Everything about Gori Georgia totally explained
Gori is a city in eastern
Georgia, which serves as the
regional capital of
Shida Kartli and the center of the
homonymous
administrative district. As of 2002, it had a population of 49,500.
Geography and climate
Gori is located 76 km west of Georgia’s capital
Tbilisi, at the confluence of the rivers
Mtkvari and
Greater Liakhvi, 588 m. above sea level. The climate is transitional from moderately warm steppe to moderately humid. Summer is usually hot. The average annual temperature is 10.9°C, minimal in January (-1.2°C) and maximal in August (22.5°C). The maximum precipitation falls in May (76mm) and minimum in August (34mm) and January (30mm).
History
The territory of Gori has been populated since the early
Bronze Age. According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the town of Gori was founded by King
David IV (r. 1089-1125) who settled there the refugees from
Armenia. However, the fortress of Gori appears to have been in use already in the 7th century, and archaeological evidence indicates to the existence of an urban community in the
Classical Antiquity. In 1299-3, Gori was captured by the
Alan tribesmen fleeing the Mongol conquest of their original homeland in the
North Caucasus. The Georgian king
George V recovered the town in 1320, pushing the Alans back over the
Caucasus mountains.
With the downfall of the medieval Georgian kingdom, Gori – strategically located on the crossroad of major transit routes – was frequently targeted by foreign invaders and changed its masters on several occasions. It was first taken and sacked by
Uzun Hassan of the
Ak Koyunlu in 1477, followed by
Tahmasp I of Persia in the mid-16th century. By the end of that century, Gori passed to the
Ottomans and became their major outpost in Georgia until being recovered by the Georgians under
Simon I of Kartli after heavy fighting in 1599. The town was once again garrisoned by the Persians under
Shah Abbas I in 1614.
Following the successive occupations by the Ottomans (1723-35) and Persians (1735-40s), Gori returned to the Georgian control under the kings
Teimuraz II and
Erekle II whose efforts helped advance economy and culture in the town. Following the
Russian annexation of Georgia, Gori was granted the status of a town within the
Tiflis Governorate in 1801. It grew in size and population throughout the 19th century, but was destroyed in the
1920 earthquake. An important industrial center during the
Soviet Union, Gori suffered from an economic collapse and the outflow of population during the years of a post-Soviet crisis of the 1990s.
Gori is located in the proximity to the
Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. It is connected to breakaway
South Ossetia’s capital
Tskhinvali via a railroad spur which has been defunct since the early 1990s. In the 2000s, Georgia has increased military infrastructure in and around the city. Thus, the Central Military Hospital was relocated from Tbilisi to Gori and reequipped in October 2006. On
January 18 2008, Georgia’s second
NATO-standard military base was inaugurated at Gori. It is to accommodate the
1st Infantry Brigade of the Georgian Ground Forces.
Demographics
| Year | 1865 |
1897 |
1914 |
1977 |
1989 |
2002
|
| Population | 5.100 |
10.500 |
25.700 |
54.100 |
68.924 |
49.522
|
Landmarks
Gori and its environs house several notable cultural and historical landmarks. Although for many foreigners Gori is principally known as
Joseph Stalin’s birthplace, in Georgian historical memory the city has long been associated with its citadel, the
Goris-Tsikhe, which is built on a cliffy hill overlooking the central part of Gori. On another hill, stands the 18th-century
St. George’s church of Gorijvari, a popular place of pilgrimage. The ancient rock-hewn town of
Uplistsikhe and the 7th-century
Ateni Sioni Church are located not far from Gori.
Stalin’s association with the city is emphasized by the
Joseph Stalin Museum in downtown Gori and the Stalin monument in front of the City Hall, one of the fewest of such monuments surviving
Khrushchev’s
de-Stalinization. The monument was a source of controversy in a newly independent Georgia in the 1990s, but the post-Communist government acceded to the Gori citizens’ request and left the statue untouched.
Further Information
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