Kutaisi ( ; ) is a city in the Imereti region of the Republic of Georgia. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is the 3rd-largest city in Georgia after Tbilisi and Batumi with a population of 123,000 as of 2025. and Kingdom of Georgia and later as the capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. From October 2012 to December 2018, Kutaisi was the seat of the Parliament of Georgia as an effort to decentralize the Georgian government.

History

Archaeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the Colchis in the sixth to fifth centuries BC. It is believed that in the Argonautica, a Greek epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their journey to Colchis, author Apollonius Rhodius considered Kutaisi their final destination as well as the residence of King Aeëtes.

thumb|left|Kutaisi in 1870

Later, it was the capital of the kingdom of Lazica until being occupied briefly by the Arabs. An Arab invasion into western Georgia was repelled by Abkhazians jointly with Lazic and Iberian allies in 736, towards <abbr>c.</abbr>786, Leon II won his full independence from the Byzantine Empire and transferred his capital to Kutaisi, thus unifying Lazica and Abasgia via a dynastic union. The latter led the unification of the Georgian monarchy in the 11th century.

From 1008 to 1122, Kutaisi served as the capital of the Kingdom of Georgia, and, from the 15th century until 1810, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. In 1508, the city was conquered by Selim I, who was the son of Bayezid II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

During the 17th century, Imeretian kings made many appeals to the Russian Empire to help them in their struggle for independence from the Ottomans. All these appeals were ignored as Russia did not want to spoil relations with the Ottomans. Only in the reign of Catherine the Great, in 1768, were troops of general Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben sent to join the forces of King Heraclius II of Georgia, who hoped to reconquer the Ottoman-held southern Georgian lands, with Russian help. Totleben helped King Solomon I of Imereti to recover his capital, Kutaisi, on August 6, 1770.

thumb|left|Kutaisi in 1885

Finally, the Russian-Turkish wars ended in 1810 with the annexation of the Imeretian Kingdom by the Russian Empire. The city was the administrative capital of the Kutaisi uezd and the larger Kutaisi Governorate, which included much of west Georgia.

In March 1879, the city was the site of a blood libel trial that attracted attention all over the Russian Empire. Nine Georgian Jews from Sachkhere were falsely accused of killing a Christian girl and using her blood for allegedly Jewish religious purposes.

Kutaisi was a major industrial center before Georgia's independence on 9 April 1991. Independence was followed by the economic collapse of the country, and, as a result, many inhabitants of Kutaisi have had to work abroad. Small-scale trade prevails among the rest of the population.

In 2011, Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, signed a constitutional amendment relocating the parliament to Kutaisi. On 26 May 2012, Saakashvili inaugurated the new Parliament building in Kutaisi. This was done in an effort to decentralize power and shift some political control closer to Abkhazia, although it has been criticized as marginalizing the legislature, and also for the demolition of a Soviet War Memorial formerly at the new building's location. The subsequent government of the Georgian Dream passed a new constitution that moved the parliament back to Tbilisi, effective from January 2019.

Culture

255px|thumb|[[Bagrati Cathedral, originally built in the Middle Ages and recently repaired from damages suffered through centuries]]

255px|thumb|[[Gelati Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Kutaisi]]

Landmarks

The landmark of the city is the ruined Bagrati Cathedral, built by Bagrat III, king of Georgia, in the early 11th century. The Gelati Monastery a few km east of the city, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the famous churches in Georgia is Motsameta monastery. It is named after two saints, brothers David and Constantine. They were the Dukes of Margveti, and were martyred by Arab invaders in the 8th&nbsp; century. Besides the churches, there are other places of note such as: Sataplia Cave, where one can observe footprints of dinosaurs; ruins of Geguti Palace, which was one of the residences of Georgian monarchs; "Okros Chardakhi" – Georgian Kings' Palace; the Mtatsminda Pantheon, where many notable citizens are buried.

The Kutaisi Synagogue was built in 1885.

<gallery>

File:Kutaisi. A renovated downtown street (Photo A. Muhranoff, 2010).jpg|A street in central Kutaisi

File:Khareba church.jpg|Church of Annunciation

File:Wikiwyprawa 2015 sad apelacyjny kutaisi 6.jpg|Court of Appeals

File:Kutaisi Public School -1.jpg|Kutaisi Public School

File:2014 Kutaisi, Wielka Synagoga (01).jpg|Local synagogue built in 1886

File:Kutaisi State Opera.jpg|Kutaisi State Opera

File:აკაკი წერეთლის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი.jpg|Akaki Tsereteli State University

</gallery>

Museums and other cultural institutions

255px|thumb|[[Kutaisi State Historical Museum]]

  • Kutaisi State Historical Museum
  • Kutaisi Museum of Sport
  • Kutaisi Museum of Martial Art
  • Museum of Zakaria Paliashvili
  • Kutaisi State Historical Archive
  • Kutaisi State Scientific-Universal Library
  • Akaki Tsereteli State University
  • David Kakabadze Kutaisi Fine Art Gallery

Theatres and cinema

255px|thumb|Drama Theatre

  • Kutaisi Lado Meskhishvili State Academic Theatre
  • Kutaisi Meliton Balanchivadze State Opera House
  • Kutaisi Iakob Gogebashvili State Puppet Theatre
  • Cinema and Entertaining Center "Suliko"
  • Hermann-Wedekind-Jugendtheater

Education

Higher educational institutions in Kutaisi:

  • Akaki Tsereteli State University
  • Kutaisi International University
  • Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture
  • Kutaisi University (Unik)
  • Cadets Military Lyceum of Georgia

Professional unions and public organizations

  • Georgian Writers' Union
  • Georgian Painters' Union
  • Folk Palace

Media

Local newspapers include: Kutaisi, Imeretis Moabe, Akhali Gazeti, and Kutaisuri Versia. Other publications include Chveneburebi, a journal published by the Ministry of Diaspora Issues, and Gantiadi, a scientific journal.

