Mtatsminda Park is a landscaped park located at the top of Mount Mtatsminda overlooking the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The park has carousels, water slides, a roller-coaster, dark ride, funicular, and a big Ferris wheel at the edge of the mountain, offering a splendid view over the city. [1]
The park is situated at the 770 metres height, the highest point of Tbilisi, on the area of more than 100 hectares. It is connected to a motorway (Tbilisi-Okrokana Direction) as well as a funicular, built in 1905. [2]
Tbilisi Funicular is a ropeway railway connecting Chonkadze street and Mtatsminda Park. The length of the funicular road is 501 m, the angle of the tunnel is 28-33°, and the distance between the stations is 0,98 m. The upper station is at 727 m above sea level and the lower station is at 460 m above sea level. [3]
Giant Wheel is the highest attraction in Mtatsminda Park: it is 65 m high. The Giant Wheel completes one revolution in 10–12 minutes. [4]
Ghost Castle is a dark ride featuring a series of horror scenes and special effects. [5] This huge three-storey medieval castle was purchased from Luneur park and was originally known as "Legend". [6] [7]
The park was founded by the Soviet government in the 1930s and was once noted as the 3rd most visited public park in the USSR.
[In 2001] the late Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili along with his wife, Inna Gudavadze, began transforming the park into a 21st-century theme park. Badri owned the park as a charitable project alongside a number of commercial assets in Georgia, included the Rustavi Steel Plant, Borjomi water, and Imedi TV station.
In 2007 Patarkatsishvili became a vocal opponent of the National Movement Party and as a result, fell out of favor with President Mikhail Saakashvili. On the 7 November 2007, his assets including Mtatsminda Park and the Imedi TV station were seized by the Government under claims that the company had “violated numerous times” the terms of the contract and had failed to pay a rental fee. Representatives of Patarkatsishvili immediately rejected this claims, saying that they were “baseless.” [8]
After Patarkatsishvili's death at his home in England in February 2008, his widow Inna Gudavadze began international arbitration proceedings against the Government of Georgia, claiming that Mtatsminda Park, along with other Georgian assets, had been unfairly expropriated by the government. On the 29 October 2008, Inna Gudavadze said at a press conference in Tbilisi that Mtatsminda Park, as well as the Imedi TV station were “Badri’s personal projects for Georgia and the Georgian people" and that she had a "duty to see that these works are carried on.” [9]
In July 2011, the Patarkatsishvili family reached a settlement with the government that saw Mtatsminda Park returned to Inna and the family in return for them renouncing all claims to the ownership of Imedi TV. [10] Following the fall of President Mikhail Saakashvili, Imedi was also subsequently returned to Inna and her family in October 2012 under the new government. [11]
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. From May 2015 until November 2016, Saakashvili was the governor of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast. He is the founder and former chairman of the United National Movement party. Saakashvili heads the executive committee of Ukraine's National Reform Council since 7 May 2020. In 2021 he began serving a six-year prison sentence in Georgia on charges of abuse of power and organization of an assault occasioning grievous bodily harm against an opposition lawmaker Valery Gelashvili.
United National Movement is a liberal and pro-Western political party in Georgia founded by Mikheil Saakashvili, which rose to power following the Rose Revolution. Since the 2012 parliamentary election, it has been the main opposition party.
Irakli Okruashvili is a Georgian politician who had served on various important posts in the Government of Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili, including being the Minister of Defense from December 2004 until being dismissed in November 2006.
Rustavi 2 is a Georgian free-to-air television channel based in Tbilisi, that was founded in 1994 in the town of Rustavi.
Arkady Shalvovich "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a Georgian businessman who also became extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes. From the early 1980s, until the time of his death, he was a flamboyant figure in business and was behind some of the most successful companies in today's Russia. From humble origins, he became the wealthiest citizen in Georgia with an estimated wealth of $12bn. He was also one of the country's largest philanthropists.
