The birthplace of Iosif Dzhugashvili, better known to the world as Stalin, lies 95km (59 miles) west of Tbilisi. The town has the last surviving public statue of Stalin in the former USSR, as well as a park and a museum devoted to Stalinist hagiography. The latter has been ‘temporarily’ closed for several years, ostensibly for renovation, but more probably to give the curators pause to decide how to display their exhibition in view of prevailing attitudes to the local hero. It also contains the ruins of a 12th-century fortress and a 16th-century church dedicated to St George.