Exploring A Soviet Era Bus Station in Tbilisi

The most interesting aspects of Tbilisi stem from its Soviet past. While Old Tbilisi is something that holds a little bit of beauty from the pre-Soviet, but it's main purpose today is a massive tourist trap that holds little to admire beyond its most central point. I find roaming through the more blatant aspects of the city to be fascinating. The buildings of previous generations that held significantly different meanings back then, where in the past they were often the foundations to the USSR's ability to function, offering different ideas to maintain its communist influence upon the people. From architecture to ideology, both were cemented into the mind of the average worker. To know this is to understand the purpose of a building, and that purpose is often felt upon the first sight. The scale is often the first thing to note: from apartment buildings to libraries, to bus stations and train stations. The locations that were often seen by many simply had to impress. Much like the large structures of Ancient Rome, to witness the greatness of your empire is to feel empowered, to remain an efficient piece of that greater puzzle that keeps the wheels moving.

The building itself was built back in 1973 with the intent of serving 18,500 people every day, which is an astonishing number of people navigating to and from the station. Though with the aforementioned purpose during the Soviet Union, it would've been a pivotal location that kept workers and families content as they travelled throughout the regions and former republics. A place of importance is Georgia's Rustavi city, a massive industrial town that sits to the south of Tbilisi. While much of the city of Tbilisi was built up around the north with districts branching outward to the east and west, the bus station's location is of importance regarding the access to and from the nearby nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which had seen better days regarding its former relationship. There are photographs online of how the station looked in the past, showcasing its architectural design and importance in being a place of greatness for those that pass through, beautiful black and white photographs in which the building's state was certainly better in the past. These days, it's something repurposed in various ways, without the same level of attention it once had.

There are now numerous bus stations throughout Tbilisi, and one of the main hubs for travel to neighbouring countries and throughout Georgia is found more in the middle of the city, not quite a bus station, but more an area claimed by the drivers to load on and off passengers. It's a tragedy to see the current state of Tbilisi's Central Bus Station, giving a glimpse at how many places just like it have been slowly forgotten as time went on. These days, many little travel companies now take residency in the rooms on the ground floor. Small, cold and sad looking rooms dedicated to bus transport. Coaches and small buses are parked up all over, but in the times I have been there, not once have I seen one load up or off with people, or turn up. These coaches and buses advertise travels to and from Russia for the most part. You may see the odd sign referring to somewhere else, a place either in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan. But most appear to advertise trips north, across the border into Russia: Krasnodar, Moscow, and Ivanovo. It's a strange place to walk around due to the decay. Things have been repurposed, redecorated, or just left to rot as floors crumble, the pathways above have tiles missing. 

Above is an old platform that must've been used for people to sit and navigate around the building, across the street is a fire station built also in the Soviet Union. There's no coincidence that the fire station holds a large and fortunately still existing mosaic that shows pride in the workers of the fire station. A beautiful piece of art that sends its message far to the bus station. These mosaics are a bit harder to find these days, especially in a place like Georgia where much of the Soviet past has been rejected, often removed entirely in a sad fate of destruction. Another mosaic sits more at the entrance, this one dedicated to the bus station itself and displaying the history of transport itself. Fun additions to the environment that not only give a bit of context to the buildings and their purposes, but showing pride in them. Again, a very important and common thing back then under communist rule. The interior is an odd place, lots of stairs are found in the middle, leading to and from the upper part of the building where hotel rooms are found, as would've been important back then for people passing through. I'm sure they were incredibly cheap, and likely still are in the event that these rooms still function. I would've loved to have gone upstairs and walk around, taking some photographs of the additional area, but I wasn't sure it was actually allowed. The whole building's interior has an abandoned feeling to it. It's always void of people. More stray dogs that people. 

It speaks of the isolation such locations now have as they have been ignored by time. The interior design was mostly empty, but it still had the original features in the general design of its wooden stairway bannisters. The old 70s wood aesthetic on the doors and the rest. Surprisingly the interior is well kept, in much better condition than the exterior, and incredibly tidy. That was a nice thing to see. Whoever is taking care of the place in that sense is doing a great job. I intend to go back on a day with better lighting and weather conditions to shoot the building a bit more creatively. I think it's a building that is incredibly unique, beautiful in its design and riddled with history and rich stories to tell. It's a shame to see it so empty these days, but at least some people are finding use in it still. Better to be used than to be totally empty and abandoned. I do hope that it will see some attention, an attempt to revive it and fix up some of the areas of decay. 

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