Saakashvili applauds rebuilt National Museum and Gallery

President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili opened the renovated National Museum and National Gallery on June 5. Surveying the graphical works and paintings of various artists of the past centuries united under the title – Georgian Art Masterpieces Saakashvili praised the National Gallery (known as Blue Gallery) he stressed that this place with its wonderfully designed park would be among the favorite destinations for visitors to the city.

“I have seen lots of famous museums at different countries like Prado in Madrid and I would say that the Blue Gallery can be freely listed among the other museums in Europe and Arabic states with its tastefulness,” said the President welcoming the re-emergence of the museum and its green park. Worrying that there used to be no parks in Tbilisi of a high standard, Saakashvili expressed his pleasure that Tbilisi is also giving an opportunity to its citizens to live in a healthy environment.

Saakashvili congratulated the Minister of Culture and Monument Protection Nikoloz Rurua and the General Director of the united Georgian National Museum Davit Lortkipanidze with the creation of the first centre of museums in the history of the country. Thanking the Minister for initiating restoration of museums, Saakashvili also highlighted the great support of the Georgian business sector in all these processes and stressed that “cooperation between the state and private sectors would be the greatest stimulus for the promotion of our country.”

Talking of Georgia’s high standing in world civilization the President promised that our country would still create great masterpieces for the world cultural treasury. Welcoming the rapid development of the country after August war disaster the President praised the bravery of Georgian people in struggling against the drawbacks. Recollecting how soon museums have been built and rehabilitated in Georgia in the last few years, he also emphasized how many historical and cultural treasures our country has to present to its visitors.

Worrying that the National Gallery used to be burnt during the civil war in Georgia Saakashvili stressed that the country should never return to the chaos of the civil confrontation. “Restoration of this building is a symbol that Georgia should never return to civil confrontation preventing the country from following its historical path to democratization,” the President stated. Sharing his impressions of the museum when he first saw the treasury at the age of five Saakashvili worried how everything was damaged or destroyed in the 1990s. “But lots of new discoveries have been made since then and it’s Dato’s great merit that the great archaeological researches are still going on at Georgian sites,” he said referring to Davit Lortkipanidze.

Encouraging the representatives of cultural, scientific and public intelligence to create a healthy mind in the society to actively work on the promotion of Georgian culture, the President emphasized that Georgia is managing to return to the world map not through its tanks or as a victim but due to its special merit in world civilization. Opening the archaeological hall of the National Museum named after Simon Janashia, the President praised the archaeological achievements of our ancestors in creating the masterpieces.

Exhibits representing ancient Georgian goldsmith traditions were presented at the world leading museums for the past years. Around 600 items, mainly gold and silver jewelry exhibited in the museum depicted how Georgian goldsmiths were developing from III century BC to IV century AD to prove how our country was progressing during the centuries. “Everything has been done in the frames of the modern standards and we can freely host visitors from any parts of the world,” Davit Lortkipanidze stated. US congressman David Dreier who also visited the renewed museums in Tbilisi couldn’t hide his amazement from the museums saying “these two buildings are important for Georgian people in order to create the history for the future generations of your country.”