Tbilisi [antikvár]

We gain so much by getting to know a town-and this is especially true of those towns whose roots go far back into the past, towns which have been destroyed, pillaged, burned, but have risen again, stubbornly holding on to their unique character, the individuality that has been moulded by time itself. This description applies perfectly to Tbilisi, capital of the Georgián Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the largest and oldest towns in the Soviet Union. It is one of those towns where nature has joined hands with humán effort, leaving its mark on the streets and squares, the houses and churches, giving them a special charm, an inimitable ethos. After his visit to Tbilisi in 1858, Dumas-pére said that he sawsomething delightful here whichever way he turnéd. To Tchaikovsky, Tbilisi was a sweet dream. We can look for the secret of Tbilisi's charm in its churches-800, 1,200, 1,400 years old; its museums, where the Old Stone Age, the days of the Argonabts spring to life again; its unique collection of paintings by the legendary Niko Pirosmanishvili; its splendid intellectual tradition which owes much to the work of Niko Muskhelishvili in mathematics, of Ivane Beritashvili in physiology and Dmitry Uznadze in psychology; or in the intense atmosphere of creativity, which Tbilisi shares with other Soviet towns. Tbilisi is super-but best of all are its people, affable, musical, keen-witted, celebrated the world over for their hospitality. They love their town, this microcosm of Georgia, with its mountains and rivers, its ravines and precipices, its lakes and even a little "sea". The town grows and flourishes under their bold, cheery, talented hands. We hope that this guide will help to bring Tbilisi, its heroic past and magnificent present, closer to you, that it will save you from troubling others or wandering aimlessly, by familiarizing you with the geography, climate and sights of the town-its monuments, theatres, museums, restaurants, shops and wine cellars, and, farther afield, with the magnificent churches of Mtskheta, the charming hamlets of Kakhetia and the exotic villages of Higher Svanetia.