Mental Excursions

Georgia Diary 5 last Stalin - a saint or the Devil’s messenger L: Stalin's statue at Gori R: The house where he was born Last week I mentioned visiting Jvari monastery and Uplistsikhe rock town. It was evening and the sun was moving towards the west when enroute Tbilisi, we stopped in Gori, a small town marked on the world map because it was here that Joseph Stalin, Soviet politician and revolutionary, was born and spent the first few years of his life. There is a museum in the Central Square which was officially dedicated to Stalin in 1957. The complex consists of the main building with the exhibits and the two-storey-house where he was born. The railway carriage he used for travelling in his days as a leader, is parked outside. As you enter the large building, you see marble stairs with a red carpet and Stalin’s statue on the landing. On going up further you pass through six halls to watch a permanent display of the Bolshevik leader’s photographs, letters, battle plans

Georgia Diary-4 Timeless Trails in Georgia Rock-cut town of Uplistsikhe Last Saturday I told you about our visit to Dashbashi canyon. The next day was our last day to visit places. Though it was not a very long list, it took up the whole day. We drove to Mtskheta, 20 km from Tbilisi, and one of the oldest ‘continuously’ inhabited cities in the world. Our first stop, sixth-century  Jvari Monastery, is situated on the top of Mount Jvari, close to Mtskheta and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Legend is that Saint Nino, known to have converted Iberian King Mirian III to Christianity, erected a huge cross where a pagan temple stood. Believing in the miraculous powers of the cross, people built a church on what was left over of the cross. Later, giving in to the needs of the time, a bigger church was built in the late sixth century. Like all other churches, it suffered damage during battles between kings. It was burnt by the Arabs in 914, but repaired later and the same was repeated du