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.
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| Observatory 150 Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Tbilisi |
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| Hotel Europa (Vetsel Hotel)103 Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Tbilisi |
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| Silk Museum 6 Tsabadze Street, Tbilisi |
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| Kashveti Church 9 Rustaveli Street, Tbilisi |
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| Wine Cellar, Asureti |
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| House in Asureti |
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| House in Bolnisi |
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| House in Asureti |
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| Photographs of Asureti residents from the personal archive of Eka Udzulashvili |
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| 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).
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