Tbilisi is one of the most extraordinary urbex cities in the post-Soviet world — a capital where Soviet brutalist masterpieces share the hillsides with decaying Art Nouveau mansions, where Laguna Vere's Olympic pool is filled with wild plants in the heart of the city and where IDP families from Abkhazia and South Ossetia live in derelict Soviet institutional buildings ten minutes from the Old Town. Discover the 5 best abandoned places in Tbilisi, from our Georgia Urbex Map — 100+ verified GPS locations.
Why Tbilisi Is the Finest Post-Soviet Capital for Urban Exploration
Tbilisi combines three distinct abandoned typologies available in no other post-Soviet capital: Soviet brutalist masterpieces in various states of dereliction, Old Town buildings decaying between active houses and the specific IDP/conflict displacement layer that places Abkhazian and Ossetian families in derelict Soviet institutional buildings across the city.
1. Laguna Vere – Vere District, Tbilisi — Former Premier Aquatic Sports Centre of the Caucasus, Completed 1978, Olympic Pool Filled with Silt and Wild Plants, Soviet Mosaics Exterior (Known Location)
Former Central Aquatic Sports Center/Laguna Vere (completed 1978) was once the most extravagant swimming center in Soviet Georgia. The structure is best known for the colorful mosaics lining its exterior, but the interior is equally impressive, with modernist diving towers and brutal bleachers reaching as far as the eye can see. But where there was once chlorinated water, now is only rogue weeds growing as high as the pool's edge. Laguna Vere in Tbilisi, Georgia, was once the premier aquatic sports centre in the Caucasus. The exterior mosaics are photographable from the street; the interior is currently locked and guarded.
🔗 Sources: Ex Utopia – Laguna Vere Tbilisi | Concrete & Kitsch – Soviet Architecture Tbilisi
2. IDP-Occupied Technical College – Tbilisi — Soviet Brutalist Auditorium, IDPs from Abkhazia/Ossetia/Chechnya in Dormitories, Vacant Auditorium Below, 10 min from Old Town (Known Location)
The Industrial Technical College is long gone, but its legacy remains — the attached buildings (former dormitories and classrooms) are occupied by IDPs from nearby conflicts: Chechens, Abkhazians, and Ossetians are the most common. The area underneath the auditorium is vacant and open for exploring for the urbex-inclined, but do take note that people do live there, and they are not happy to be disturbed. The Technical College auditorium — a Soviet brutalist masterpiece in a state of dereliction — is one of Tbilisi's most striking abandoned buildings. Always be respectful of residents. All GPS in our Georgia Urbex Map.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Soviet Abandoned Buildings in Georgia →
3. Abandoned Building Old Tbilisi – Sololaki or Chugureti — Art Nouveau or Tiflis-Era Architecture, Decaying Between Active Houses, 19th–Early 20th Century, Old Town Setting
Another beautiful but still abandoned building in Old Tbilisi, Georgia. I love this kind of photography and Tbilisi is a paradise for it. Old Tbilisi's Sololaki and Chugureti districts — the 19th-century Tiflis-era residential neighbourhoods with their Art Nouveau facades, ornate balconies and courtyards — have numerous derelict buildings between active residences: the carved wooden balcony rotting, the ornamental plasterwork falling and the courtyard garden going wild while the neighbours' identical balcony hosts a washing line. This is the most distinctively Tbilisi abandoned building typology — available in no other post-Soviet capital. All GPS in our Georgia Urbex Map.
4. Soviet Brutalist Building – Tbilisi Outer Districts — 1960s–70s Georgian SSR Modernism, "Space Age" Architecture, Partially Abandoned or Derelict, Tbilisi Setting (On Our Map Only)
Soviet Brutalist architecture is beautiful and strange — much of it like some odd abandoned spaceship, long-forgotten Hollywood Sci-Fi set from the 60s, or perhaps the fevered product of a very rigorously-minded architect on a great deal of hallucinogenic drugs. Tbilisi's Soviet-era architectural masterpieces — the Georgian SSR produced some of the most distinctive and ambitious modernist architecture in the entire USSR in the 1960s–70s — include several buildings now in states of dereliction or partial abandonment in the city's outer districts. The "space age" brutalist forms of Georgian Soviet modernism are unlike anything in Western European architecture. GPS in our Georgia Urbex Map.
5. Abandoned School – Tbilisi Outer District — Soviet Elementary School, Demographic Shift, Desks in Rows, Soviet Classroom Murals, Capital City Setting (Carte Urbex Exclusive)
An abandoned school in Tbilisi, Georgia — a portion of mystery in the capital city. Tbilisi's outer districts have their own layer of abandoned Soviet schools — facilities closed as the city's population shifted away from older industrial and residential districts toward the new suburbs. The Soviet classroom with the desks still in rows, the Georgian and Russian language textbooks on the shelves and the Young Pioneer murals still on the walls — in the heart of a capital city of 1.2 million people — creates a uniquely urban version of the rural school dereliction typology. Mapped exclusively in our Georgia Urbex Map.
❓ FAQ
What is the best abandoned place in Tbilisi?
Laguna Vere — the former premier aquatic sports centre of the Caucasus, completed 1978, with spectacular Soviet mosaics on the exterior and an Olympic-scale outdoor pool filled with wild-growing plants. The exterior mosaics are freely photographable from the street; the interior is currently locked. 15 minutes' walk from Rustaveli Avenue.
Is Tbilisi good for urban exploration?
Exceptional — Tbilisi offers three distinct abandoned typologies in one city: Soviet brutalist masterpieces (Laguna Vere, the Technical College auditorium), Old Tbilisi Art Nouveau and Tiflis-era buildings decaying between active houses and IDP-occupied derelict institutional buildings. The Brutal Tours guided architecture tour (4 hours, $100 for two people) is the most efficient way to see the Soviet brutalist highlights.
What is Laguna Vere in Tbilisi?
Laguna Vere (completed 1978) was the most extravagant swimming center in Soviet Georgia — the structure is best known for the colorful mosaics lining its exterior, with modernist diving towers and brutal bleachers. Where there was once chlorinated water, now is only rogue weeds growing as high as the pool's edge. The exterior mosaics are accessible from the street; the interior has been locked and guarded for several years.
Safety Tips
- IDP technical college: residents from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Chechnya live in this building — always be respectful and quiet; they are not happy to be disturbed; never enter the occupied residential sections
- Old Tbilisi wooden structures: the carved wooden balconies of derelict Old Tbilisi buildings are rotted and structurally unsafe — never step onto a derelict balcony; document from below or from the street only
- Laguna Vere security: the site is locked and guarded — document the exterior mosaics from the street; do not attempt to access the interior
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person; Tbilisi emergency: 112
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