TV: "Rioni"; Radio: "Dzveli Kalaki" (old City)

Also nearly all of Georgia's national-level newspapers, journals and television stations have their representatives in Kutaisi.

Geography

350px|right|thumb|View of Kutaisi

285px|thumb|Downtown Kutaisi

Kutaisi is located along both banks of the Rioni River. The city lies at an elevation of above sea level. To the east and northeast Kutaisi is bounded by the Northern Imereti Foothills, to the north by the Samgurali Range, and to the west and the south by the Colchis Plain.

Landscape

Kutaisi is surrounded by deciduous forests to the northeast and the northwest. The low-lying outskirts of the city have a largely agricultural landscape. The city center has many gardens and its streets are lined with high, leafy trees. In the springtime, when the snow starts to melt in the nearby mountains, the storming Rioni River in the middle of the city is heard far beyond its banks.

Climate

Kutaisi has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with a well-defined on-shore/monsoonal flow (characteristic of the Colchis Plain) during the autumn and winter months. The summers are generally hot, while the winters are wet and cool. The average annual temperature in the city is . January is the coldest month with an average temperature of while August is the hottest month with an average temperature of . The absolute maximum is recorded on 30 July 2000.

Demographics

{| style="text-align:center; border:1px solid black; background:#fafafa"

|+

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! colspan="2" | Georgians

! colspan="2" | Jews

! colspan="2" | Armenians

! colspan="2" | Russians

! colspan="2" | Others

! scope="col" | Total

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1886

| 15,200

| 67.1%

| 2.788

| 12.3%

| 2,320

| 10.2%

| 1,526

| 6.7%

|

|

| 22,643

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1897

| 22,017

| 67.8%

| 3,419

| 10.5%

| 1,264

| 3.9%

| 3,684

| 11.3%

|

|

| 32,476

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1916

| 33,843

| 58.2%

| 10,479

| 18.0%

| 1,845

| 3.2%

| 10,975

| 18.9%

| 1,009

| 1.7%

| 58,151

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1926

| 39,871

| 82.7%

| 4,738

| 9.8%

| 830

| 1.7%

| 890

| 1.8%

|

|

| 48,196

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1939

| 59,612

| 76.9%

| 6,986

| 4.7%

| 977

| 1.3%

| 8,753

| 11.3%

|

|

| 77,515

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1959

| 96,614

| 75.4%

| 581

| 0.5%

| 1,614

| 1.3%

| 16,213

| 12.6%

|

|

| 128,203

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1970

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

| 160,937

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1979

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

| 194,297

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1989

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

| 234,870

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 2002

| 181,465

| 97.6%

|

|

| 613

| 0.3%

| 2,223

| 1.2%

| 1,664

| 0.9%

| 185,965

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 2014

| 146,153

| 99.00%

| 60

| 0.04%

| 127

| 0.09%

| 533

| 0.36%

| 762

| 0.52%

| 147,635

|-

|2024 The Kutaisi FIZ was created in 2009 and was established on the initiative of Fresh Electric, an Egypt-based home appliances producer. The Hualing FIZ operates since 2015, and specializes in wood and stone processing, furniture and mattress production and metal construction. Both of the free industrial zones offer multiple incentives to investors such as tax exemptions and reduced barriers for trade. During the same year Changan Automobile announced plans to construct an electric car factory in Kutaisi, with an annual production capacity of up to 40,000 vehicles. The company plans to export annually about 20,000 cars to the EU. The factory plans to employ about 3,000 people.

Transport

250px|thumb|[[David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport|Kutaisi International Airport]]

Airport

David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport (IATA: KUT, ICAO: UGKO) is an international airport located west of Kutaisi. It is one of three international airports currently in operation in Georgia.

Railway

Kutaisi has two main railway stations, along with multiple smaller ones. Direct inter-city, as well as suburban railway services, are provided to Tbilisi (Central) and other major cities across the country. The rail operator on all lines is Georgian Railways.

Sport

250px|thumb|[[Ramaz Shengelia Stadium]]

Kutaisi has a great tradition in sports, with many famous sports clubs. FC Torpedo Kutaisi has participated on the highest level of the Soviet Union football league. After Georgia achieved independence, it won many domestic and international titles. RC Aia Kutaisi won the Soviet Championship several times in rugby, and after independence, national championships and cups. The women's football club FC Martve takes part at the 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round after becoming champion in the Georgia women's football championship in 2016.

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Cooperation agreements

Kutaisi has cooperation agreements with:

  • Newport Kutaisi Twinning Association