Sanatorium Tbilisi, Tskaltubo, Georgia

Sanatorium Tbilisi is one of the large Soviet-era resort buildings in the spa town of Tskaltubo in western Georgia. Once a popular destination for state-sponsored wellness vacations, this once-grand spot is now standing partially derelict, slowly deteriorating. Like many of Tskaltubo’s sanatoria, the decades since the fall of the USSR have not been kind.

I explored Sanatorium Tbilisi during my 2022 Georgia and Armenia Tour, when I visited many of the old resorts and bathhouses across the town. During my visit, inside is not entirely silent, as displaced families now call this place home (in addition to stray dogs who roam the lower floors).

The spa town of Tskaltubo in the Soviet Era

During the Soviet period, Tskaltubo was developed into one of the USSR’s principal spa towns. Its radon–carbonate springs were believed to have healing properties (specifically for circulatory, nervous, and joint conditions). From the 1930s onwards, the Soviet state funded large-scale construction and development here. Sanatoria, bathhouses, parks, and leisure facilities filled the valley. Rail links brought visitors from Moscow and beyond, and the town rapidly grew.

At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, the town welcomed over 100,000 guests annually. Visitors stayed in grand accommodation blocks, received prescribed treatments, and participated in organised leisure and rest programmes.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the town declined rapidly. State-subsidised spa tourism ended, and along with it, maintenance budgets evaporated. As a result, many of the spas closed. Some were later used to shelter Internally Displaced Persons during the Abkhazia conflict in the early 1990s, many of whom still call the ruins of Tskaltubo home.

History of Sanatorium Tbilisi

Construction of Sanatorium Tbilisi began in 1951, during the main development phase of Tskaltubo’s resort infrastructure when the town was at its peak popularity. This sanatorium was named after the Georgian capital. The impressive facade, located prominently, was the first sanatorium that visitors encountered as they entered the spa resort area from the Tskaltubo city centre.

The building’s monumental facade is late Stalinist and early Soviet modernist, a style which drew inspiration from the late Renaissance and Classical periods. The symmetrical building features a central entrance, with side wings branching off. Silent guardians, imposing stone griffins, flank the entrance. Stepping through the grand entrance leads to the plaza, an enclosed courtyard with a central fountain that is surrounded by palm trees. An oasis, encircled by Soviet concrete.

Renovation begins (Winter 2022)

Shortly after my visit, it appears that everything changed! The displaced families living inside moved on (or were moved on), and renovation work began to renovate Sanatorium Tbilisi. This building will be a Hilton Hotel, with over 100 rooms, after an investment of €18 million was secured. Photos online show the groundwork may have begun only a few short months after my visit. Certainly, it appears the work was in full swing by the summer of 2023, with scaffolding in place and work on the facade underway.