A bit of history first.
When Georgia was brought under control of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, the flood of conquerors, Iranians and Ottomans, stopped. The Georgians kept often warring but, this time, in the service of the large empire, far from Tbilisi and the core Georgian lands. Tbilisi finally breathed freely and began to expand.
One of the first new districts of the growing city appeared in the territory of former gardens. It was called Sololaki. Situated near the old town, it had a quick access to its bustling trade and handicraft production. At the same time, it wasn't cramped and overcrowded as the Medieval core of the city where, sometimes, two horsemen could not pass each other in alleys as books state.
Tbilisi on Google.maps
New streets in Sololaki were spacious (now them seem to be narrow, of course), the urban layout was rectangular. As I know, Sololaki also had good water supply from the mountains, formerly used for the gardens while other, poorer parts of Tbilisi consumed water from the Kura River and had to pay to water vendors or walk down and up the steep slope themselves. So, rich people started establishing mansions in Sololaki. And to the second half of the 19th century, the area was considered the most prestigious in Tbilisi.
This is the ceiling of the entrance of an old multi-apartment house in Sololaki
After Russian Communists occupied Georgia in 1921 (as the result of Soviet–Georgian War), things changed. Wealthy Tbilisians lost their property rights to their Sololaki houses which were, then, settled by other people, including the poor.
Nowadays, thanks to tourism, many buildings of the old town have been renovated. However, this process has only begun in Sololaki, so luxurious buildings in disrepair can be still found there. Wrought iron bars on the doors, paintings on the walls and ceilings of the entrances (many entrances are open to anyone), beautiful stairs, numerous details that reminds of the past epoch.
In the image, you see one of those buildings called the Bebutovs' house (24, Asatiani St), built in the 1870s. Nowadays, there can be found an impressive combination of traces of former luxury and today's desolation there.
One of the entrances opens up like this:
You can't find horizontal and vertical lines here - everything is tilted.
The house literally crumbles and cracks.
I used a wide-angle lens that distort the real view but I remember well that the platform in front of the door was hugely tilted.
The second entrance shows the whole scale of degradation:
Here, you can get an idea about the vertical and horizontal: the supporting beams are vertical and horizontal but look at the rest...
And mailboxes as a monument to the old Soviet times (surnames written in Georgian and Russian). Let's follow in the yard through an arched entrance:
This is a yard traditional for Tbilisi of the 19th and 20th centuries, with wooden balconies (and dense population). Georgians call it the Italian yard.
Another typical feature is grapevine twining the balconies.
I also found a curious detail there, obviously a part of the Bebutovs' house:
The Bebutovs' house isn't the only exhibit in this area. Here and there you can enter houses and see traces of life that ended in 1921 when Georgia was conquested by the Bolsheviks.
Or, take a look at this ceiling in one of the nearby house:
The walls probably had rich decorations too once but, alas, the frescoes have not survived:
Instead, a writing on the wall saying "Nodo I love you". Nodo is a male name. I can imagine a tomboy type of girl chasing her object of desire, smoking cigarettes in the dark and drawing hearts on walls. 🙂 Or is this a gay love story like the one depicted in a Georgian LGBT-movie And Then We Danced?..
Much to show, much to tell, which means more stories from Georgia are ahead. Check my other posts from Georgia and other countries on Pinmapple. Thanks for watching/reading, comments are welcome as always! 🙂
I took these images with a Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D (oldish, made in Japan!) on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in Tbilisi, Georgia in September 2022.
