Историческое оружиеведение (Mar 2023)
Armoury Row in Tiflis from the 1630s to the 1920s
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.
