A small city hidden in the mountaneous region of Georgia impressed photographer and traveller Pavel Morozov very much, so he spent several days there, mostly on its numerous ropeways. Chiatura is a city of miners that has dozens of functioning and broken funiculars built in the 1950s. There is an atmosphere of the Soviet epoch in this place, it’s clearly felt in half-ruined houses and almost empty streets.
Nevertheless, Chiatura was promised a wonderful future back in the Soviet time, because the city had huge reserves of ore and managnese…
Travelling over the Kvirilla river in a functioning funicular.
The main places of interest in Chiatura are ore mines in the saburban areas. One still may come here to see how manganese is mined.
The manganese deposit of Chiatura is over 100 years old. It has six mines being in the center of all ropeways.
Those who still live in Chiatura like to remember the times of the powerful USSR. The city currently has something in common with Chernobyl or Baikonur…
The city lies on two sides of the gorge.
Night view of the city that has a market, an auto station, a railway station and three cableway stations.
Chiatura still remains the only city in the world with the largest number of hoisting devices used as free public means of transportation.
Unfortunately, those who maintain the ropeways can tell many sad stories – many accidents have happened due to malfunctions of this equipment, some people died.
Chiatura is 220 km from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
One of the abandoned flats.
People keep leaving the city for Tbilisi and Russia.
There is no central heating in the city. People use stoves for warming. 60% of all apartments are abandoned.
Abandoned railway.
Manganese transportation.
Chiatura is a non-tourist city but it’s interesting to be here at least once.