Mikheil Chkhenkeli, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia, together with the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, presented a unique English-language scientific work “Georgia/ Georgia. History. Culture. Ethnography”  in Strasbourg. During the event, Mikheil Chkhenkeli addressed the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the invited esteemed guests and spoke about the importance of the book.

The Georgian delegation paid a working visit to Strasbourg, chaired by President Salome Zurabishvili, to meet with the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: “Today we had an important event held at the Council of Europe, where we presented an engaging book of fundamental importance. This is an English-language trilogy created under the direction of Mr. Anzor Erkomaishvili. The Georgian version of the book will be published soon. The trilogy was published with the support of Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili, by the grace of funding by the Cartu Foundation and with the support of the American publishing company NOVA SCIENCE. As a result, we have an utterly unique book on Georgian culture, which clearly shows that Georgia is not only a part of Europe, but also a great contributor to the creation of European culture and its core values. We will donate this book to leading libraries and archives of the world. I would especially like to emphasize the university libraries, because our friends, young people, will rediscover Georgia as a country with a rich culture”.

Georgian folk and polyphonic songs performed by the Georgian Folk Song and Dance Academic Ensemble "Rustavi" were performed at the presentation of the trilogy at the Council of Europe.

"Georgia. History. Culture. Ethnography” is a unique English-language edition of a study on Georgian cultural heritage. It is noteworthy that the third volume of the work combines 2491 samples of unique Georgian folk songs, hymns, instrumental music and folk dances recorded from 1901 to the present day.

The idea for the book came from Frank Columbus, president of the American publishing house NOVA SCIENCE, and his wife, Nadia Gotsiridze-Columbus.

Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili supported the implementation of the project. Cartu International Charitable Foundation provided financial support for the project, which included search, photo, visual, audio and video material restoration, original material production, paperwork execution, editing, English translation, and much more.

During his visit to Strasbourg, Mikheil Chkhenkeli also addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where the President of Georgia, as the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, delivered a speech. Along with the members of the Georgian delegation, the Minister also met with senior officials of the Council of Europe.

Within the framework of the working visit to Strasbourg, the Georgian delegation also took part in the event dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.