Tbilisi - City of Georgia

Tbilisi , is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tpilisi.

Tbilisi has one international airport. Notable tourist destinations include Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral, Freedom Square, Sioni Cathedral, Metekhi, Narikala, Parliament of Georgia, Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, Anchiskhati Basilica, Mtatsminda , Kashveti Church along with the National and Historic Museums of Georgia and numbers of art galleries. Tbilisi is the home of famous artists. The city life was immortalized in their art by Niko Pirosmani and Lado Gudiashvili.

According to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458 AD. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisi's founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the heavily wooded region with a falcon . The King's falcon allegedly caught/injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby hot spring and died . King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from the Old Georgian word "Tpili", meaning warm. The name Tbili or Tbilisi therefore was given to the city because of the area's numerous sulfuric hot springs that came out of the ground.

King Dachi I Ujarmeli , who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, moved the capital from Mtskheta to Tbilisi according to the will left by his father. It must be mentioned that Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and was only the capital of Eastern Georgia/Iberia.

Tbilisi's favorable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgia's/Iberia's capital. Located strategically in the heart of the Caucasus between Europe and Asia, Tbilisi became an object of rivalry between the region's various powers such as Persia, The Byzantine Empire, Arabia, and the Seljuk Turks. The cultural development of the city was therefore heavily dependent on who ruled the city at various times.

Tbilisi's "Golden Age" did not last for more than a century. In 1226 Tbilisi was captured by the refugee Khwarezmian Empire Khwarezmian Shah Mingburnu and its defences severely devastated and prone to Mongol armies. In 1236 A.D., after suffering crushing defeats to the Mongols, Georgia came under Mongol domination. The nation itself maintained a form of semi-independence and did not lose its statehood, but Tbilisi was strongly influenced by the Mongols for the next century both politically and culturally.

The city was visited on numerous occasions by and was the object of affection of Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Lermontov, the Romanov Family and others. The Romanov Family established their residence on Golovin Street.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the city served as a location of the Transcaucasus interim government which established, in the spring of 1918, the short-lived independent Transcaucasian Federation with the capital in Tbilisi.

Tbilisi witnessed mass anti-Russian demonstrations during 1956 in the March 9 Massacre, in protest against the anti-Stalin policies of Khrushchev. Peaceful protests occurred in 1978, and in 1989 the April 9 tragedy was a peaceful protest that turned violent.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Tbilisi has experienced periods of significant instability and turmoil. After a brief Civil War which the city endured for two weeks from December 1991 to January 1992, Tbilisi became the scene of frequent armed confrontations between various mafia clans and illegal business entrepreneurs.

The climate of Tbilisi is transitional from humid subtropical to relatively mild continental. The city's climate is influenced both by dry air masses from the east and humid subtropical air masses from the west. Tbilisi experiences relatively cold winters and hot summers. Because the city is bounded on most sides by mountain ranges, the close proximity to large bodies of water and the fact that the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range blocks the intrusion of cold air masses from Russia, Tbilisi has a relatively mild micro-climate compared to other cities that possess a similar continental climate along the same latitudes.

More than 85% of the residents of Tbilisi practice various forms of Christianity. The Russian Orthodox Church as well as the Armenian Apostolic Church have significant following within the city as well. Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and other Christian denominations also make up the city's Christian minority. A large minority of the population practises Islam. Judaism is also common, but to a lesser extent . Tbilisi has been historically known for religious tolerance. This is especially evident in the city's Old Town, where a Mosque, Synagogue, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches can all be found within less than 500 metres from each other

Universities in Tbilisi include:

Georgian Institute of Public Affairs
Tbilisi State University
Georgian Technical University
Ilia Chavchavadze State University
Tbilisi State Conservatory
Tbilisi State Medical University
Georgian Agrarian University