Tbilisi, Georgia: In Isni district, on Kakheti highway, in Samgori Park, with the joint effort of Tbilisi City Hall and the Ministry of Culture, the statue of Erekle II was placed.
The Mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, opened the monument together with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, and Minister of Culture Tinatin Rukhadze.
The Tbilisi Mayor noted, “Today is a really remarkable day – we are opening the statue of the great Georgian king Erekle II in our city, and with this we once again confirm that Tbilisi was and is the block of Georgians’ historical memory, our national identity.”
According to Kakha Kaladze, this monument is a kind of message for our children, for the next generation, that Georgia is eternal with its history, faith, great culture, values, which sometimes by fighting, sometimes by building, and, most importantly, by wise politics, brought to us by our ancestors, the great kings.
“In the heart of Georgia, the erection of the statue of Erekle II in its capital is a kind of symbol of the stability of our state and its peaceful future. It is also symbolic that the monument was created according to Merab Merabishvili’s sketch; among other famous works, there is a favorite sculpture – Erekle II’s horse-ridden statue in Telavi, said Kakha Kaladze.
The Mayor of Tbilisi thanked the Prime Minister for this initiative, as well as the Ministry of Culture and the group of sculptors who worked on the statue.
“I would like to thank the sculptors and architects who were involved in the implementation of this project. I thank the Ministry of Culture. This project was implemented by the joint efforts of Tbilisi City Hall and the Ministry of Culture. Surprisingly, special thanks to Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, whose initiative was to erect the monument of Erekle II in Tbilisi, noted the mayor of the capital.
The work was created by a group of sculptors based on the sketch of the famous sculptor, Merab Merabishvili. The monument that commemorates Erekle II’s grave was immortalized in Samgori Park, giving the space additional cultural-historical importance. The event was attended by sculptors, architects, and other artists.
