Symbolic Leuville Chateau will become Georgian cultural centre

The Leuville Chateau is located about 30km south of Paris, France. Photo from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

Agenda.ge, 01 Dec 2015 - 15:47, Tbilisi,Georgia

A French chateau with significant ties with Georgia will be transformed into a "centre of Georgian culture” announced Georgia’s Prime Minister while speaking about the transfer of ownership of the historically important estate to Georgia.

Today Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced talks regarding transfer of ownership of Leuville Chateau were in the final phase.

Garibashvili told reporters in Paris on Monday the Georgian Government had assigned additional funds to "sort out technical papers” for the Leuville Chateau, a necessary step in the process of acquiring the estate that bears symbolic importance for Georgia.

The Georgian official also spoke about the Chateau’s future purpose, noting the Georgian Embassy in France had developed an "interesting concept” for the castle in Leuville-sur-Orge, located about 30km south of Paris.

We are thinking about focusing on the young audience after the [ownership] transfer procedures are completed. The Leuville [Chateau] should become a centre of Georgian culture in the middle of France,” Garibashvili announced.

Georgia’s Prime Minister added the bilateral talks involved a number of offices of his Government; with the Justice Ministry, Diaspora Affairs Apparatus and Georgian Embassy in France all taking part in the negotiations.

Georgia has a strong connection with Leuville Chateau – the first independent Government of Georgia in exile settled there in 1921 after fleeing their home country in the wake of the Soviet military invasion.

The Chateau’s transfer to Georgia was agreed with France in principle in 2011 after the estate was recognised as a symbolic place for Georgia and a place of historical importance.

Georgia’s Government allocated funds to initiate the transfer earlier this year.

In 2014 Georgia’s Presidential Administration worked to restore the library at the Chateau, followed by the allocation of €107,000 (285,000 GEL) for the transfer of ownership of the entire estate to Georgia.