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Yesterday afternoon I went exploring around Tbilisi, Georgia and up on the path between the Narikala fortress and the Kartlis Deda statue were some old ruined buildings, not ancient but pre-Soviet.

One of them has a fence around it to keep people out and a sign declaring it to be the property of the Hellenic Republic:

საბერძნეთის სახელმწიფო საკუთრება

I can't find any information about this building on the Interwebs but I'd love to know its significance and history. Was it a church? An embassy? Why does Greece own it? Is it slated for restoration?

You can see its silhouette in the centre here, above the Old Town and between Narikala and Kartlis Deda, just to the right of a larger ruin which may or may not be related:

Tbilisi hillside view

I would say this is a very prominent, and even prestigious location in Tbilisi.

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    Why don't you go back there and ask any of the neighbors about it?
    – Peter Hahndorf
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 22:10
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    There's no neighbours there. No normal houses or buildings. There are some monuments like the fortress and the statue and a few ruined old buildings along the path between them.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 22:31
  • If you are really really curious I may suggest to ask the question directly to the Greek embassy officials in Tbilisi www.greekembassy.ge or maybe contact to tbilisiguide.ge The building is located at the "Sololaki Alley".
    – arys
    Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 7:02
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    While I can't answer your question I can say that the sign is relatively new (wasn't there as of mid-to-late 2011 when I was up there last) and is still there as of 3/19/2012 when I saw it, which might suggest that it is not merely put up by a post-Soviet owner. It's curious enough that I'm tempted to ring up the Greek Embassy...
    – Fleur Flaneur
    Commented Mar 20, 2012 at 21:24
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    I was there yesterday and there is no building there now. Maybe there is some progress now, or it just collapsed totally.
    – user8489
    Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 10:19

2 Answers 2

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During the Soviet period, some scientific research center was established in this building (don't remember the profile of them, any more). In the late 1990s the building was granted by Georgia to the Greek state as a residence for the Greek ambassador in Tbilisi. The building still is uninhabited and looks "as is" now.

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    Really? So what happened to it? And did it happen before or after it was granted to the Greek ambassador?
    – hippietrail
    Commented Jan 11, 2013 at 9:04
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+50

Damn, I wanted to wait for 2 days with answer for this question, and now it had activity :)
All I could find is quite uncertain, but it is better than nothing.

During the war for independence between Greece and Turkey in 19th century, many Greeks migrated to the Russian Empire, in Georgia. Most of them lived in Tsalka, but many of them had some property in other cities, including Tbilisi.

Since the USSR collapsed, Greeks who lived in Georgia decided to return to Greece, and this was successful. Some of them are regularly returning to Georgia (especially at Easter), but with time, the number of such people diminishes. On the other hand, many of the Greeks who returned to Georgia found their houses occupied.

So I think the owner of this house simply moved to Greece, and tried to protect his own property. And he doesn't have money to return there or to sell it to somebody.

Small unuseful update:
Recently found a site with old maps, and, may be, some day there will be a map for Tbilisi (Tiflis), and we can found out this house whole story. Google says that this is a Sololaki street in a rich district of Tbilisi. Some travel report from there (in Russian):

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