About City of University

“To the left lay the Greater Caucasus and Aea’s City of Cytaea”.
Apollonius Rhodius
“Argonautica”, III c. B.C.

Georgia is a polylingual country. Georgians, who are one of the most ancient people in the world, dominate. Religion is Christian Orthodoxy. Georgian people are noted for their tolerance for any other belief and religion. The statehood of Georgia has over 3000-year history. Georgia is located at the edge of Europe and Asia to the west of the Black Sea and to the South of the Caucasus Mountain Range. From the ancient time the Great Silk Road passed through the territory of Georgia as a link between Europe and Asia. The territory comprises 69,5 thousand square kilometers, population - 5 071 000, total length of the border is 1968,8 kilometers. Russian Federation borders Georgia in the north, Armenia - from the south, Azerbaijan -from the south-east and Turkey – from the south-west.

Kutaisi…

A wonderful city in an equally wonderful Georgian locality – Imereti. A city, whose population of 200.000 is a million

less than that of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. Its natives like to refer to it as the “second capital of Georgia”, and with good reason.

Kutaisi is one of the ancient cities of the world. Ancient Greek myths and history date its origin back to the “times of Minos” (XVII-XV cc. B.C). Ancient Greeks considered Minos Governor of Crete, and King Aeetes at Cytaea (Kutaisi) to be great, “god-like”. The plot of the famous “Argonautica” centers round the “hegemon” city – Kutaisi.

In ancient and feudal times Kutaisi was the first city of West Georgia (Colchis, Egrisi, and Lazika).

As the VI c. Capital of Egrisi kingdom, Kutaisi had for 20 years been the cause of rivalry between Iran and Byzantine. The Persians having once managed to occupy it, Byzantines, Georgians’ coreligionists, liberated the city. In the late VIII c. Kutaisi became capital of the united Egrisi and Abkhazian Kingdoms.

In the 10th c. the first King of United Georgia, Bagrat III, build the beautiful Bagrat Temple in Kutaisi as a symbol of

the country’s unity. Thus, 978 – 1122 Kutaisi was capital of United Georgia.

David IV the Builder was crowned there in 1089. In 1106-1125 he founded The Gelati Temple and Academy nearby. In 1489 – 1810 after the Georgian state’s disintegration, Kutaisi was the capital of the Imereti Princedom.

Great has been Kutaisi’s role in the development of Georgian Culture. In the present century great Georgian writers and

poets lived and worked there: Akaki Tsereteli and David Kldiashvili, Niko Lortkifanidze and Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Shalva Dadiani and Leo Kiacheli.

The Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky studied here. It is the hometown of Zakharia Paliashvili, Georgia’s musical Genius. Among all the Universities Kutaisi University of Law and Economy holds one of the leading positions in Imereti region. Every year

the number of employed students graduated from the University increases. Kutaisi is the city of strong sports traditions. Five-foldworld chess champion Maya Chiburdanidze, famous basketball players - Zurab Sakandelidze, Mikhael Korkia and Nikolai Deryugin were brought up in Kutaisi.

To get a panoramic view of the city one has to go up to the Bagrat Temple. The Main Caucasian Range and Mount Khvamli can be seen at a distance. Down below, in the Colchis Lowland, flows the Rioni. To the right, in a blue mist, lies the famous resort of Tskaltubo.

For additional information please visit sites:

Georgia – History, Geography, Maps, Climate, Culture... www.aboutgeorgia.net

City Kutaisi
www.infokutaisi.com

City Kutaisi
www.kutaisi.com.ge

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