Mõis a-là Caucasienne. Georgians – 1

The city in which I live with my family, Tallinn, has always been hospitable to people of all nationalities, and they, in their turn, present us with their own unique cultural traditions and works of art. We all know from our early years the myths of Prometheus and the Golden Fleece, which take place in the Caucasus. I was once given a gift edition of ‘The Knight in the Panther's Skin’ by the Georgian epic-poet Shota Rustaveli. The cover of the book was adorned with beautiful ornate characters of the Georgian alphabet, invented in the X–XI centuries, the reign of David IV ‘the Builder‘, who welcomed foreign merchants to his country, as his distant descendants are now welcomed to Estonia.

Vladimir Jouryari, one of the founders of the Georgian Society in Estonia:

“Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here?” are the main questions of each and every ethnic society living outside their Motherland. We tried to answer these questions by founding the ‘Iveria’ cultural center in 1990. Our main task is to preserve our national identity, our language and culture and, at the same time, to embrace Estonian traditions and culture, as well as maintaining our ties to our native country and its embassy in Tallinn.

The first association of Georgian students of Tartu university was created back in 1890 and promoted Georgian culture. Our present society is supported not only by Georgians: N. Gadjev, the chairman of the Azerbaijani national community, and J. Vartanyan, one of the activists of Armenian cultural society, assisted in its creation. We launched radio broadcasts, took part in the international chorus competition in Tallinn, organized exhibitions and presented Georgian cuisine.

‘Iveria’ sent its representatives to the All-Georgian International Congress in Tbilisi in 1994. The famous journalist and public figure Eduard Eligulashvili headed our organization and gave it new impetus. Unfortunately, there is no Georgian church in Estonia, but we are well received in the St. Nikolas orthodox church.

To be continued…
Olga Olo, Tallinn, exclusively to VK