Anyone seeing this palace thinks of tsars or princes. Yet Sanatorium Meshakhte was built in 1952 for the miners from the coal pits. It was a propagandistic promise in stone: those who toil in the dust for the state may rest here like kings. Architects Khimshiashvili and Melegi created a monumental stage with massive columns and endless corridors. Today, the splendor has faded. Where miners once recovered from the darkness of the mines, darkness itself now reigns. The palace stands empty, a stone monument to a working class that no longer exists.