Telavi

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Telavi
თელავი
coat of arms
coat of arms 		flag
flag
State : GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia
Region : Kakheti
Municipality : Telavi
Coordinates : 41 ° 55 '  N , 45 ° 29'  E Coordinates: 41 ° 55 '  N , 45 ° 29'  E
Height : 490  m. ü. M.
 
Residents : 19,629 (2014)
 
Time zone : Georgian Time (UTC + 4)
 
Community type: city
Telavi (Georgia)
Telavi
Telavi
View over the valley of the Alazani on the Caucasus as seen from Telavi
View over Telavi
Equestrian statue of King Irakli II in Telavi city center

Telavi ( Georgia თელავი ) is the capital of the region of Kakheti in Georgia .

geography

Telavi is located about 70 kilometers east of the Georgian capital Tbilisi on the river Alazani at the feet of the mountain Ziwi in the Caucasus . The city is best known for viticulture. It has 19,629 inhabitants (as of 2014). Telavi is also the administrative center of the municipality of the same name .

history

Telavi was first mentioned in the 2nd century by the Greek geographer Ptolemy on the world map Geographike Hyphegesis ( Latin also Explicatio geographica , "Geographical Instructions") as Teleda . The name comes from the Georgian word Tela and means "elm" in German.

Under the rule of Kvirike the Great, the city became the capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti-Heretia in the 9th century . The Silk Road brought people and goods. In the 12th century Telavi became the trading center of Georgia. King Artschil II made the place the capital of Kakheti, built a palace and a fortress. Today Telavi is a center of Georgian viticulture and the seat of many wineries .

In 1915 the city was connected to the railway network with the Tbilisi – Telavi line. The line is now operated by the Georgian Railway, Sakartwelos Rkinigsa . However, passenger traffic no longer takes place here.

Culture and science

In the south of the city is the Jacob Gogebashwili State University of Telavi . It was founded in 1999 and, in addition to the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and medicine, mainly teaches oenology . The forerunner was the Pedagogical Institute founded in 1939 . In 2006 it had 2,241 enrolled students and 225 professors and research assistants.

The Georgian Technical University has a branch in Telavi.

Attractions

  • The facades of numerous buildings in downtown Telavi have been renovated or redesigned by the government at great expense since 2012, and some buildings are also being rebuilt. The redesign is taking place in a historicizing style, in which the small town of Sighnaghi, around 50 kilometers away , was previously redesigned. The striking skyscraper of the former Hotel Intourist, which had been inhabited for a long time by refugees from Abkhazia and then stood empty, is also being completely renovated.
  • In the city center, an equestrian monument commemorates King Irakli II , who ruled Kakheti from 1744 to 1798. The oldest tree in Georgia is not far from the monument. It is a 900 year old plane tree that is 46 meters high and whose crown measures 36 meters. It is popularly called Chadari .
  • The royal residence has been preserved to this day. Its architecture shows Persian influences from the period of occupation by the southern neighbor. The fortress Batoni (Georgian Batonis Ziche ) with battlements and watchtowers dates from the Middle Ages. Today it houses a picture gallery and a historical and ethnographic museum.
  • Near Telavi is the former academy of Ikalto , which was founded as a monastery in the 6th century. It was a stronghold of Georgian science. According to legend, the Georgian national poet Shota Rustaveli studied there . The Gremi fortress , a Kakheti royal residence from the 16th century, and the home of the poet Alexander Chavchavadze, which is now a museum, are also nearby .
  • The Alaverdi Monastery (about 15 km from Telavi) is one of the most famous churches in Georgia. It looks particularly impressive against the background of the snow-capped mountains (up to 3500  m ) of the Greater Caucasus .
  • The Zinandali winery, which has been converted into a museum, is located in the somewhat remote district of the same name. It was built by Alexandre Chavchavadze , an officer of the Tsarist Empire and eminent Georgian poet, in 1886. The local collection of wines, some of which are centuries old, is impressive. The winery is also the birthplace of Zinandali wine

Sports

Town twinning

Telavi maintains the following cities a twinning :

After the Music School No. 1 in Telavi burned down shortly after its completion, the Biberach Partnership Association , the City of Biberach , the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Biberach University of Applied Sciences helped with the reconstruction.

sons and daughters of the town

  • Erekle II (1720–1798), King of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762 and King of Kartlien-Kakheti from 1762 to 1798
  • Giwi Tschocheli (1937–1994), Soviet football player and football coach
  • Kachi Assatiani (1947–2002), Soviet-Georgian football player, coach, politician and manager
  • Ana Matnadze (* 1983), Georgian-Spanish chess player and trainer

See also

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas . Vol. 8: The Middle East and Caucasus . 2006. ISBN 954-12-0128-8 , pp. 15, 17.
  2. ^ Homepage of the Georgian Railway.
  3. ^ Goldstein, D (1999), The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia , University of California Press , ISBN 0-520-21929-5 , p. 53.