GORI  , a

town of Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Tiflis and 49 M. by rail N.W. of the city of Tiflis, on the river Kura; altitude, 2010 ft . Pop . (1897) 10,457 . The surrounding country is very picturesque . Gori has a high school for girls, lid a school for Russian and Tatar teachers . At one time celebrated for its silk and cotton stuffs, it is now famous for corn, reputed the best in Georgia, and the wine is also esteemed . The climate is excellent, delightfully cool in summer, owing to the refreshing breezes from the mountains, though these are, however, at times disagreeable in winter . Gori was founded (1123) by the Georgian king David II., the Renovater, for the Armenians who fled their country on the Persian invasion . The earliest remains of the fortress are Byzantine; it was thoroughly restored in 1634–1658, but destroyed by Nadir Shah of Persia in the 18th century . There is a church constructed in the 17th century by Capuchin missionaries from Rome . Five miles east of Gori is the remark-able rock-cut town of Uplis-tsykhe, which was a fortress in the time of Alexander the Great of Macedon, and an inhabited city in the reign of the Georgian king Bagrat III . (980-1014) .