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Imedi Media Holding is a private television and radio company in Georgia. The stations were founded by the Georgian media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. The station mainly concentrates on news and analytical coverage, but broadcasts pop music as well, particularly at nighttime. Imedi means "hope" in Georgian.
The mass media in Georgia refers to mass media outlets based in the Republic of Georgia. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of speech. Georgia is the only country in its immediate neighborhood where the press is not deemed unfree. As a country in transition, the Georgian media system is under transformation.
Givi Targamadze is a Georgian politician in the United National Movement. An ally of Mikhail Saakashvili, Targamadze was one of the leaders of the United National Movement and the 2003 Rose Revolution. He served as Defense and Security Committee Chairman of the Georgian Parliament from 2004 to 2010, a period marked by tensions with Russia and a brief 2008 war over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
The Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures is a necropolis in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, scholars, and national heroes of Georgia are buried. It is located in the churchyard around St David's Church "Mamadaviti" on the slope of Mount Mtatsminda and was officially established in 1929. Atop the mountain is Mtatsminda Park, an amusement park owned by the municipality of Tbilisi.
In 2007, a series of anti-government protests took place across Georgia. The demonstrations peaked on 2 November 2007, when 40,000–50,000 rallied in downtown Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. People protested against the allegedly corrupt government of president Mikheil Saakashvili. Protests triggered by detention of Georgian politician Irakli Okruashvili on charges of extortion, money laundering, and abuse of office during his tenure as defense minister of the country were organized by the National Council, an ad hoc coalition of ten opposition parties, and financed by the media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. Demonstrations occurred both in September and November 2007 and were initially largely peaceful. The protests went downhill by 6 November 2007, but turned violent the next day when the police, using heavy-handed tactics, including tear gas and water cannon, unblocked Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi's main boulevard, dislodged the protesters from the territory adjoining to the House of Parliament, and prevented the demonstrators from resuming the protests. The government accused the Russian secret services of being involved in an attempted coup d'état and declared a nationwide state of emergency later that day which lasted until 16 November 2007.
Presidential elections were held in Georgia on 5 January 2008, moved forward from autumn 2008 by President Mikheil Saakashvili after the 2007 demonstrations.
Gia [Giorgi or George] Maisashvili was a Georgian economist and politician who was a presidential candidate in the Georgian presidential election of 2008.
Bidzina Ivanishvili is a Georgian politician, billionaire businessman and oligarch, who served as Prime Minister of Georgia from October 2012 to November 2013.
The 2010 Georgian news report hoax, also known as "Simulated Chronicle", was a fake news report aired by Georgian television station Imedi TV on 13 March 2010. The hoax, intended as a hypothetical pseudo-documentary, reported on the breakdown of Parliament and the deaths of several government officials, culminating in an invasion of Georgia by Russia. The broadcast's close resemblance to genuine news programming caused widespread panic among Georgians who believed the events depicted were real, and it was linked to the deaths of at least three people.
Rustavi SteelLLC is a Georgian company that was established in 2011 to acquire the assets of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant. The Rustavi Metallurgical Plant industrial enterprise is situated 30 kilometres to the south of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi.
Mze TV was a Georgian television channel, launched in 2003 by Vano Chkhartishvili, a Georgian millionaire and member of the Georgian parliament from 1999 until 2007. He served as Economy Minister under President Eduard Shevardnadze from November 2001-November 2003.
Ivane (Vano) Chkhartishvili is a Georgian and is the 48th richest businessman in the region with an estimated wealth of around $100million. He is a former Minister of the Economy and Member of Parliament in Georgia.
David Georgievich Sakvarelidze is a Ukrainianand former Georgian politician, prosecutor, and attorney.
Inna Gudavadze is a Georgian-British businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the founder of a London-based family office overseeing her family assets with a focus on diversified portfolio of investments. She also is the founder of the Gudavadze-Patarkatsishvili Foundation which supports education initiatives in Georgia.