GeorgiaOfficial tourism
Chiatura

Stalin's cable cars still cross the void

Chiatura

Why go

Chiatura is a town suspended in time and space. Since 1954, seventeen rust-eaten cable cars—Stalin's 'flying metal coffins'—have ferried miners across the 130-meter-deep Tsivi Gorge, a solution so audacious it was never replaced. The manganese mines built this place, extracted millions of tons, then collapsed with the Soviet Union. What remains is extraordinary: a functioning industrial monument where elderly women commute to market in swaying cabins, mechanics tend 70-year-old Soviet machinery, and the entire town clings to cliffsides in defiance of gravity. It is beautiful, mournful, and utterly singular—nowhere else can you ride original Stalin-era infrastructure as daily transport.

On the ground See

  • Ride Line 1 from the central station across the Tsivi Gorge to the northern plateau, the steepest and most dramatic crossing
  • Visit the abandoned manganese processing plant and its vast terraced spoil heaps, now being slowly reclaimed by nature
  • Walk the upper town's steep streets to find the cable car maintenance workshops where Soviet-era parts are still fabricated by hand

Practical Know before you go

Cable cars run roughly 7am–8pm daily except during high wind; best visited April–October, though winter fog adds atmosphere.

Last reviewed 25 August 2026 · reviewed quarterly