My beautiful Tbilisi-video-თბილისი
Length: 7:36
Description: Tbilisi Summer 2006-video clip-my own footage during the 2006 Summer visit.
Tbilisi (Georgian თბილისი ) is the capital and largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mtkvari (Kura) River, at 41°43′N, 44°47′E. Tbilisi is sometimes credited as Tiflis (or Tifflis), which is its Medieval non-native name. The city covers an area of 372 km² (144 square miles) and has 1,093,000 inhabitants.
Became as a capital of country in the 4th century by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the Georgian King of Kartli (Iberia), Tbilisi is a significant industrial, social, and cultural center in the Caucasus. The city is also emerging as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Located strategically at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and lying along the historic Silk Road routes, Tbilisi has often been the point of contention between various rivaling powers and empires. The history of the city can be seen by its architecture, where the Haussmannized Rustaveli avenue and downtown are blended with the narrower streets of the Medieval Narikala district.
The demographics of the city is diverse and historically it has been home to peoples from different cultures, religions and ethnicities. Being overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian, Tbilisi is one of the only places in the world, where a synagogue and a mosque are located next to each other in the ancient Bath district several hundred meters from the Metekhi Church. In recent times, Tbilisi has become known for the peaceful Rose Revolution, which took place around Freedom Square and nearby locations after the rigged parliamentary elections of 2003 led to the resignation of the Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.
Tbilisi has one international airport. Notable tourist destinations include Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral, Freedom Square, Sioni Cathedral, Metekhi, Narikala, Parliament of Georgia, Rustaveli Avenue, Turtle lake, Anchiskhati Basilica, Mtatsminda (Holy Mountain), Kashveti Cathedral 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.
Early history
According to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as the 458 A.D. 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 (sometimes the falcon is either substituted by a hawk or other small birds of prey in the legend). The King's falcon allegedly caught/injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby hot spring and died (from the burns received in the hot water). 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 ("warm location") therefore was given to the city because of the area's numerous sulfuric hot springs that came out of the ground.
Archaeological studies of the region have revealed that the territory of Tbilisi was settled by humans as early as the 4th millennium B.C. The earliest actual (recorded) accounts of settlement of the location come from the second half of the 4th century A.D, when a fortress was built during King Varaz-Bakur's reign.
http://www.sakartvelo.com/Files/tbilisi.html
Author: francotenelli
Source: YouTube
