Rustavi

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Rustavi (disambiguation) .

Rustavi რუსთავი
coat of arms flag
State :	Georgia
Region :	Niederkartlien
Coordinates :	41 ° 33 '  N , 45 ° 2'  E Coordinates: 41 ° 33 '  N , 45 ° 2'  E
Height :	350  m. ü. M.
Area :	60  km²
Residents :	125,103 (2014)
Population density :	2,085 inhabitants per km²
Time zone :	Georgian Time (UTC + 4)
Telephone code :	(+995) 824
Postal code :	3700
Website :	www.rustavi.ge
Rustavi

Rustavi ( Georgia რუსთავი ) is the fourth largest city of Georgia .

geography

It is independent, does not belong to a municipality, and is the capital of the Niederkartlien region . Rustavi is 25 kilometers southeast of Tblissi on both sides of the Kura River (Georgian Mtkvari ) in a plain in the steppe . The city has a new and an old part. The old part of Rustavi, in which the entire administration is located, consists mainly of smaller apartment buildings, while the new part of Rustavi is dominated by prefabricated buildings erected in the Soviet era .

The city has 125,103 inhabitants (2014 census). The largest minority of Rustawis are traditionally the Azerbaijanis . 65% of the population were unemployed after the economic collapse in 1991 and lived below the poverty line. The crime rate soared. Many people moved away. The number of inhabitants fell by over 40,000 between 1995 and 2002, but has been increasing again slowly since then.

history

Rustavi was founded in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Founded as a fortress. It was on a branch of the Silk Road that linked Europe with Asia . Under Seljuk rule, the entire population perished. During the fighting with the Golden Horde of the Mongolian Berke Khan in the 13th century, the city was almost completely destroyed. Only a small settlement remained.

With the opening of the corresponding section of the oldest railway line in the country, the Poti – Baku railway line , Rustavi received a connection to the railway and a train station in 1883 .

Rustavi's rebirth began with the accelerated industrialization of Georgia since the mid-1940s. From 1944 to 1948 the largest steel mill in the Caucasus was built in Rustavi . In 1947 Stalin ordered the city to be re-established. In the city there was a POW camp 181 for German prisoners of war of the Second World War . The drafts for the city center come from the hands of prisoner-of-war German architects. German prisoners of war were also used to build the first quarters.

Georgia's largest industrial location was home to 118 large and medium-sized companies. The heavy industry accounted for 53% of the regional economy. The most important companies in the city included the iron and steel works, the chemical, cement and crane factories.

In 2009 the last trolleybus ran in Rustavi .

economy

Administration building of the Rustavi steelworks

After Georgia's independence in 1991, only three out of 118 companies in Rustavi survived the economic upheaval. 65% of the population were unemployed. Despite this, Rustavi has remained an industrial center. The largest company is the Rustavi iron and steel works . Until it was privatized in October 2005, the state-owned company produced several million tons of rolled steel annually, especially pipes for the extraction and transport of oil and gas. Since then it has been divided into two complexes, which are operated by the companies Energie- und Industriekomplex and Rustavi Limestone Mines.

The chemistry Fabrik AG specializes in the production of manganese dioxide , nitrate , sodium cyanide , cyclohexanone , non-concentrated nitric acid and synthetic liquefied ammonia specialized. A cosmetic factory produces 20 million lip and eyebrow pencils annually.

The privatized Rustawzement AG supplies Georgia with building materials. The company Kimbotschko AG produces synthetic fibers and yarns. The Caucasian PET factory , whose Georgian-Italian owners produce PET bottles for the South Caucasian market, was established in the 1990s .

Culture, education

Shepherd with herd above Rustavi

The city is internationally known for the Rustavi Choir , one of the most famous choirs of the former Soviet Union , which maintains the tradition of polyphonic singing.

There are 25 high schools, two technical schools and branches of the Georgian Technical University and Tbilisi State University .

In 1994, the private television station Rustavi 2 was founded in Rustavi . He is now based in Tbilisi and is the largest private broadcaster in Georgia.

Town twinning

Rustavi lists the following twelve twin cities :

city	country	since	Type
Akmenė	Šiauliai, Lithuania	2015	Protocol of intent
Cauayan	Negros Occidental, Philippines	2014	partnership
Gəncə	Azerbaijan
Gdynia	Pomerania, Poland	2010	partnership
Ijevan	Tavush, Armenia	1996
İnegöl	Bursa, Turkey	2002	partnership
Ivano-Frankivsk	Ukraine	2011	Protocol of intent
Kiruna	Norrbotten, Sweden		partnership
Krasnoyarsk	Siberia, Russia	1997
Łódź	Poland	1995	partnership
Panevėžys	Lithuania	2015	partnership
Plock	Mazovia, Poland	2011	Protocol of intent
Santiago City	Cagayan Valley, Philippines	2014	partnership
Sumqayıt	Azerbaijan	1952	partnership
Cherkassy	Ukraine	2012	partnership

sons and daughters of the town

• Kachaber Zchadadze (* 1968), football player and coach
• Chwitscha Schubitidze (* 1974), football player
• Goderdsi Schwelidse (* 1978), rugby union player
• Zurab Menteshashvili (* 1980), football player
• Akaki Gogia (* 1992), German soccer player

See also

• List of cities in Georgia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maschke, Erich (ed.): On the history of the German prisoners of war of the Second World War. Verlag Ernst and Werner Gieseking, Bielefeld 1962–1977.
2. ↑ Twin Cities With Rustavi. Retrieved October 5, 2017 . 

Web links

Commons : Rustavi  - collection of images, videos and audio files