Organisers
FREE GUIDED TOURS INFORMATION
Saturday, 30th September 2017, 9:00
Free guided tour - Mtskheta: Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and The Mtskheta Church of Jvari (Holy Cross)
Meeting point: 9:00, Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi
Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Kartli, the East Georgian Kingdom from the 3rd BC to the 5th century AD, and was also the location where Christianity was proclaimed as the official religion of Georgia in 337.
The Holy Cross Monastery of Jvari and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral are key monumenbts of medieval Georgia.
The present churches include the remains of earlier bulidings on the same sites, as well as the remain of ancient wall paintings. The complex of the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in the centre of the town includes the cathedral church, the palace and the gates of the Katolikos Melchizedek that date from the 11th century, bult on the site of earlier churches dating back to the 5th century.
Jvari Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery of the 6th century near Mtskheta and is a masterpiece of the early Medieval Period. Unusual and varied relief sculptures decorate its facades. The name is translated as the Monastery of the Cross. According to traditional accounts, it was here in the early 4th century that Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting the country to Christianity, stayed here to pray and erected a cross on Mtskheta's highest hill. A minor church of the Holy Cross was built in the second half of the 6th century, and a bigger church was erected over the wooden cross between 586 and 605 by Erismtavari Stepanoz I.
https://goo.gl/maps/g3uR5kYwYbk
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/708
Art and Cross-Cultural Dialogue:
Identity and Cultural Diversity
Saturday, 30th September 2017, 13:00 – 14:00
Free guided tour - The Museum of Fine Arts
Meeting point: 13:00, 2/4 Aleksandr Pushkin St, T'bilisi
The treasury at the Georgian Museum of Arts was founded in the second half of the 19th century, and developed further in the early 20th century, creating a centerpiece for the Georgian National Treasury. The majority of the materials presented in its exhibitions are the works of Georgian Masters. The treasury preserves and presents works from the Bronze Age, Antic-Hellenistic, and medieval periods, as well as significant modern artifacts up through the 20th century.
Gold and silver temple rings dating from the 3rd century BCE were found in Sachkhere barrows, and artifacts from Antic-Hellenistic burial mounds were found in the regions of Kazbegi, Akhalgori, Sachkhere, Sairkhe, Uplistsikhe, Modinakhe, Rgani, Chkhari, and Sargveshi. The proliferation of these objects demonstrates proof of early Georgian mastery in metalwork, as well as its close cultural ties with the rest of the ancient world.
Metal sculptures from the medieval period are gathered from various monasteries and churches. Icons, chalices, altars, procession, breast crosses, and other collections presented in the Museum of Art enable visitors to look though the development process of Georgian goldsmiths from the 5th to 20th centuries.
The Georgian Museum of Art hosts one of the richest and most unique collections of golden vitreous enamel, reserved in the precious metal collection.
More than two hundred artifacts are presented in the exhibition; half of these are reserved at Khakhuli triptych.
https://goo.gl/maps/AsNtxm2W6PR2
http://museum.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=69&info_id=11862
Triptych of the Virgin from Khakhuli Monastery Tao (today's Turkey), 10th century - second quarter of the 12th century,
Georgian Museum Of Fine Arts
