Architecture Building Bridges between People and Times - 200 Years Later: German-Georgian Year 2017

The exhibition and public dialogue, Architecture Building Bridges between People and Times 200 Years Later, as part of the German-Georgian Year 2017, was held at the Tbilisi Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) on 25-26 March 2017. The  exhibition was supported by various ministries, the union of architects, and the association of energy engineers of Georgia.

This year, 2017, marks the 200th year of German settlement in Georgia. During their settlement they built a number of towns and public buildings that still exist today, such as the Rustaveli Theatre, the Tbilisi City Council, the Opera and Ballet Theatre, and several Gothic-style houses.

In 2015 Georgia’s Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection commenced an inventory of the German-constructed buildings. To date 37 buildings have been given cultural heritage status.

The architects’ network, Women Build Caucasus (WBC), presented the exhibition of photographs of the architecture and buildings of the German emigrants who settled in Georgia and Azerbaijan 200 years ago. In addition, a one-day dialogue forum brought together art historians, architects, builders, renovators, and the general public. Discussions focused on sustainable preservation of architecture, with all of its sensitivities regarding retaining authenticity in a modern world.

The GIZ Private Sector Development Program (South Caucasus) has supported WBC and the networks of women architects involved in restoration projects of German settlement towns in Georgia, commissioned by the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development. In addition the Government of Georgia has commenced restoration work in Asureti (formerly the Georgian settlement of Elisabethtal) and work is planned in Bolnisi (formerly Katharinenfeld) to restore a German church, school, and four houses. The Georgian tourism department plans to publish a tourist guide of German settlements in 2017 (in Georgian, English, and German languages).

German migration (predominantly from Baden-Wurttemberg) to Georgia began in 1817. On 12 September 1817 the first group arrived – 31 families. By the end of the first year there were 500 families.

They initially established six colonies and eventually a total of 23 settlements, including the present-day Aghmashenebeli Avenue in Tbilisi (before it was incorporated into the city in 1862), and the current towns of Asureti and Bolnisi. Initiated by the king of Russia, Alexander I, those who moved to Georgia were offered a ten-year period of tax exemption and other privileges, such as freedom from military service and freedom of religion.

Asureti was established on the banks of the river Algeti. In 1818 a total of 72 families established the settlement with the help of local Georgians. The Germans developed viticulture, cattle breeding, handicrafts, and foods, such as sausages, cheese, and beer. From 1858-1868 the Germans laid a telegraph communication network throughout the Caucasus connected to Moscow (this was part of the massive 19th century London to Calcutta telegraph line). They also established a pharmaceutical business in Tbilisi in 1829 (it is still there).

The first female Nobel Prize Laureate, Austrian writer Bertha von Suttner, taught German language and literature in Georgia in the early 1830s. In 1853 painter Paul von Franken (1818-1884), known as The Painter of the Caucasus, settled in Tbilisi. When he returned to Germany, his wife Helene refused to leave Georgia, and took a teaching job in 1861. By 1912 German fashion designers migrated to Georgia.

During World War II, under Joseph Stalin’s orders, more than 20,000 Germans were deported from Georgia to Kazakhstan. After the war, a small group of Germans returned to Georgia, and in 1956 they established a new colony called Neu-Botanika (now called Gardabani) 39 kilometres south of Tbilisi, where there is now a thermal power plant in Gardabani that provides Tbilisi with most of its heat.

The architecture established by the Germans of the later period were in the Fachwerk constructions – high attics and deep cellars. This included diamond-shaped frames of logs (mainly oak) that were daubed or filled in with mud, stone or brick. Later there was also a great deal of façade decoration and balconies, that contrasted the austerity of Russian architecture.

Observatory 150 Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Tbilisi

Hotel Europa (Vetsel Hotel)103 Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Tbilisi

Silk Museum 6 Tsabadze Street, Tbilisi

Kashveti Church 9 Rustaveli Street, Tbilisi

Wine Cellar, Asureti

House in Asureti

House in Bolnisi

House in Asureti

Photographs of Asureti residents from the personal archive of Eka Udzulashvili

Mickhailov Hospital 60 Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Tbilisi

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).