Travel Guide Gori

Joseph Vissarionovich Djugatchvili: who is he? Joseph Stalin. Gori is the town where he was born, in a humble hovel, on December 18, 1878 (or December 21, 1879, his date of birth is controversial). Little did we know then that he was going to write a long chapter in the history of Russia and the world, and mark many of its pages with a red-hot iron. Although Stalin did not spare Gori, she jealously guards his memory. It would almost turn into a cult for some people. Here one visits the Stalin Museum which, as its name suggests, is entirely devoted to him. The institution has braved the passage of time. Nothing or almost nothing has changed and we go back in time, history has frozen as when Stalin proclaimed himself "the little father of peoples", an uncontested position. Even today, Stalin is still popular with some Georgians. A sensitive subject to be avoided. In Russia, 70% of the younger generation would have a "rather positive" image of the dictator. This museum, which has not been updated since 1959, deserves a visit: it is a plunge into history, in the midst of Soviet propaganda.In the centre of Georgia, Gori, the administrative centre of the Chida Kartli, is a real strategic node between the east and west of the country. En route from Tbilisi, you will see the first (now inaccessible) hills of South Ossetia stretching 13 km from Gori. In 2008, the city was at the centre of the action during the separatist wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During this short and bloody war, Russia had, in less than a fortnight, routed the Georgian army, bombed Gori and occupied the city, causing 80% of its population to flee, before recognising the independence of the two breakaway provinces. Refugee camps still exist, a living memory of these events. The border is still moving. Gori is a rather pleasant town. You can visit its interests on foot. It is an excellent base to visit the fantastic site of Uplistsikhe.