Tbilisi - Gori - Uplistsikhe

Metheki-kirka og statuen av Kong David, som var kjent som ‘Byggeren’. Han levde tidlig paa 1100-tallet og gjorde Tbilisi til hovedstad i Georgia i 1121. Det har vaert kirke her siden 400-tallet. Kong David hadde sitt palass her, men i 1235 kom mongolerne og oedela baade palasset og kirka. Senere paa 1200-tallet ble den gjenoppbygd. Paa dette stedet har det dessuten vaert fengsel hvor Maksim Gorkij satt i sin tid!
The Metheki Church and a statue of King David, known as ‘the Builder’. He lived early in the 12th century and made Tbilisi the capital of Georgia in 1121. There’s been a Christian church on this site since the 5th century. King David had his palace here, but in 1235 the Mongols came and destroyed both the palace and the church. Later in the 13th century the church was rebuilt. And on this site there has even been a prison where one of the inmates was Maxim Gorkij!


Oversikt fra Metheki-kirka mot gamlebyen, hvor jeg bor. Paa fjelltoppen i bakgrunnen er TV-taarnet, og kirka Mama Daviti. Det gaar ogsaa an aa skimte en bane som gaar opp til toppen av fjellet, men den er ikke i bruk. Dessverre.
Overview from Metheki Church towards the old city, where I live. On the mountain in the background you can see the TV tower and the Mama Daviti Church. You can also see a funicular going up the mountain, though it is not in operation. Unfortunately.


Dette er ikke et scannet postkort. Det er et bilde jeg har tatt aldeles selv, av Sameba-kirka. Den ble paabegynt i 1995 og er enda ikke ferdig innvendig. Men den ser helt fantastisk ut utenfra og troner over byen. Den er synlig langveisfra naar man er i byen. Naar kirka og hele anlegget er ferdig vil patriarken i den georgisk-ortodokse kirka ha sitt hovedsete her.
This is not a scanned postcard – it is a picture I made completely by myself. It is the Sameba Church, which was not constructed until 1995! It is still incomplete inside, though it looks amazing from the outside. It presides over the city on a hilltop and is visible from afar. When the church and the whole complex is finished the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church will reside here.


Stalin moeter deg i trappa naar du kommer inn i huset som rommer Stalinmuseet. Stalin var fra Georgia, fra en by som heter Gori, og der ligger i dag Stalinmuseet – inkludert det originale huset hvor Stalin ble foedt og levde de foerste 15 aarene av sitt liv. Museet er faktisk veldig interessant og jeg skulle oenske jeg kunne russisk saa jeg kunne forstaatt mer. Det var f.eks. spesielt aa se et haandskrevet notat fra Lenin til Stalin.
Stalin greets you on the staircase when you enter the house of the Stalin Museum. Stalin came from Georgia, from a town called Gori, and today the museum includes the original house where Stalin was born and lived for the first 15 years of his life. It is in fact a remarkably interesting museum and I wish I knew Russian so I could understand more. It was fascinating, for instance, to see a handwritten note from Lenin to Stalin.


Julie, min georgiske venninne fra det foerste aaret i Canterbury, utenfor huset hvor Stalin ble foedt og levde sine 15 foerste aar.
Julie, my Georgian friend from the first year in Canterbury, outside the house where Stalin was born and lived for the first 15 years of his life.


Uplistsikhe – en huleby som ble grunnlagt rundt aar 1000 f.Kr, men som i hovedsak ble utbygd rundt i perioden 600-100 f.Kr. Her var rundt 700 huler, men i dag kan man bare se rundt 150. Det er et helt fantastisk omraade aa oppleve; store haller, dype lagerrom, et tempelrom, vanningssytemer, trapper hugget ut i stein…jeg har aldri sett noe lignende foer. Karavaneveien fra Europa til Asia gikk rett forbi her, og dette var et viktig handelssenter i aarhundrer. Det er et utrolig strategisk punkt aa anlegge en by paa. Byen ligger i fjellsida og utnytter landskapet maksimalt, elva renner nedenfor og man har oversikt og kontroll milevis fra dette stedet. Paa et tidspunkt bodde 20.000 mennesker her! Da Kong David Byggeren gjorde Tbilisi til hovedstad paa 1100-tallet mistet Uplistsikhe endel av sin betydning, og naar mongolerne i tillegg herjet paa 1200-tallet gjorde det ikke saken bedre. Legg til noen jordskjelv og du har mye av forklaringen paa at man i dag bare ser rester av hvordan det engang var.
Uplistsikhe – a cave city that was founded as early as 1000 BC, though the main development took place in the period 600-100 BC. There used to be around 700 caves in its prime, but today there’s only about 150 left. It is an utterly amazing are to explore; large halls, deep storage rooms, a temple, irrigation systems, stairs carved in stone… I have never seen anything like it before. The main caravan route from Europe to Asia passed by here and made this an important trade centre for centuries. It is a very strategic point at which to found a city; the city lies in the mountainside and takes maximum advantage of the landscape, the river runs below it and you have overview and control miles and miles from this point. At one point there were 20,000 people living here! When King David the Builder made Tbilisi capital early in the 12th century Uplistsikhe lost much of its importance, and it did not make matters better that the Mongols were ravaging here in the 13th century. Add a couple of earthquakes over the years and you have much of the reason for the city today being only a remnant of its former glory.


Ikke alt var huler; det ble etterhvert bygget hus og anlegg utenfor huleomraadet og naert elva. Som foroevrig heter Tanaelva!
Not all of Uplistsikhe consisted of caves; there were also houses and other buildings made of stone outside the cave complex, near the Tana River.


David, jeg og Julie – fanget i et oeyeblikk ingen av oss var klare for aa bli knipset! David er en amerikansk fyr jeg deler leilighet med. Julie er fra Tbilisi og studerte i Canterbury det foerste aaret jeg var der, og vi har vaert venner siden da!
David, I and Julie – captured in a moment where none of us were ready to be photographed! David is an American guy I share flat with in Tbilisi, and Julie is a Georgian friend I made in Canterbury, as we both studied together my first year there.


Proever aa ikke falle utenfor klippa jeg staar paa… En gang for lenge siden herja Djenghis Khan og hans ville horder her. Jeg kan godt skjoenne at de ville hit!
Trying not to fall of the cliff on which I stand… Once upon a long ago Djenghis Khan and his hordes ravaged this area. I can understand that they wanted to come here!


Uplistsikhe i kveldssol, sett fra litt avstand, og paa motsatt side av elva.
Uplistsikhe in the light from the evening sun, seen from a distance and from across the river.