Akhmeteli Theatre

Akhmeteli Theatre (Georgian: ახმეტელის თეატრი, Akhmetelis Teatri) is the northern gateway to the Tbilisi Metro and the terminus of Line 1 (the Akhmeteli–Varketili Line). It anchors Gldani, the dense Soviet-era residential district at the city’s northern edge, and opened on 7 January 1989 as the final northward extension of the red line — the same day as neighbouring Sarajishvili station.

The station was originally called Gldani. In 1992, newly independent Georgia renamed it after the Akhmeteli State Drama Theatre that stands beside it — itself named for Sandro Akhmeteli (1886–1937), a pioneering modernist Georgian theatre director who was executed during Stalin’s purges. The name gives the station both a cultural identity and a piece of Georgia’s 20th-century memory.

Architecturally it is a classic deep-level Soviet design with a single broad island platform served by long escalators. As Gldani’s main transport node it is one of the busiest points in the network: the forecourt is a major hub for city buses and marshrutka minibuses fanning out across northern Tbilisi, making it the practical “end of the line, start of the bus” for the whole district. Plans backed by the EBRD and Tbilisi City Hall to add a second exit and improve step-free access are in progress.