Europa Nostra Awards: Georgian textile project wins major EU cultural prize

A Georgian research project for exploring and preserving history of textile in South Caucasus has been declared as one of the winners of this year’s European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage.

Recipients of Europe’s major cultural prize, also known as Europa Nostra Awards, were announced this week, with Textile from Georgia among projects selected for ultimate honours.

Carried out by Art Palace museum venue in collaboration with the George Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation and other state agencies, the research found its place among 29 winning submissions at the awards.

Textile from Georgia involved scientists, artists and restoration experts who studied over 100 frescoes in churches across Georgia to document costumes and textures worn by historical figures portrayed in them.

While the frescoes were digitised in follow-up work, costumes were a subject of graphical work that saw artists recreate their digital and drawing models.

The textiles from the historical depictions were then reproduced on materials including silk, satin and wool and catalogued based on their timeline, between 8th-20th century.

Textures were sampled from frescoes found in monasteries across Georgia. Photo: Raphael Arzumanov/Europa Nostra.

The work has resulted in what Art Palace calls the "first digital database for textile in the Caucasus” that shows emergence and development of textile in the region as well as parallels to comparable history in Asia and Europe.

Beside the research aspect of Textile from Georgia, the project also saw conservation and restoration work on selected costumes dating back to the 18th-19th centuries, which resulted in the costumes being saved for preservation.

The Georgian project and 28 other winners of this year’s Europa Nostra Awards were selected from 17 countries. They were picked from 160 initial submissions from 31 state and non-governmental organisations and individuals.

A texture reproduced on textile material under the project. Photo: Raphael Arzumanov/Europa Nostra.

In addition to wins in various nominations including conservation and research, the 29 entries are now also subject of an online public voting to reveal Public Choice Award among them.

The winning projects will be awarded in a "high-profile” ceremony in Berlin on June 22, at what will become the first European Cultural Heritage Summit.

Tbilisi's Art Palace museum itself received the Special Mention for the Europa Nostra Restoration and Conservation Award in 2016.