Georgia, Gruzinia, Georgian Sakartvelo, officially Sakartvelos Respublika German Republic of Georgia, the state in Transcaucasia with (2018) 3.7 million residents; The capital is Tbilisi. According to payhelpcenter, within Georgia are the autonomous republics of Abkhazia and Ajaria as well as the disputed area of South Ossetia.
Fortified villages in Georgia
Around 40,000 swans live in the isolated valleys of the upper Inguri and Tcheniszkali in the Greater Caucasus. They speak a language related to Georgian, and everyday culture and economy still show very traditional features to this day. Their appearance as a warlike and proud mountain people corresponds to their rebellion against any subordination to the rulers – until the 20th century they probably never submitted to a foreign power. Public affairs were decided by councils of elders. The fortress-like complex of the mountain villages, especially in the Upper Svaneti, is also evidence of numerous armed conflicts with other Caucasian tribes, of raids, looting and clan feuds in a society in which blood revenge was part of everyday life.
The towering medieval defense towers of the houses, which have retained their typical shape for almost a millennium, are the architectural pride of the Swans. They were built from roughly hewn boulders. A residential complex consists of a two-story house, the Matschuba, with a tower that can reach a height of 20 to 25 m. Arched loopholes are embedded in the sides of the tower. Characteristic is the place Ushguli at 2,200 m above sea level, where one of these towers now houses a museum. The old churches also provide insights into the faith and craftsmanship of the Swans. Significant frescoes from the 9th to 13th centuries have been preserved in them, as well as icon painting and evidence of master gold and silversmithing.
World Heritage Sites in Georgia
World Heritage Sites
- Historical churches of Mtskheta (1994)
- Mountain villages of Svaneti (1996)
- Gelati Monastery near the city of Kutaisi (2017)
Georgian Church
Georgian Church, in the ancient Iberian Church, the Orthodox National Church of Georgia; its head bears the title “Archbishop of Mtskheta, Metropolitan of Tbilisi and Catholicos Patriarch of all Georgia”. The seat of the Catholicos Patriarch is Tbilisi; liturgical language: Old Georgian. Training centers are the Spiritual Academy in Tbilisi (opened in 1988) and the Seminary in Mtskheta. There are 30 eparchies (dioceses; including one for Western Europe), over 500 parish churches and around 50 monasteries. Contacts are maintained with the places where Georgian monasteries were founded abroad (Athos, Batschkowo, Jerusalem, Sinai). 1962-97 the Georgian Church was a member of the World Council of Churches (resignation took place to prevent a split in the church). According to estimates, the Georgian Church today (2016) has around 4 million members.
Christianity found its way into Georgia in the first half of the 4th century; it was adopted as the state religion before 350 by the Kartli royal family and, according to church tradition, goes back to the work of St. Nino. The Christianization of Eastern Georgia (Iberia) was completed in the 6th century. Initially representing Monophysite doctrinal views, the Georgian church joined the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon in 594 and was in fact an independent (autocephalous) church since the end of the 5th century (483) and officially since 1053. Since the Arab conquest of Georgia in the 7th century, the Georgian Church has embodied the national identity of its people for the Georgians.
With the Russian annexation of Georgia from 1801, the church’s independence was lost; the Georgian Church was incorporated into the Russian Orthodox (State) Church and has been headed by a (Russian) exarch since 1817. Autocephaly, which was unilaterally restored in 1917 by the declaration of the Georgian episcopate, was recognized by Moscow in 1943 and by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1990. In the 1920s and 30s exposed to severe repression and state-organized anti-church propaganda (godless movement), church life continued to decline even after the reorientation of state church policy (1943). Since taking office in 1977, Patriarch-Catholic Ilya II (Ilya Schiolashvili, * 1933) promoted the external reorganization and internal renewal of the Georgian Church. In 1979 he created his own “Church Foreign Office” based on the model of the Moscow Patriarchate, which had previously represented it at the ecumenical level. Restored to its traditional rights in 1990 (mainly through the return of its property and the appointment of bishops, which has since been free from state influence), the Georgian Church as a national church now occupies a prominent position in Georgian public life.
Georgian Cities
Kura
The Kura , in Georgian Mtkvari, the largest river in Transcaucasia, 1,364 km long, catchment area 188,000 km 2, rises in Turkey in the Ararat highlands, breaks through the mountain ranges of the Lesser Caucasus in Georgia, then flows through the Kura-Arax lowlands in Azerbaijan and flows into it with a delta in the Caspian Sea. The Kura is dammed several times to regulate the water flow, for irrigation and to generate energy. to the Mingetschaur reservoir (605 km 2) in Azerbaijan.
Rustavi
Rustavi , Rustavi [-vi], city in Georgia, southeast of Tbilisi on the Kura, in the Kartli area, (2019) 128 300 residents.
Steel mills and rolling mills (including pipes for the oil and gas industry); Machine and wagon construction, petrochemical, cement and food industries; Thermal power plant.
Rustavi arose with the construction of the iron and steel works (1944–54) near the destroyed medieval predecessor settlement of the same name; City since 1948; during the 1990s the steel industry fell and emigration was high.
Kutaisi
Kutaisi, Kutaisi, city in Georgia, at the exit of the Rioni from the Greater Caucasus, in the Imereti region, (2019) 138 200 residents.
Seat of the Georgian Parliament (since 2012); University, technical university, music college; Theater, opera house; Vehicle and industrial plant construction (especially for mining), chemical, textile and food industries; Transport hub on the highway from Sukhumi to Tbilisi, international airport.
Bagrati Cathedral, a cross-domed complex built in 1003 (destroyed in 1691, reconstructed until 2012; UNESCO World Heritage Site). Historical-Ethnographic Museum of Georgia, which also includes the monastery and academy complex in Gelati. The new parliament building, a glass lattice dome, opened in May 2012 in the west of the city.
Kutaisi belonged to the 6th to 3rd centuries BC. To the empire of Colchis and was the residence of the Georgian princes from the 10th century until 1122; capital of Imereti since the 15th century; Conquered by the Turks in the 1860s, liberated in 1770. In 1810 it became part of Russia and in 1846 it became the provincial capital.
Batumi
Batumi, formerly Batum, capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara within Georgia, on the Black Sea near the Turkish border, (2019) 166,000 residents.
Subtropical Black Sea health resort with a dolphinarium, oceanography and adjaric museum, several theaters and a philharmonic orchestra; in the neighboring seaside resort Seljony Mys botanical garden; University (founded 1935), art college, naval academy; Oil refinery, pharmaceutical industry, clothing, food and luxury food industry (processing of tea, tobacco and citrus fruits, wineries); Port, oil transshipment point (Baku pipeline), rail link to Tbilisi.
Batumi, founded by the Greeks (Bathys), later a Roman military base, belonged to the Georgian princes of Guria since the end of the 14th century. In the 17th century it was Turkish, in 1878 the city became part of Russia.
Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali [tsxin-], Cchinvali, Tskhinval, 1934–61 Staliniri, capital of South Ossetia, in northern Georgia, on the southern foot of the Great Caucasus, 30,500 residents; University (founded in 1932 as an agricultural institute, university since 1993), theater, museum; Wood processing, food industry.
During the political conflicts over South Ossetia in 1990–92 and 2008, the city suffered severe damage.
