Following successive occupations by the Ottomans ( 1723 – 35 ) and Persians ( 1735-40s ) , Gori returned to Georgian control under the kings Teimuraz II and Erekle II whose efforts helped to advance economy and culture in the town . Following the Russian annexation of Georgia , Gori was granted the status of a town within the Tiflis Governorate in 1801 . It grew in size and population throughout the 19th century but was destroyed in the 1920 earthquake . An important industrial center in Soviet times , Gori suffered from an economic collapse and the outflow of the population during the years of a post-Soviet crisis of the 1990s
1920 earthquake
1920 Gori earthquake
Gori, Georgia