Laid out by the Russians in the 19th century and strung with elegant and important buildings, it tends to be the place in Tbilisi you always find yourself walking. A refurbishment programme has spruced up Rustaveli: façades have been restored, flower beds planted and new pavements (on which cars can no longer park) laid. Several new top-end hotels are also being added to its landscape.
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Erekle II moedani
North of the Sioni Cathedral, Sionis qucha becomes Erekle II qucha, which leads to Erekle II moedani, site of the walled residence of the Catholicos-Patriarch (head of the Georgian church) and of a leafy little park. The large Church of the Archangels here was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. Later, three smaller churches were built from the ruins, one of which is the Karis Eklesia, at the north end of the park.
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Armenian Cathedral of St George
Just above Gorgasalis moedani is the large Armenian Cathedral of St George, founded in 1251 (although the current structure dates mainly from the 18th century). Its interior is surprisingly small but it has interesting frescoes. King Erekle II’s Armenian court poet Sayat Nova was killed here during the Persian invasion of 1795 and his tomb is in front of the main door.
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Mount Mtatsminda & Mtatsminda Park
Mtatsminda is the hill topped by the 210m-high TV mast looming over central Tbilisi from the west. You can get up there by a steep funicular railway from Chonkadze.
At the top of the hill, Mtatsminda Park spreads over more than 1 sq km, with wonderful views and a new amusement park that includes what Georgians consider Europe's highest roller coaster (60m high).
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Statue of Kartlis Deda
From outside the Narikala Fortress entrance, you can follow a path west in front of the walls along to the statue of Kartlis Deda. As attractive as a 20m aluminium woman can be, this symbol of the city holds a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other - a perfect metaphor for the Georgian character, warmly welcoming guests and passionately fighting off enemies.
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Abanotubani
The social hub of the area is further south – Tbilisi’s famed sulphur baths, the Abanotubani. Alexanders Dumas and Pushkin both bathed here, the latter describing it as the best bath he’d ever had. Abano (Bath St) is full of subterranean bathhouses with beehive domes rising at ground level, most dating back to the 17th century
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Gorgasalis Moedani
A good place to get your initial bearings is Gorgasalis moedani, now a rather bland, traffic-infested junction but once the setting of Tbilisi's bustling bazaar. From here the Metekhi Bridge crosses the river to the Metekhi Church, busy Gorgasalis qucha heads off southeast along the riverbank, and Leselidze and Sharden dive into the maze of streets to the north.
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Mosque
A short distance uphill behind the baths is the mosque, built in 1895 and the only mosque in Tbilisi that survived Lavrenty Beria’s antireligious purges of the 1930s. Unusually, Shiite and Sunni Muslims pray together here. The interior is prettily frescoed and visitors are welcome to enter (after removing shoes).
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Museum of Money
Off the opposite corner of Tavisuplebis moedani is the well-presented Museum of Money, set up by the National Bank of Georgia next door. You can see Georgian money from the 6th century BC to the present day, including the Monopoly-style coupons used in 1993–94 before the lari was introduced.
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Presidential Palace
Not far below the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral, Georgia's large new presidential palace is under construction between Tsutskiridze and Abdushelishvili. It's an equally unmissable landmark given that it's topped by a large, egg-shaped glass dome equipped with neon lights of constantly changing colour.
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School Number 1
School Number 1 was gutted in the 1991-92 fighting, but was reconstructed soon after. It was founded in 1802 to prepare sons of the Georgian nobility for the Russian Civil Service. In front of the school are statues of the 19th-century writers and reformers Ilia Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli.
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Rustavelis moedani
Rustavelis gamziri (Rustaveli Avenue), the main artery of modern central Tbilisi, runs 1.5km northwest from Tavisuplebis moedani to Rustavelis moedani. The square is easily identified by a 1937 statue of the poet himself (and a McDonald's restaurant).
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