Old Tbilisi (Photo Story)

This story was done as a reportage but due to some technical problems I wasn't able to upload it here. These are the photos which I took during the shooting process and I made some captions which I took from the script.

• Tbilisoba is a celebration for the capital of Georgia, during which every year the old soul of Tbilisi is revealed in downtown modern streets . Some people see difference and similarities between present and past times.

• Lutsa Malukyan is 85. she was born in one of the old districts of Tbilisi and since then she has been living at that place. She works at the St, George Armenian church near her place. Everybody knows her in old neighborhood. When we were filming her the passers by were asking when would they be able to see 'their granny Lutsa' on TV.
  
• Lutsa Malukyan is one of those - who remembers old Tbilisi, street bazaars, Kintos and even the merchants with camels.
  

• 
  She says that 60 years ago this neighborhood was more lively then now. The families of different nationalities like Armenians, Georgians, Azeri, Kurds, lived side by side and they were like one big family. "Now they moved away. Here came many new people, only my family is left from the old neighborhood. My home is as old as me myself".
  
  

• 
  One can also find some specially arranged street bazaars during Tbilisoba, but some spots are permanently good reminders of old times such as carpet shops at the place of old carpet selling area called Karvasla. As the crossing point of the silk road, Tbilisi was like a museum of carpets from Eastern countries. It was often cold 'a town of carpets', by visitors.

• Georgian Institute of Manuscripts preserved the records of 19^th century Iran traveler Majtu Saltan about his contemporary Tbilisi. His photo materials give the possibility to compare old and new Tbilisi. In his records he is amazed with the hotels of the town and what is very interesting, he mentions big number of chemists' shops. We, as viewers were very surprised to see the general view of 19th Tbilisi and see there multi floor buildings with an European look.
• After consulting with the professor of the University of the Manuscripts, next day early in the morning my colleague and me tried to get to that place where presumably Majtu saltan was taking pictures of Tbilisi, Mtkvari, Metechi and Narikala churches, but practically it was impossible to shoot the same view from the same place. The hill was full of houses built afterwards.

• Tbilisoba is ending, the town will return back to its usual lifestyle and old balconies and narrow streets will wait for the next celebration of their history.