Academia Europaea
Tbilisi Knowledge Hub
The workshop organized by the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Hub, taking into account the current epidemiological situation in the country, was held in a hybrid manner. Leading scientists of various scientific institutions of Georgia took part in the meeting:
The meeting was virtually attended by:
The meeting was also attended by a well-known specialist in Byzantine art, Professor Anthony Eastmond, the Courtauld Institute of Art (London, UK).
Among the participants of the meeting were TSU Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze and Academic Director of the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub Davit Prangishvili.
October 25, 2021
Gelati Academy – the Medieval Center for Science and Education Amidst Eastern and Western Christianity
The project “Gelati Academy – the Medieval Center of Science and Education Amidst the East and the West” was launched in the late fall of 2020 at the initiative of the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub. Several workshops were held during the past period where the the group of scientists involved in the project discussed various aspects of this large-scale project. This time the main topic of the meeting in Kutaisi was one important part of the project – preparation of the bilingual, Georgian and English “Handbook” about Gelati and Gelati Academy. The purpose of this book is to summarize the scientific research on Gelati and Gelati Academy in various fields and based on the summary and complex analysis of this material, to present the importance of Gelati Academy for the history of the development of the culture and the various fields of art and science (history, philosophy, philology, architecture, fine arts, music) of the medieval Eastern Christian world.
Two papers were presented at the workshop. These papers were the first, draft versions of the two sections of the forthcoming book. Magda Sukhiashvili spoke about the Gelati Chanting School, and Tamar Otkhmezuri spoke about the codicological and palaeographic peculiarities of the manuscripts containing writings and translations of medieval authors working and living in Gelati. Discussion of these papers helped the group of scholars to better define the overall character of the forthcoming book and the requirements for authors.
The project initiative group discussed the work to be done and established the following action plan:
1) The conditional plan of the future book according to the different fields of science and the persons responsible for the relevant parts of the book have been defined. At the end of November 2021, another workshop will be held, where the persons responsible for book chapters will present a detailed plan for their part and determine the deadline for the implementation of this plan.
2) At the end of December 2021 and the end of January 2022, three parts of the next book will be presented in the form of reports.
3) The first working version of the book will be completed by October 2022.
4) In October 2022, another extensive working meeting will be held, where the book as a whole will be discussed and a future action plan will be defined.
At the end of the workshop, the participants viewed the exposition of the Kutaisi State Historical Museum and the unique manuscript books preserved in the museum.
On October 22-24, 2021 in the building of Kutaisi State Historical Museum, Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub within the project “Gelati Academy – the Medieval Center for Science and Education Amidst Eastern and Western Christianity” - Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and the Christian Oriental Research Center of this university - held a conference/workshop. The aim of the project is to introduce the Gelati Academy to the wider international community as one of the oldest and most important scientific and educational centers in the Christian world.