In today's world of zoom classes, isolation, and masks we seek new ways to spend our time. While in November there are too many Covid-19 cases to fully enjoy the outside world, at the start of October, with proper protection of masks and hand sanitizers, few of the juniors could sightsee one of the oldest parts of Tbilisi, Sololaki.
Our trip started at Orbeliani Square. The weather was desired to be sunnier, but the cold cloudy day may have been more fitting with the scenery of Sololaki. Our group’s goal was to capture the old buildings of the district. Sololaki is a special part of our town, because of its old unique buildings that are on the brink of being destroyed. The trip was centered on this aspect of the district, keeping in mind that we might well be the last people to see certain streets in their present form. This project was initiated by our school principal, Mr. Cruz and he chaperoned us, five junior students with cameras ready to capture every brick through the city.
The citizens of Tbilisi often criticize the city for having bad architecture, in the sense that the old traditional buildings are often sided by side with new blue-window skyscrapers. In Sololaki this criticism could be proven with many examples. Let's start with the old building in the district; when I mentioned that they are on the brink of collapse, it wasn't an overstatement. A good quarter of the buildings are slanted because of poor craftsmanship with the conjunction of natural disasters such as earthquakes. The slanted houses have missing bricks, misfit windows, and rusted metal balconies. Almost every house had a water pipe, which was, to say ‘miserably trying to keep the houses from finally collapsing.’ To have these old dated houses in the oldest district of the town is one thing, but even more of a tragedy was to see these houses right next to just-finished three-story homes.
The newly built homes wouldn't have been a problem outside the context of Sololaki. But to see the structurally intact, renovated, modern houses next to previously described houses was giving every one of us an eyesore. Naturally, our photographs were only showing the interesting antiquity of the old houses, which almost seemed nostalgic. The trip was not only focusing on the history and architecture of the district, Mr. Cruz also told us a few stories about his experiences there. For example, as we were walking through the streets, we noticed that the Sololaki cats seemed to be a lot calmer and smarter than the cats of the rest of Tbilisi, (like Vake cats and Vera cats) they were perfectly aware of how to properly cross the street and were relaxed in the presence of humans! During the trip, we even went back to the Metekhi bridge, where most of us had to do a project about the St. Abo Tbileli last year, which brought back many of the memories.
In conclusion, all of the participants can say that this trip was a memorable experience, filled with interesting stories, damaged yet beautiful buildings, and photographs, which will forever capture the state of Sololaki as it was that day and remind us of this wonderful journey.
Edited by: Mariam Khaduri
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