First Republic Square

First Republic Square former Rose Revolution Square is a square in the Vera district of Tbilisi at the western end of Rustaveli Ave.

History

The square was constructed in 1983 and named Republic Square. In 2005 it was renamed into Rose Revolution Square after the Rose Revolution. In 2018, the square was renamed into the First Republic Square in memory of the 100 anniversary of the establishment of the First Republic of Georgia.

2024 incident

On September 27, 2024, a 24-year-old Russian influencer named Arina Glazunova, died while filming a selfie video. She was walking backwards, tripped over the edge of an underground subway passage, and fell in, causing her to fracture her skull and later die. The subway passage did not have rails was slightly raised by 30 centimeters around the edge which made it hard to see at eye level. The absence of a rail or barrier sparked outrage online and concern that a similar situation could happen. The video of her fall went viral on TikTok and barriers were subsequently installed around the subway entrance to prevent future incidents from occurring.