Georgia and Georgians in the photograps of D.Ermakov

Georgia and Georgians

in the photograps of Dmitri Ivanovich Ermakov

between 1881-1916 years

Images processed by Mr. Rolf Gross

Historical Photos of Tiflis

The Theater of the Artistic Society on Golovinsky Prospect in the 1880s. It still exists as the Rustaveli Teater.

The Hotel “Kavkaz” on Golovinsky Prospect

Street to the Botanical Garden and the Sunni Mosque, wich is today the only mosque in Tbilisi, Mid 1880

The Metechi Church and Queen Tamara's Castle. It was an ill-famed prison during Tsarist time

The turn of Rike Street below Tamara's Castle, 1908

Traffic on Vorontsov Bridge and Mount Mtatsminda

Rike Street during the Great Flood of 1893

People attracted by the disaster seen from Tamara's Castle

Photos of the Georgian Military Road

Following a millenia-old migration route across the Caucasus, the Georgian Military Road was built by the Russians after they annexed Georgia in 1801. It served strategic purposes against the Ottoman Empire, and was one of the most stupendous engineering feats of the 19th century. Unchanged it still is today.

The road begins in Mtskheta, the old Georgian capital of Western Georgia. Its kings are buried in the Sveti Skhoveli Cathedral there

“Queen Tamara's Castle” near Mtskheta. Revered QueenTamara (1160-1213) is made responsible for having built most famous Georgian churches and some of its castles

At Mileti the road crosses the Araqvi river and ascends 1200 meters into the Caucasian highlands.

Steep serpentines of the road above Mleti.

Cut into the sheer rock the road rises another 1000 meter.

Djvari or Holy Cross Pass (2379 m) is snowed-in from December to end of April (this photo) when the army digs a tunnel through the snow.

The Good People of Georgia

Chalvadrebi on the wetlands of the Kura near the Maidan Bridge

Fishermen on a coracle made from sheep skins

Kobuletians from Adjara

The family cart

Three melancholic Georgian women

La Jardiniere

Prince Avaliani of Imereti, 1890

Young man of leisure with a chokha and a papakhi

Young woman

Princess Lazarev dressed in a Tatar costume

The Georgian Patriarch of the time.
The Georgian Orthodox Church was an autonomous body independent from the Russian patriarchy

A Kinto, a famous installation of Old Tiflis
Kintos, fruit and pastry sellers. walked the streets of town entertaining the people with often dubious, sharp-tongued jokes