Tourists Get Lost in the Darkness of Uflistsikhe

A lot of tourists visit Uflistsikhe. Because of heat the visitors prefer to see the historical monument in the evening, but the surrounding area is not illuminated. Nobody knows where eighty illuminations disappeared which were delivered from Tbilisi in Gori in autumn of 2006. This problem emerged as soon as tourist season arrived and visitors started to encounter problems to see the monument.

Representatives of the Uflistsikhe Museum said that the authority had been trying to install the illuminations for a long time. Zurab Sadaghashvili, director of the Museum, said that last year he saw when Regional Gubernator called somebody on the phone and ordered to install 80 illuminations in Uflistsikhe immediately. ”I do not know whom he called and where those lights disappeared then. Nobody has ordered us to attend to that problem,” said the director.

Former village governor, Davit Aleksidze, said that Koba Subeliani, the head of the Department for Public Services and Amenities within the Tbilisi City Hall, gave him 80 illuminations to take to Uflistsikhe. Initially, Aleksidze took lights to the village, but later he was ordered from the Gori District Administration to take them to Gori because the illuminations were to be installed in Guramishvili Street in Gori. But they promised the Governor to deliver lights from Tbilisi for Uflistsikhe a bit later.

There would not have been any questions if Malkhaz Lalobashvili, deputy head of the Department for Public Services and Amenities within the Gori Administration did not confirm the fact that illuminations for Uflistsikhe were installed in Gori.

“As far as I remember new lights were not installed in Guramishvili Street. They only repaired old ones there,” said Lalobashvili.

There are not documents in above-mentioned structures to answer those questions; for example there are not any documents on acceptance. When Illuminations of the Gori Fortress were stolen, Marlen Nadiradze, the chairman of the Gori Municipality, said in his conversation with journalists that the price for each illumination was 70 Euro. At the moment the fate of such expensive lights is obscure.

Nugzar Kaladze, representative of the Street Illumination Service Office within the Tbilisi City Hall said that lights were really sent to Gori but it was in winter; but he does not have information where they were installed and whether they were installed at all.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that the tourists who pay ten lari to visit Uflistsikhe, are setting up tents nearby and staying there for nights. Last week, a lynx attacked the donkey of local resident, Aduashvili. Thus, the darkness creates not only discomfort for visitors but their lives are in danger too.

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori