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Baratashvili Bridge - the Bridge of Love - has been renovated





Baratashvili Bridge in Tbilisi, Georgia, has been renovated – and with the new, one of the pleasantries of the old has been lost – hopefully temporarily.

Baratashvili Bridge (Baratashvili Khidi) is a traffic and pedestrian bridge, built in 1966. In the 17th century it was the Aragvi Bridge, before a new Mukhrani Bridge was built in 1811. It was dismantled when the Baratashvili Bridge was constructed at the same site. It is situated over the Kura River, between the Dry Bridge and the Peace Bridge.

The bridge was named after the Georgian romantic poet, Nikoloz Baratashvill – and is often called the Bridge of Love. On the railing on the traffic bridge were bronze full-sized statues of couples in love – the Lovers. Sculptor Gia Japaridze (1945-) installed the statues on the bridge in 2006. The figures were removed during the renovations.




In 2015 it was closed for renovations. The bridge deck, the hydro isolation systems, the barriers and the underground pedestrian walkway needed remedial work. The Tbilisi Mayor’s Office budgetted $862,345 for the repairs, to be finished by April 2016. The renovations were almost complete when the bridge reopened to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on 14 March 2016. Only the underground walkway needed to be completed – taking a month.

Historical photographs of the underground walkway, from a private archive in Tbilisi, were displayed in 2013 during a project by Irina Kurtishvili and Andreas M Kaufmann. They mounted the old photographs on the graffii-covered walls, showing the bridge a 100 years before, in 1813. The underground walkway was initially envisioned – innovatively – as an exhibition space for art. It only lasted a short while.

But over the years the underground walkway was a forgotten part of the bridge. Not seen from the roadway where the lovers statues attracted tourists, the underground walkway was rarely used. It was dark, the concrete was cracking, the railing looked dangerous and it smelled rank.

From 2010 to 2015 whenever I went to the Baratashvii Bridge, I never walked on the top where the cars drove (and there was also a footpath). I always walked through the underground walkway. There were three reasons: (1) it was protected from vehicle fumes, (2) it was quiet, and (3) there was a bench – in fact there were two benches. From the bridge there is a wonderful view of the Peace Bridge – the well-known Bridge of Peace made of glass panel and spectacularly lit at night. From the quiet of the underground walkway of Baratashvili Bridge, I could peacefully view the Peace Bridge, read a book, or just take some silent time away from everyone else: except for an old man, who also sat on a bench to look at the Peace Bridge.

With the renovations of the underground walkway, the passageway is stronger, safer, and well lit. Now the pedestrian traffic is prolific – there wasn’t two seconds on my own when I visted last week. And the benches weren’t there. Nor was the old man. Some things, with progress, will be forever lost.

THE NEW UNDERGROUND WALKWAY










THE OLD UNDERGROUND WALKWAY







MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).




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