Kutaisi [key], city (1989 pop. 234,870), W Georgia, on the Rion River. Georgia's second largest city and the country's former legislative capital (2012–18), it has industries producing trucks, mining and transport equipment, textiles, chemicals, and food products. Industry is aided by a large hydroelectric station on the Rion. Kutaisi was the capital of ancient Colchis (8th cent. b.c.), and the capital of Imeritia in the 13th, 15th, and 16th cent. a.d. It was taken by the Russians in 1810. There is some notable medieval architecture, including the ruins of the 11th-century St. George Cathedral, as well as the contemporary, glass-domed former parliament building (2012).
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