Rezo Gabriadze Clock Tower

The crooked tower in the old town grew up in 2010 next to the puppet theatre founded by the artist and director Rezo Gabriadze. He devised it and built it himself: the tower is assembled from old brick, tiles, fragments of stone and pieces of ceramics found while dismantling houses, so that every wall looks like a collage. The tilted tiers, skewed windows and pointed roof are deliberately uneven, since from the outset the structure was conceived as a life-size stage set. The clock face is covered in gold and blue enamel, with small figures and fine mosaic arranged around it. Every hour a little door opens above the clock and an angel comes out with a hammer to strike the hour on the bell; twice a day a short puppet play about the circle of human life is performed. The tower stands on the pedestrian Ioane Shavteli Street, a couple of steps from Sioni Cathedral and Anchiskhati, and has become one of the most photographed spots in Tbilisi.

The tower stands beside the theatre at 13 Ioane Shavteli Street in the old town of Tbilisi. The clock-tower puppet show, “Circle of Life”, takes place at 12:00 and 19:00; the angel with the bell appears every hour. This is a display on the facade, separate from performances inside the theatre. A mechanical fault may prevent the display from running.

Continue your walk to the old Tbilisi fortress wall.

Address

13 Ioane Shavteli Street, Tbilisi

On the map