Admiring the Former Ministry of Highway Construction in the Georgian SSR

Built in 1975 during the Soviet Union, the building was originally intended to serve as the Ministry of Highway Construction for the Georgian SSR. While it currently serves as the main headquarters for Georgia's Bank of Georgia, at a glance it makes sense that this would have been home to the many concepts and developments of highways that would've connected Georgia's small villages, towns, and cities together alongside the neighbouring Soviet Republics. With Tbilisi being the capital city of Georgia, highlighting a significantly important route to Azerbaijan and Armenia, it sits right next to one of the most chaotic highways in the city. I have known of this building since I first arrived in Tbilisi, but it has taken almost a year for me to finally take the time to get out and stumble across it. Stumbling across it being a good choice of wording here given the unplanned discovery of it while out and about in the end zone of the city's Saburtalo district. This is an area I have rarely ventured to, though it seems more like the city's centre than the actual centre does. It's a massive building that is near impossible to not notice if you're on the highway itself, but easy to miss if you're on the other side, where it's mostly covered up by trees and the general surroundings. It sits partially on a hill, and there's not really easy access for those on foot in the area. You're more likely to find it as you drive by on your route elsewhere, for example.

I was out with the intentions of capturing some shots of the sunset with my drone, zero intentions of finding anything of interest from an architectural perspective. This area is a bit more busy, with the motorway on one side, and multiple university buildings on the other, the development of yesteryear and the present is very much evident. It's not exactly well-planned out given the more car reliant nature of the city. I walked through some older streets initially hoping to find a more quiet place to set up the drone and fly from, hoping to escape some of the more dense roads and populated pathways. It led me down areas with stray dogs and domesticated ones; not a fun environment to be in, so I continued walking around the area, which sent me down the side of a highway where the buildings became more sparse, and the traffic increased. On one corner near some newly developed buildings I noticed an odd shape to the right: the current Bank of Georgia building. The first time I had seen it so up close. Wanting to still shoot something in the area, I ended up walking around it, leading me to the main road again but also by one of the building main entrances and exits. With the hilly landscape, the building has one entrance/exit on the higher side, and another at the ground level by the highway. I didn't get a chance to go around to the larger entrance, as that would've been difficult without an actual pathway. 

I really enjoyed the odd shapes of the building at a glance, the way it seemed like it stood out into the air with little support. Architectural creativity and I'm sure a little bit of faith. Despite the city's attempts to remove much of the Soviet symbols throughout the city, some architectural buildings of the era have managed to survive. Albeit with a few changes to monuments, mosaics, and general communist icons that would've been found on the front or sides of buildings. This building doesn't appear to have anything of the likes on it, it holds quite a sleek design. A few years ago it was considered a building to be protected, which is a surprise given that present and previous rejection of Soviet structures. Many of which tend to be riddled with decay, if they're left alone or still utilised. At one point the building was used as an art exhibition centre and was potentially going to receive both reconstruction in some areas, as well as expansion on what's already there. It didn't happen in the end, and it's hard to imagine how expansion on the building would've even taken place given it's already quite a massive building. The building, when constructed, was valued at a cost of around 6 million (Russian) Roubles which would equate to about $61,000~ (USD) in today's money. Quite a low sum when you think about it, but I'm sure a massive amount of money half a century ago. I would've loved to have gone inside, but it is the headquarters of a bank and a little roaming around inside, and even on the general premises would've been a bit risky.

From afar I could see how workers would be relaxing on the 'rooftops' of certain areas. A bridge that connected two sides ran through the middle where two people sat. It must've offered some truly beautiful views of the city and Kura River from up there. Nothing else around at that height aside from the larger areas of the building that surrounded. I was tempted to throw up my drone and get an aerial view; though some winds appeared around the area near the river and the sunlight was slowly leaving. It felt like a bit of a risk to throw it up near the Bank of Georgia under such conditions, especially from the angle by the motorway that I stood at. I'd love to return another time and capture it still, perhaps with a wider focal length on the camera and with the drone for that aerial perspective under better light and less wind. Sometime near spring or summer, perhaps. Birds in the distance flew in formation, parts of the remaining sunlight hit the rectangular shapes of the building leading light and shadows with harder edges. I have no doubts that under summer light that this would be a beautiful sight, especially when it already was during this part of winter. A nice gradient appearing over the city in the distance on the other side of the river, with some mountains appearing in some locations far into the horizon. Leading towards the Caucasus mountains and the Russian border.

If you happen to be in Tbilisi, this isn't an easy building to get to if you're a tourist. Your best option is to walk to the back of it and around to the front from the Saburtalo direction, or take a taxi or bus from the motorway and stop at the main road somewhere. But I do think it's an important building to see with the importance it held for the Soviets in Georgia. It really does symbolise the movement of roads, the interconnecting lines and shapes. A truly beautiful architectural design. And just behind it on that Saburtalo side is the former radio broadcasting building, another unique building with some remaining monuments of the Soviet Union that are decaying, but fortunately haven't been destroyed. I'll be writing a post about that one next!

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