The "Ribirabo" Foundation for the Support and Development of Georgian Mosaics, Applied Arts and Design carried out this project with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth of the Republic of Georgia. The initiative is also supported by the following organizations and individuals: FOOD ALLIANCE, SICPA, BLAUENSTEIN, Jean-Patrick Voisin and Mehmet Koçak.

Our website was built with the goal of bringing together in one virtual area all of the mosaics made in Georgia during the Soviet era throughout the twentieth century. It should be emphasized that this was the most productive time for Georgian mosaics. During this time, hundreds of wonderful masterpieces were made. Many of them are the works of outstanding Georgian artists, the names of many of whom we found while working on the project…

The world community is currently paying considerable attention to the preservation of historical and cultural heritage. Mosaics, however, are rarely given legal protection in our country. As a result, they are sometimes neglected and even destroyed. In this regard, there was an urgent need to conduct a thorough inventory of twentieth-century mosaics on Georgian territory as of 2021 and build a mosaic card index.It should be mentioned that mosaics are not archaic art forms. They were created in Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, the Middle East, and the Soviet Union. Mosaic was one of the few tools available for city decoration. Mosaics are unique in that they may be found on both the inside and outside of structures. At the same time, mosaics cannot be considered apart from the function of the structure on which they are installed, albeit the design may not always be linked to a particular object. Mosaics have become a part of everyday life, and this touristic, naive-childish perception has to be awakened. After all, it is simple to follow the history of ideology via mosaics, comprehend parts of daily life, and even comprehend what people believed and dreamt about. Mosaics should be viewed not just as works of art, but also as one-of-a-kind historical documents that depict one or more historical eras in detail using the language of fine art.Such historical evidence must be properly preserved and passed down to future generations. This will aid in the preservation of the country's cultural heritage, which, as you know, is essential for national self-identification. Georgian mosaics from the Soviet period are distinctive in that their iconography frequently relies on elements of folklore, historical events from the pre-Soviet era, and the work of Georgian literary masters...Furthermore, many Georgian mosaics from the second half of the twentieth century are geared toward the avant-garde themes associated with postmodern art. It is probable that the mosaic of the Soviet period embodies the essence of Georgian fine art of the postmodern period.

Attempts have previously been made to identify and characterize Soviet-era mosaics. Unfortunately, many major mosaics found in previously published books and on the Internet are no longer accessible. Our database intends to collect all of the mosaics that exist on Georgian territory currently.

During the course of working on the project, we realized that we needed to present the entire multifaceted palette of Georgian mosaic art, beginning with the mosaics of the ancient period. These were discovered as a result of archaeological excavations and ending with the mosaics of the twenty-first century, which are still being created in Georgia, continuing and developing the tradition of mosaic art. These works will be posted to the website in the near future. In addition, It should also be emphasized that this website is a "living organism." We have specifically introduced the option of direct engagement with users, and we would like to ask you, dear site users, with a request: it is likely that when discovering the artworks, we did not locate all of the mosaics that exist on Georgian territory. We want to see the list grow, so if you have information about any works that are not reflected on our website, we kindly ask that you inform us about them - we will carefully study the information you sent, and the knowledge you sent will be added to the site as soon as possible with a link to the author of the publication.

For our website, we designed a one-of-a-kind logo based on a graphic reproduction of a fraction of a long-lost mosaic by the great Georgian painter Victor Chumburidze. To our great sadness, all of Viktor Chumburidze's mosaics have not reached us, including his main masterpiece, a mosaic panel created in the 1970s on the wall of Khashuri's old industrial complex. Only pictures have survived to tell the story of this grandiose work. We chose to transfer one of its fragments, portraying an Owl, on our website as a reminder that real art is indestructible. As Mikhail Bulgakov, a classic of modern literature, brilliantly remarked: “Manuscripts do not burn!”

Project coordinator: Shorena Tsitsagi
Website concept creators:
Ribirabo Foundation for the Support and Development of Georgian Mosaic, Applied Arts and Design
*Irina Koçak
*Lusine Bardon
*Natalia Amirejibi de Pita
Computer support: Infinity.ge
We express our sincere gratitude for the provided information and photographic materials:
Ministry of Education and Culture of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
Micheil Andriadze
Medea Chkadua
Valeria Kikvidze
Ramaz Bolkvadze
Melanie Hamilton
Ksenia Dorkina
Elena Vorobyeva
Maral Orazova
Aka Kherkeladze

All photo and information materials of the site are protected by copyright law. Publication of materials is possible only with the consent of the authors and with a link to the site