A surprise from Georgia to the Museum of Calligraphy in Moscow

Calligraphy (from the Greek for “beautiful handwriting”) is the art of beautiful and neat handwriting. Calligraphy is the painting of letters, the mystery of symbols and signs, expression of thought, image and character.

From the beginning of 2008 MVK International Exhibition Company has been carrying out the culture and education project known as the International Exhibition of Calligraphy. Its every stage has already become a milestone in the contemporary history of Russia, and the interest for the project exceeded the boldest expectations of its initiators. The project started up in St. Petersburg where the Russian Academy of Arts welcomed the successful performance of the 1st International Exhibition of Calligraphy. The event drew seventy leading calligraphers from twenty-six countries.

The Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy as well the National Union of Calligraphers were established in Moscow. Recently the Museum became an institutional member of the International council of museums (ICOM).

The project context included special expositions “Mystery of the World Calligraphy” (December, 2008); Day of Japanese Calligraphy (March, 2009); Festival of Japanese Culture “Sakura” (April, 2009); master classes of calligraphers from across the world, as well as a plethora of artistic and educational programmes.

From October 14th till November 14th, 2009 Moscow is hosting the 2nd International Exhibition of Calligraphy the context of which will include an open competition on Orthodox Calligraphy with the participation of domestic and foreign stellar artists and presentation of a new section of Sacral Calligraphy. The exhibition is supposed to draw participants from thirty-three countries. The project is organized under the aegis of UNESCO Commission of the Russian Federation, the Russian Orthodox Church staff, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation which emphasizes the significant role of the project in preservation of the world’s historical heritage.

The project’s future plans are to hold the presentation of the exhibition in Paris and to hold the exhibition in some of the other largest capitals of the world.

A “surprise”, this is how the organizers called the first Georgian exposition at the show. It will demonstrate two unique books of joint Russian and Georgian projects presented by the Union of Georgians in Russia.

Two books of the trilogy: Light of Christ: Georgia, the Inheritance of the Holy Mother, Light of Christ: Georgia, Celestial Iberia which contains unique specimens of ancient Georgian script and calligraphy. Published by: UP PRINT, 2003-2007.

Project author: Nestan Kirtadze.

A bilingual version of the world literature masterpiece, a poem by Shota Rustaveli, The Knight in Tiger’s Skin (Vepkhist′q′aosani). Published by: Vita Nova, St. Petersburg, 2007. Artist calligrapher: Loretta Abashidze-Shengelia.

The guests of the opening ceremony, ambassadors, world-famous artists, art experts and other visitors were warmly welcomed and applauded to the address of His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and a guest from Tbilisi, the project author and editor of the unique trilogy Light of Christ: Georgia, Professor Nestan Kirtadze, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

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