Chiatura

Chiatura is a small town at the foot of the Caucasus in Georgia.

Before the First World War, Chiatura was the largest manganese mining centre in the world, producing 40% of the world's total.
Today, the originally high-quality manganese deposits are almost exhausted.
Due to the loss of numerous jobs in the mining industry, the population has nearly halved from 30,000 to 16,000.

The gas, water and electricity supply in the city is so marrode that it collapsed completely in 1992. Only since 2004 there is again a public electricity supply - until then one had to help oneself with diesel generators.
Even today, the supply still fails for days on end.

Chiatura's most important means of transport and main attraction are the 26 passenger cable cars and more than 50 material ropeways, which connect the districts at different heights with each other and the mines.
Almost all of the cable cars date back to the 50s and 60s. Due to modernisation most of the passenger cableways are currently closed. However, the two oldest cable cars are still in operation and are free of charge for those who have the courage to travel with them.

One of the two, the so-called Friedensbahn, was built in 1966 and, with a gradient of 48° (111%), is the steepest cable car in Tschiatura. The other, cableway No. 25, is the oldest cableway in the town, built in 1954 and has been working without interruption for 65 years in its original condition!

Of course I drove with both of them, during the day as well as at night, which has a special charm, because there is no light in the cabins.