Gori

Gori - City in Georgia, Gori Municipality, Shida Kartli Region and Gori Municipality Administrative Center. Located at the mouth of Mtkvari and Didi Liakhvi, 588 m above sea level. Gori is an important railway hub, from which railway line goes to Tskhinvali. In the city, there are light and food industrial enterprise, health, care, education, and culture institutions. Gori is the residence of Samtavisi and Gori Eparchy.

Gori is one of the important transport hubs in Georgia. Two important international highways of Georgia are near Gori: S1, (which coincides with Senaki; crosses European highway E60) and 10s. Besides, there is a railway station in Gori, which is a part of the Central Railway's main railroad and a bus station from which you can go in different cities of Shida Kartli, capital city Tbilisi and seasonally in Adjara resorts.

Sights

The main attractions of Gori are the Gori Fortress on the high rocky hill in the middle of the city, the Virgin Mary’s Christmas Cathedral of XIX century, the Drama Theater, the Historical-Ethnographic Museum, and Joseph Stalin's museum. At the outskirts of Gori are Balneological resort Gorijvari, a cave town of Uplistsikhe and a cross-domed cathedral Ateni Sioni of the VII century.

History

Gori is one of the oldest cities in Georgia. Officially, the city declared in 1801. The name originates from the rocky hill in the city on which the Old Castle is built. In the chronicles, Gori dates back to VII century, although some historical sources sign the foundation of the city of David the builder (beginning of XII century). The archaeological materials indicate that in the boundary of the old and new periods of chronology here should have been an urban settlement. The oldest archaeological site in the Gori area is the ancient Bronze Age settlement, on the banks of the Mtkvari River on a place Ghambareuli.

Found ceramics is typical for BC Year for the Kura–Araxes culture in the III millennium. In 1946, the landslide uncovered Ancient Age cultural landscape of the Gori fortress on the northern side. Was visible mud brick wall, wine-jar(kvevri), black and red burnt pieces of red clay vessels and other. Layers are dated at the end of I Year BC and beginning centuries of A.D.

The graves of the same period turned out to the east of the fortress. In the graves are found clay vessels, coins, beads, bracelets, and other jewelry. Among the archaeological finds is the round head of the stone sculpture of eastern appearance that should be of the antic period.

The city was located on the crossing of strategic and economic roadways and its possession meant political domination of Shida Kartli. In the XIII century, Gori was conquered by the Ossetians, and with the help of the Mongols, they had been here for a long time. In the 20's of the XIV century, George V the Brilliant released a fortified city. In 1477, Shah Uzun-Hasan suddenly attacked Gori, taken it without a fight but he soon left it.

In the middle of the XVI century Gori temporarily took over the Persian Shah Tamaz I. At the end of the XVI century, Gori became a springboard for the Ottoman domination in Kartli. In 1599 King Simon I suddenly attacked Gori, took the castle and destroyed the Ottoman garrison.

In 1614, the Persian Abbas the Great took it and for some time was ruling the subordinate country from here. According to French traveler Jean Chardin, in the seventies of the XVII century, Gori was an important shopping center. The city was dispersed by the Ottomans in 1723. Since then, Gori was in the hands of the Ottomans for several years. Gori was on hands of Persians in 1735. Gori was liberated from foreign invaders in the 40s of the 18th century.

Gori was a cultural-educational hub. Here worked for public good educated people: Parsadan Gorgijanidze, David Tulukashvili (XVIII c.) Giorgi Goreli (XVIII c.) Stephane Peshangishvili (XVIII-XIX cc), many representatives of the Tumanishvili surname: Avtandili (XVIII c.), Dimitri (XVIII-XIX) Giorgi (1744-1837), David (XVIII-XIX cc) and others.