The Memory Keepers

Svaneti churchkey keeper Yaroslav with his grand son.

This text is not just an article – it’s also a call for a combined effort. We invite you to support our documentary film the on Svaneti frescoes and the dedicated people who maintain them. Help us to preserve Svaneti’s invaluable treasures of Orthodox Christianity for centuries to come. Georgian church art reflects exceptional artistry…

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OAJ Tour of Georgia Led by Andrew Gould

After a fantastic tour of the Balkans last June, the Orthodox Arts Journal is sponsoring a second art and architecture package tour. This tour will last 2 weeks, and will visit all the key sites for medieval architecture, frescoes, and liturgical art in the Republic of Georgia. It will begin in Tbilisi on June 3rd,…

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Kriste aghdga (Christ is Risen) – Georgian Easter chants

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on John Graham’s website featuring his tours of Georgia and Georgian liturgical music. We are reposting it here because it will be of great interest and assistance to any choirs who would like to add Georgian settings of ‘Christ is risen’ to their repertoire. Since posting this, John has added additional…

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New Georgian Chant Tours

Our friends at Georgian Chant have announced two new tour itineraries this summer that sound quite wonderful. Here is their press release: Trip of a Lifetime In celebration of our tenth season, our team has split our original package tour into two separate tours. With so much to do and see, these new selections offer…

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Georgian Master Iconographer: Amiran Goglidze

Like many of the first generation to rediscover the icon in the 20th century, Amiran Goglidze learned iconography by restoring churches. He finished art school (painting college of I. Nikoladze) in 1971, but then also continued to study restoration and conservation of monumental art (Tbilisi State Academy of Painting) from 1971-1977.  He was brought very close…

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Georgian Wonder

I have already posted an article on Contemporary Georgian artists.  But it seems like every week I discover one more amazing Georgian artist doing things in repoussé, wood, stone, enamel or mosaic that very few are able to equal in quality and especially in vivacity.  Vivacity is really the world to use, an art that is confident and…

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Icons from Shells

Here is a surprising video from a Georgian news website of an Archpriest who uses seashells to create decorative images but also icons.  His images are quite “folk” in appearance and composition and the iconography is obviously rather simple as the shells prevent too much detail.   This priest seems quite comfortable as he is shown…

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Contemporary Georgian Art

There is a facebook page called “Contemporary Christian Art” but most people would not notice because it is all in Georgian script.  Although boasting hundreds of pictures of early art from all of Christendom, the most remarkable aspect to those of us who are not in Georgia is how it prominently features contemporary Georgian liturgical…

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