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unusual facts about Freedom Square, Tbilisi


1956 Georgian demonstrations

The demonstrators went down the main Tbilisi thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue, to Lenin Square, stopping at the House of Government and then at the City Hall, chanting the slogan "Long Live Great Stalin! Long Live the Party of Lenin and Stalin! Long Live Soviet Georgia!", accompanied by the cacophony of car sirens and horns.


1956 Georgian demonstrations

The center of the protests was the republic's capital, Tbilisi, where spontaneous rallies to mark the third anniversary of Stalin's death and to protest Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin quickly evolved into an uncontrollable mass demonstration and rioting which paralyzed the city.

2008 Abkhazia bombings

Official in Tbilisi and Georgian media offered as alternative explanation that the bombings were the result of a power struggle among different criminal groups in Abkhazia.

2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup

The 2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup was the inaugural edition of this international rugby union tournament, created by the International Rugby Board and was played from 7 to 16 June 2013 at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi.

Alfons Jēgers

In 1940 when Latvian sports life was reorganized according to Soviet standards Jēgers played for Dinamo Riga with which he went on a tourney to Moscow, Kiev and Tbilisi.

Andrei Zazroyev

After finishing his playing career he became a successful manager who coached Dynamo Tbilisi, Spartak Ordzhonikidze, Dila Gori and Spartak Tbilisi.

April 9 tragedy

The April 9 tragedy (also known as Tbilisi Massacre, Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet demonstration was dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Artush and Zaur

The novel begins with an Azerbaijani journalist and non-governmental organisation activist Zaur Jalilov leaving his native city of Baku, Azerbaijan, for a conference in Tbilisi, the capital of neighbouring Georgia.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

In 2011, the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, England, and the Kote Marjanishvili Theatre of Tbilisi, Georgia, produced an adaptation of the novel written by Mike Maran and directed by Levan Tsuladze.

Dato Barbakadze

Volume V: Franz Werfel, Alexander Lernet-Holenia Polylogi, Tbilisi 2010, ISBN 978-9941-9048-4-4.

David Zurabishvili

In 1996 together with Levan Ramishvili, Givi Targamadze and Giga Bokeria he co-founded the Liberty Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan, liberal public policy advocacy foundation based in the capital Tbilisi.

Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue

The avenue is located on the left bank of the Kura River in the Old Tbilisi district of Tbilisi and runs from Saarbrücken Square to Giorgi Tsabadze street.

Eka Tkeshelashvili

She graduated from the Faculty of International Law and International Relations at Tbilisi State University in 1999 and worked as a lawyer for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Georgia, and then for IRIS Georgia, a Tbilisi office of the University of Maryland’s Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector.

Elena Glurjidze

She started training at the School of Choreography in Tbilisi, Georgia, and later trained in St. Petersburg at the Vaganova Ballet Academy.

Freedom Square, Tbilisi

In 2005 Freedom Square was the location where U.S. President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili addressed a crowd of around 100,000 people in celebration of the 60th anniversary marking the end of World War II.

George Chkhaidze

He has currently 52 caps for Georgia, since his debut, an 88-0 win over Netherlands, in Tbilisi, at 3 February 2002, aged only 19 years old, for the Six Nations B.

Georgia for Georgians

Whilst both Gia Chanturia and Merab Kostava have been credited with its authorship, the slogan first appeared in April 1989 when political rallies were held in Tbilisi in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic against Soviet rule.

Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

On 16 February, GBP revealed that the music video for "Waterfall" was being filmed at Chavchavadze House-Museum in Tsinandali and in Tbilisi, directed by Temur Kvirkvelia.

Georgian Civil War

Initially it was led by a triumvirate of Jaba Ioseliani, Tengiz Sigua and Tengiz Kitovani, but it was soon chaired by Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Communist leader who returned to Tbilisi in March 1992.

Giorgi Ugulava

Having briefly worked as a journalist for a Tbilisi-based Iberia TV, Internews, and Transparency International (1997-9), he became a consultant for the Eurasia Foundation in 2000.

Gocha Vetriakov

A native of Tbilisi and of Russian ethnic descent, Gocha Vetriakov graduated from the Vladivostok maritime college in Russia and then joined the ranks of the Coast Guard of Georgia.

Guranda Gvaladze

June 23, 1932, in Tbilisi, Georgia) ia a notable Georgian botanist, one of the founders of Plant Embryology in Georgia, Academician of the Abkhazian Regional Academy of Sciences (1997), Doctor of Biological Sciences (1974), Professor (1991).

Igor Rodionov

Rodionov was held responsible for the violent repression of demonstrations in April 1989 during the April 9 protests in Tbilisi, during which 19 people were killed and hundreds injured.

Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu

In 1226 he attacked Georgia and sacked Tbilisi, destroying all the churches and massacring the city's Christian population.

