The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a unique national identity and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This strong sense of national identity has helped to preserve Georgian distinctiveness despite repeated periods of foreign occupation.
The Georgian alphabet is traditionally said to have been invented in the 3rd century BC and reformed by King Parnavaz I of Iberia in 284 BC. Most modern scholarship puts its origin date at some time in the 5th century AD, when the earliest examples can be found.
A page from a 12th-century Gelati Gospel, an example of Georgian illuminated manuscripts from the Middle AgesCeremonial crown of the Georgian high nobility, an example of metalwork from the early modern period
Well-known monuments of Georgian Christian architecture include:
This long history has provided a national narrative which encompasses the successful preservation of unique culture and identity in a consistent territory, despite powerful external pressures from different directions. Christianity and the Georgian language are particularly important national identifiers.[9]
The first Georgian-language printing house was established in the 1620s in Italy, and the first one in Georgia itself was founded in 1709 in Tbilisi.
Georgian theatre has a long history; its oldest national form was the "Sakhioba" (extant from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD). The Georgian National Theatre was founded in 1791 in Tbilisi, by the writer, dramatist, and diplomat Giorgi Avalishvili (1769–1850). Its leading actors were Dimitri Aleksi-Meskhishvili, David Machabeli, David Bagrationi, Dimitri Cholokashvili, and others.
The first cinema in Georgia was established in Tbilisi on November 16, 1896. The first Georgian cinema documentary ("Journey of Akaki Tsereteli in Racha-Lechkhumi") was shot in 1912 by Vasil Amashukeli (1886–1977), while the first Georgian feature film ("Kristine") was shot in 1916 by Alexandre Tsutsunava (1881–1955).
Georgian culture suffered under the rule of the Soviet Union during the 20th century, during which a policy of Russification was imposed but was strongly resisted by many Georgians. Since the independence of Georgia in 1991, a cultural resurgence has taken place, albeit somewhat hampered by the country's economic and political difficulties in the post-Soviet era.
Georgian cuisine is the result of the broad interplay of culinary ideas carried along the Silk Road Trade route by merchants and travelers alike.[10] The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a feast called supra, when a huge assortment of dishes are prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of local wine, known to be one of the world's oldest wines, produced in ancient authentic Georgian underground kvevri clay pots (dating 8 century BC). In a Georgian feast, the role of the tamada (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University is a public research university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Excluding academies and theological seminaries, which have intermittently functioned in Georgia for centuries, TSU is the oldest university in Georgia and the Caucasus region. The total enrollment is over 23,500 students, and there are 5,000 faculty and staff members (collaborators) overall.
The House of Tsereteli, also known as Tsertelev (Russian), is a noble family in Georgia which gave origin to several notable writers, politicians, scholars, and artists.
The Union of Georgian Traditionalists was a national political organization of the Georgian Political Emigration in the 1930s, established in 1942 in Berlin. It was founded by Prince Irakli Bagration-Mukhraneli (chairman), Zurab Avalishvili, Mikheil Tsereteli, Grigol Robakidze, Kita Chkhenkeli, Shalva Maglakelidze, Shalva Amirejibi, Spiridon Kedia, Markoz Tugushi, Giorgi Kvinitadze, Leo Kereselidze, Revaz Gabashvili, David Vachnadze, Alexandre Asatiani, Svimon Tsitsishvili, and other distinguished Georgian emigrants. Its main goals were:
For articles related to Georgia, see Category:Georgia (country)
Leuville Cemetery is a cemetery in the French town of Leuville-sur-Orge, 25 km south of Paris. The cemetery is a burial ground to many Georgian political emigres who left the country after the Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921. Among them are the members of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile.
Georgian literature refers to a long literary heritage, with some of the oldest surviving texts in Georgian language dating back to the 5th century. A golden age of Georgian literature flourished under the unified kingdom of David IV in the 11th century. However, political fragmentation and foreign invasions following a peak in literary tradition during the reign of Queen Tamar led to a cultural decline.
Ashot II was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti with the Byzantine title of curopalates.
George XII, sometimes known as George XIII, of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1798 until his death in 1800.
The Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures is a necropolis in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, scholars, and national heroes of Georgia are buried. It is located in the churchyard around St David's Church "Mamadaviti" on the slope of Mount Mtatsminda and was officially established in 1929. Atop the mountain is Mtatsminda Park, an amusement park owned by the municipality of Tbilisi.
Prince Grigol Orbeliani or Jambakur-Orbeliani was a Georgian Romanticist poet and general in Imperial Russian service. One of the most colorful figures in the 19th-century Georgian culture, Orbeliani is noted for his patriotic poetry, lamenting Georgia's lost independence and the deposition of the Royal House of Bagration. At the same time, he spent decades in the Imperial Russian Army, rising to the highest positions in the imperial administration in the Caucasus.
A Georgian name consists of a given name and a surname used by ethnic Georgians.
The Berta monastery is a former Georgian Orthodox monastery at the village of Ortaköy, Artvin Province, Turkey. It was built in the 8th or 9th century. The surviving structure is now used as a mosque.
Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology is a Scientific-research institute in Georgia. It originated from the Caucasus Historical-Archaeological Institute, founded in Tbilisi on July 1, 1917, with Nikolai Marr as its initiator and Ekvtime Takaishvili and Giorgi Chubinashvili as its real members. In 1931 the Department of Natural Sciences was added to the Institute and it was renamed the "Institute of Caucasian Studies".
↑ Kennan, Hans Dieter; etal. (2013). Vagabond Life: The Caucasus Journals of George Kennan. University of Washington Press. p.32. (...) Iranian power and cultural influence dominated eastern Georgia until the coming of the Russians
↑ Jones, Stephen (1 September 2003). "The role of cultural paradigms in Georgian foreign policy". Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. 19 (3): 83–110. doi:10.1080/13523270300660019. ISSN1352-3279. S2CID154183255.
↑ Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Ken Albala, p. 125
↑ Chkheidze, Levan. "Georgian Art Portal | Artists". Art.Gov.Ge (in English and Georgian). Didistudia llc. Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
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