Touring Georgia Outside Tbilisi (Part II of III): Gori

The awesome Memorial to Georgian Warrior Heroes sits in a nondescript park off the city center in Gori 

Within Georgia, the City of Gori is known for one thing. It is the City of Stalin. That Stalin. One of history's greatest monsters. And it all started in the City of Gori. Stalin may not have been the main reason for me wanting to visit Gori, but I took in the Stalin sights when I was here.

And here is Stalin:

Here is a tourist taking a picture of Stalin:

I can't judge.  Someone could've snapped a picture of me as a tourist taking a picture of one of history's great monsters.  But just snapping a photo of a statue of Stalin is not what weirded me out at this museum.  More on that to come.

This is Stalin's train car, parked at the museum:

I can't go in just yet, since I need to go into the museum to get the ticket to get into the train,

Here's how you know the train was a communist train:

The communist logo.

Time to go to the museum:

This is what I found most disturbing.  Tourists posing next to Stalin smiling and laughing, sometimes giving the thump's up.

This particular tourist seemed to be part of a tour group from China.  PRC I presume.  So my thought was this?  Were these tourists merely clueless?  Or did they think Stalin was some sort of hero?  As bad as the first would be, the second is even worse.

There were plenty of portraits of Young Stalin:

Good-looking young man who had not yet become a monster.

I did not get much of sense of the history or upbringing of Stalin since very little of the museum text was in English.  The Stalin-themed carpets did have English language captions, however:

That one was woven in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This one, below, is from Turkmenistan, which I believe is ruled by a Stalin-like family dictatorship:

This is general communist-style art:

And here is my favorite section of the museum:

Dead Stalin.

The only good Stalin is a dead Stalin.

On the right side of the display, note the bust:

Here is another picture.  Different bust.  Same person:

Recognize him?  Maybe this will help:

Those are busts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  In the Stalin museum.  In Gori.  In Georgia.

And here's a Stalin vase:

And Stalin's accordion, I presume:

I was asking this of other people.  There are depictions in the museum of Stalin and his mother.  But no wife.  Did he have a wife?  Was she completely unimportant?  Or Stalin just keep her shielded from the public eye?  I don't know.

After exiting the museum, it was time for a train walk:

I am guessing this was for Stalin's entourage.  I can't imagine Stalin sleeping in bunk beds.  Unless it was with Lenin.  And they would fight over who got the top bunk.  And Lenin would complain because Stalin snored.  You can just tell that Stalin was a snorer.  History's monsters can be like that.

And was this Stalin's throne?

And at the end was a dining car?  Meeting space?  Both?  Neither?

Onto Stalin' childhood home because, yes, it is on the museum grounds.

You can't go in.  Not open to the public, even if you bought your ticket for the museum.  That does not stop lots of people from taking pictures on the steps outside the house.

Why?

And next to the museum grounds is a non-Stalin-themed park.

There is no Stalin in the park.

One last look at the house and museum before heading to the next stop in Gori:

Which is:

Not the church, although this is where my guide and driver parked.  Quick peek inside:

This is the stop to see the Memorial to the Georgian Warrior Heroes.

But first, a Gulf station:

There are Gulf stations all over Georgia, with the familiar orange ball logo.  The oil company that was based in Pittsburgh.  Gulf stations disappeared from the U.S. when the company was acquired several decades ago by Chevron.  But Gulf Oil did not disappear.  It just relocated to Georgia.

Anyway, back to the Warriors.  I knew they were on a hill in Gori, so this sight scared me:

I was afraid that they were way up on the grounds of that fortress way up that hill.  Turns out, no, they were on lower ground.

Then I saw them.  The Warriors.  In all their metallic glory:

But there were behind a chain-link fence and the gate was locked and there was no signage as to how to get closer.

Eight giant metal statues who appear to be medieval-style warriors.  They are arranged in a circle so there was no way for me to get one definitive picture of all eight.

The Memorial to Georgian Warrior Heroes.  Yes, that song at the link was playing on a loop inside my head when I was here.

Each of the warriors are broken human forms.  Missing limbs.  Gashes.  The Warrior on the right is missing all four limbs and a head.

There was an English language tour guide who appeared when I was wandering among the Warriors, explaining to her group that the memorial was meant to convey an anti-war message on the horrors of war, and how even the strongest of warriors is left damaged by war.

I think the word is:  evocative.

A gash in his chest. A missing arm and the other arm missing a hand.  I don't think there is any way this could be considered triumphant.

I believe these were first done at the tail end of the communist era.

All of this unmarked, in a non-descript park, off to the side of the center of the City of Gori:

And a dog:

And a selfie in front of the Warrior who reminded me of the Ghost of Christmas Future:

Better to have someone take my picture than try to do a selfie:

Yes, even in the midst of horrors, whether from war or from politics (Stalin, I am talking about YOU), there is always time for the frivolity of photo-taking.