Avchala (ავჭალა) is a northern suburb of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, part of the city's Gldani District. It had formerly been a village with a long history behind until being incorporated within Tbilisi's boundaries in 1962.
Avchala lies on the left bank of the Mtkvari, at 440 m above sea level.[ Avchala, Tbilisi, Georgia 10-Day Weather Forecast] The first Hydro Electric station (Zahes) is located at the upper section of Avchala. It was built in 1927. It is recorded to be the first, most effective Hydro Electric station in the whole of Georgia.
History
It is first recorded in the Georgian Chronicles as a locale where the invading
Seljuk Turks made their camp c. 1080. Avchala then frequently appears in medieval accounts.
[Thomson, Robert W. (1996), Rewriting Caucasian History, p. 341. Oxford University Press, ] In 1734 it was heavily fortified to secure the northern approaches of Tbilisi against the marauding
. Under the Russian rule, in 1887, the brooks of Avchala were collected to furnish Tbilisi with water. In 1927, the Zemo Avchala hydro-electric scheme (ZAHES) was completed to provide Tbilisi with electricity and was celebrated as a great achievement of the
Soviet Union government.
[Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation, p. 236. Indiana University Press, ][Lang, David Marshall (1962), A Modern History of Georgia, p. 246. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson] Later in the Soviet era, Avchala developed as an industrial suburb of Tbilisi, but several of its enterprises are now defunct or half-ruined.