Jikur

He was instrumental in reducing brigandage in the country, helped the construction of the royal palace at Isani in Tbilisi and levied tribute upon the fiercely independent mountaineers of Pkhovi.

Lana Gogoberidze

Educated at Tbilisi State University and Moscow State University of Cinematography, Gogoberidze headed Director’s Studio at the Rustaveli Theatre School, Tbilisi, in 1975 and directed the studio Kartuli P'ilmi (Georgia Film) in 1988.

Mariam Dadiani

The Iranian officials at Tbilisi sent his remains to be buried in Qom, the "holy city" of Shia Islam, and ordered the queen dowager Mariam to relocate to the citadel of Tbilisi.

Mayor of Tbilisi

Due to the sizable Armenian population of Tbilisi in 19th and 20th centuries, the office of mayor was chiefly occupied by the local Armenians, with the exception of several Georgian mayors, such as Dimitri Kipiani, Vasil Cherkezov and Benia Chkhikvishvili.

The Mayor is responsible for budgeting and strategic planning of some governmental functions across whole Tbilisi.

Mykola Skrypnyk

Rather than recant, on July 7 he shot himself at his desk at his apartment in Derzhprom at Dzerzhynsky Square (Dzerzhynsky Municipal Raion of Kharkiv city).

Neo-Communist Party of the Soviet Union

In all, there were 32 members in NCPSU, mainly in Moscow and Moscow Oblast, but there were also groups in Kirov (2 members), Leningrad (2 members), in Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk, 2 members), in Georgia (Tbilisi and Rustavi, 2 members), in Latvia (Riga, 1 member).

Noel Hunt

He went on to play four times at this level scoring once in Tbilisi.

Noyemberyan

It is located on the Koghb river, 187 km from Yerevan and in 22 km from railway station of the town of Ayrum, on the Yerevan-Tbilisi route.

Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky

On 18 December 2007, Nugzar met with Kristiina Ojuland, the Vice-President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) at the Mariott-Tbilisi Hotel in which Ojuland "paid homage to the Bagrationi dynasty, which has made an extraordinary contribution in support of Georgia".

Politics of Abkhazia

The Council of Ministers relocated to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, where it operated as a de jure government of Abkhazia for almost 13 years.

Georgia maintains an Abkhazian government in exile in Tbilisi.

Presidential Administration of Georgia

The office of the Presidential administration is located on the left bank of the Kura River, in the Avlabari district of Tbilisi, Georgia.

Ravished Armenia

She later moved to Tbilisi (Tiflis) in the Caucusus and through the mediation of General Andranik Ozanian and orders of the Russian military leadership in the Caucasus was sent to the United States for recovery and to bear witness to the sufferings of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Răzvan Ion

He has held conferences and lectures at different art institutions like Witte de With, Rotterdam; Kunsthalle Vienna; Art in General, New York; rum46, Aarhus; Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; la Casa Encendida, Madrid; New Langton, San Francisco; CCA, Tbilisi; Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj; University of Art, Cluj; etc.

Saguramo Range

Saguramo Range is an east-west mountain range in Eastern Georgia located immediately to the north of the city of Tbilisi.

State Council of Heraldry

Located in Tbilisi, the council advises the government of Georgia on all matters related to heraldry.

Tashir

It is 42 km north of the provincial centre Vanadzor, in a valley on the road Stepanavan-Tbilisi highway, at a height of 1500 metres above sea level.

Tavisupleba

During U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to Georgia, on May 10, 2005, when he along with President Mikheil Saakashvili were addressing tens of thousands of Georgians in Freedom Square in Tbilisi, a recording of Tavisupleba failed to play properly.

Tbilisi Avenue

The avenue was renamed Tbilisi Avenue from its earlier name Saray Highway on September 13, 1963 by the Baku Executive Soviet.

Tbilisi-sighting

The Tbilisi-sighting was an alleged UFO mass sighting during a flight from Tbilisi in Georgia to Tallinn in Estonia in the year of January 1985.

The Sun of the Sleepless

The film is about a doctor named Gela Bendeliani (Elgudzha Burduli) and his wealthless family in Tbilisi in Soviet Georgia.

TSU Tbilisi BC

BC TSU Tbilisi is the Georgian professional basketball club, that is based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Vladimir Aleksi-Meskhishvili

Vladimir Aleksi-Meskhishvili was born in Tbilisi, graduated from the Industrial Institute of Georgia in 1939 and taught at Tbilisi Polytechnic University since 1955.

Women's World Chess Championship 1984

As part of the qualification process, two Interzonal tournaments were held, one in Bad Kissingen in July and the other in Tbilisi in September 1979, featuring the best players from each FIDE zone.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili

Among his great achievements are a 2810 performance rating at the 1998 Chess Olympiad and first place finishes at Pavlodar 1982, Moscow 1986, Albena 1986, Tbilisi 1986, London (Lloyds Bank Open) 1989, and in the 2003 European Individual Chess Championship in Istanbul.


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