Paper long abstract:

Socialist Rustavi was designed as an exemplary city of workers with no place for sacral sites and religion. The communists found a meaningful place for the city built in an empty space, in the history of Georgia. The Soviet urban narratives made Rustavi the center of the Georgian medieval historical events and turned it into the source of the Georgian Soviet nationalism. The connection of XII century poet Shota Rustaveli with Rustavi became a guarantee of its national significance. At the same time, international population of Rustavi provided a heavy industrial and socialist profile of the city. The national and international images of the city, as suggested by the Communists, became the basis and opportunity for Rustavians to think about building or restoring the church in the city until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This paper will discuss the construction of the first church in the city of Rustavi in the late socialist period; how the decision of the Christian Orthodox church to be built in Rustavi has emerged; why the interest in the construction of Orthodox temples in the post-Soviet period Rustavi is growing; the interrelationship between the churches already constructed and ones currently under construction. I'll try to find out why the international nature of the city was not reflected in its religious pluralism, e.g. the Catholic Christians are not getting the opportunity to build the temple in Rustavi. I am questioning the discourses regarding religious pluralism, which religious groups have managed to be establish in the urban space of Rustavi and in what way?

In the final part of the paper it is summarized the general meaning of religion in the modern Rustavi urban area and the interrelationships observed in the religious landscape of the city with the national and international past and modernity.