Dvalishvili L.B. (2023). Oruzhejnyj rjad v Tiflise v 30-h godah XVII – 20-h godah XX veka [Armoury Row in Tiflis from the 1630s to the 1920s]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 12, pp. 4 — 55.

Dvalishvili L. B.

Abstract: For years Tiflis used to be a major economic center of the Caucasus. Its arms were well known and valued outside the region. Arms workshops were located in different areas of Tiflis, but most of them were concentrated in Armoury Row, which, at least since the 1630s, was located in the historic district between Sioni Cathedral and Anchiskhati Basilica, in the western part of King Square. It was probably due to King Rostom that rows of arms workshops were established in the form which remained until the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was annexed by Russia. He moved the royal palace to the area between Sioni Cathedral and Anchiskhati Basilica and began the formation of the royal quarter.

In 1795, after the troops of the Persian Shah Aga Mohammad Khan invaded Tiflis, Armoury Row was completely destroyed but was subsequently rebuilt by the Kartli-Kakheti kings. Armoury Row continued to exist in the western part of King Square until the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom was annexed by the Russian Empire. In the 1800s, various government buildings began to appear around King Square, and therefore Armoury Row was moved a few hundred meters to the south, where it existed until the first quarter of the 20th century.

The study of the history of Tiflis Armoury Row allows us to supplement modern views on arms production in the Transcaucasia in the 17th-20th centuries.

Keywords:  Tiflis, Georgia, Armoury Row (Oruzheyniy Ryad), historical arms of the Caucasus, armourer, King Square, Tiflis Bazaar, hamkars of Tiflis, craftsmen.

Category: Articles

Received: August 20, 2022 Accepted: September 22, 2022 Published: March 31, 2023

License: Copyright © 2023 The Author, The Center of Support and Development of Actual Research in the Field of Historical Weaponry (АНО «Центр поддержки и развития актуальных исследований в области Исторического оружиеведения»). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.