These were quite common across many cities and towns in the USSR. The purposes were quite varied: get people to an attraction, offer a scenic route, serve as a shortcut between a residential and an industrial area, serve as an alternative route to public transport.
The machines that power these are old and incredibly huge. And the cabins look like they will fall apart mid-trip - it took a lot of courage to step inside, but the locals say it's OK. I recommend the place to everyone, Georgia is awesome.
The cable cars, the terminal buildings, and the first dozen or so pictures -- If you removed the people, it would look like an industrial inflected sequel to Myst.
That river rock mosaic is gorgeous. Interesting juxtaposition. Such a beautiful medium portraying two men responsible for such a staggering amount of suffering.
Does Russia have a national paint shortage? So much of this stuff would look 100x better with just a little cleaning/rust removal and repainting. Almost every picture in that album shows something that should have been repainted 20 years ago to inhibit rust formation.
Partially true. The proper type of paint was never available. For that reason, alkyd and oil based paint was used for everything, including over metal.
Here are the remains of one such road in my home city of Chisinau, Moldova: http://wikimapia.org/7913907/ru/Верхняя-станция-канатной-дор...