Gori, Georgia
Gori (Georgian: გორი) is an industrial city in the Shida Kartli province of Georgia. The city was founded by one of the greatest kings of Georgia, David the Builder (1089–1125). It has a population of 60,000. Gori is situated where the Liakhvi River enters the Mtkvari (Kura River). The city was largely destroyed in the 1920 earthquake.
It is probably best known as the birthplace (1878) of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and contains the Joseph Stalin Museum with items related to his life, the house where he was born, and his personal railway carriage. The museum contains many objects that were in possession of Stalin during his rule of the Soviet Union such as carpets from the Post-Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. The house where he was born is very small in area, and was shared by Stalin, his mother, his father and a landlord.
One of the last standing statues of Stalin in in the former Soviet Union stands outside the Town Hall. The town is overlooked by the medieval fortress of Goristsikhe.