Tbilisi capital of the Republic of Georgia has increasing international attention in recent
years: Buildings play no small part in its reputation as evidenced by the urban megaprojects
enacted by successive administrations countless real estate adverts shilling surrealist
investment properties and the recent establishment of the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial.
Architecture in fact offers perhaps the best guide to the myriad contradictions of the city's
history: Tbilisi is a Silk Road outpost with caravanserais newer than brownstone Brooklyn. The
Orientalist landmarks that prompted many a traveller to invoke the Thousand and One Nights were
in fact usually built by members of a German minority emulating European trends. Today touts
may peddle tours of Brutalist Soviet ruins but one would be hard pressed to find clear
examples of the style within city limits. This book helps to unravel the different layers of
this fascinating metropolis. It does so by providing in-depth profiles of more than 120
buildings themed guides to many others (sacred architecture Art Nouveau Constructivism) and
essays contributed by local scholars.
