Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, a city on both banks of the Mtkvari River in the east of the country. Its name comes from the Georgian word tbili, warm, after the sulfur hot springs that rise in its old town. A legend says that King Vakhtang Gorgasali found the springs when his falcon fell into them during a hunt.

Vakhtang founded the city in the 5th century, and his son Dachi moved the capital of the kingdom of Iberia there from Mtskheta. Arab emirs held Tbilisi from the 8th century until King David IV the Builder took it in 1122 and made it the capital of a united Georgia. Its markets stood on the trade routes between Persia, Byzantium and the steppe, and Armenian, Persian and Georgian quarters grew side by side. Georgia joined the Russian Empire in 1801, and the city became the seat of the viceroy of the Caucasus. It was the capital of an independent Georgia in the early 20th century and again from the 1990s.

Tbilvino, a winery in the city, makes Saperavi, Mukuzani and other wines from the grapes of Kakheti. Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing builds and repairs military aircraft, including the Su-25 attack jet.

Narikala Fortress, first built in the 4th century, stands on the ridge above the old town. In the Abanotubani district, brick domes cover the sulfur baths, where Alexander Pushkin bathed on his journey through the Caucasus. The Holy Trinity Cathedral, consecrated in the 2000s, is the main cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Rustaveli Avenue, named after the medieval poet Shota Rustaveli, was laid out in the 19th century and is lined with the opera house, theaters and museums. The Bridge of Peace, a glass and steel footbridge by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, crosses the river below Narikala.