The Rustaveli cinema is a movie theater in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

. The theater is on Rustaveli Avenue

Rustaveli Avenue

Rustaveli Avenue - is an avenue in central Tbilisi named after the medieval Georgian poet, Shota Rustaveli. The Avenue starts at Freedom Square and extends for about 1.5 km in length, before it turns into an extension of Kostavas Kucha...

 opposite the Parliament of Georgia

Parliament of Georgia

Parliament of Georgia is the supreme legislature of Georgia. It is unicameral and has 150 members, known as deputies, from which 75 members are proportional representatives and 75 are elected through single-member district plurality system, representing their constituencies...

. The theater was opened in 1939 and had originally a seating capacity of 1200 people. It was designed by the architect Nikolay Severov in the style of Stalinist architecture

Stalinist architecture

Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...

, and has sculptures by Valentin Topuridze and Shota Mikatadze representing different social groups in vaulted niches on the second floor. The building has four floors and is a cuboid. The first floor is rusticated

Rustication (architecture)

thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...

 whereas the upper floors are structured by Corinthian pilasters

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

. The top of the building is rendered as a overhanging cornice. In 1999 the Rustaveli cinema was renovated and reopened on 11 July 1999 with 415 seats. It shows mostly first-run blockbuster films and has on average 1000 visitors per day.