Celebration of the Constitution Day of the Republic of Poland
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Thursday, May 23
A reception was held in Rooms Hotel Tbilisi to commemorate the Constitution Day of the Republic of Poland. The event was attended by the legislative and executive authorities, diplomatic corps, and the representatives of international organizations and NGOs. Among them were the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, H.E. Mr. Mariusz Maszkiewicz, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Georgia, and the Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, H.E. Mr. Stanislaw Karczewski.
The event was opened by H.E. Maszkiewicz, who talked about the importance of the Constitution of May 3, 1791 and the relationship between Georgia and Poland.
Mr. Karczewski talked about the strong relations between the two countries, saying “Georgia is a special country for Poland, it is a country that is extremely close to us, with its white and red national colours, with the same attitude of both our nations to the faith they confess, with their love of political freedom and family life. It is a country with which we shared the tragic history of struggles with invaders, and which is today our strategic political and economic partner. I am honoured to be able to meet you and celebrate the May 3 Constitution Day together.”
According to him, the cooperation between Georgia and Poland is not only about history, “Poles and Georgians express a similar judgment about the state of international relations and blame the same source of their destabilisation.” As he said, “the visit of the late Lech Kaczynski was an exceptional expression of Poland’s support for Georgia’s independence during the days of Russian aggression.”
During his speech, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze expressed his gratitude towards the guests and talked about the importance of May 3 Polish constitution.
“For Poland, the Polish Constitution of 1791 is a very important document. It can be said that Ignati Pototsky and Hugo Kolatai created one of the most progressive legal acts of their time,” as Kobakhidze said, the constitution “represents the symbol of the freedom of the Polish people, who, for centuries, preserved and passed down for generations the idea of the independence of the Polish state.”
As the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia said, the role of constitution is also very unique for Georgia, “the first Georgian Constitution, which has only been in existence only for some time in 1921, has preserved ideas of independence, freedom and fair society for the Georgian people.”
During the reception, Zygmunt Waliszewski Award Ceremony was held. The jury that selected the winner consisted of the leading Polish curators.
The Zygmunt Waliszewski Visual Art Prize went to the Georgian group of artists, Boullion Group. Lado Lomitashvili received a special prize.
At the end of the event, the guests received a special surprise – a concert of Wlodek Pawlik, a Polish jazz pianist, who was the first Polish jazz musician to receive a Grammy Award, having won in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for his album “Night in Calisia”. He played several beautiful compositions to wrap up the event.
The constitution adopted by the "Great Sejm" on May 3, 1791, combined a monarchic republic with a clear division of executive, legislative, and judiciary powers. It is generally considered Europe's first, and the world's second, modern national constitution, after the United States Constitution that had come into force in 1789.
