Tbilisi City Fest comes to Stockholm for promoting Georgian culture

While the annual celebration of Tbilisi City Fest is customary to residents of the Georgian capital, this Saturday the festival will also come for the very first time to Stockholm, where Georgian cultural facets and its attraction to visitors will be showcased.

Residents and visitors of the Swedish capital are invited to the open-air hospitality event where those looking to learn about the South Caucasian state will be able to taste Georgian cuisine, see national dresses on display and be entertained by music from the country.

Looking to promote Georgia in Sweden, where events introducing Georgian culture have been few and far between, the festival team will host those flocking to Attundavägen 3 for everything from tasting the celebrated Georgian wine to learning about its UNESCO-recognised alphabet.

Products from select companies participating in Made in Georgia — a programme promoting local production — will also be on sale at the location.

Created by the festival team, this illustration in the shape of the Georgian map shows cuisine, cultural monuments and climate specifics of the country’s provinces. Image: GeoArtMood.

A representation of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Sweden and a group of young Georgians are hosting the event, with organiser Luka Gurgenidze saying the celebration would become annual.

The festival is supported by Europe’s Georgia — a community supporting the country’s aspirations to join the European Union — and the Georgian Embassy in Stockholm. Giorgi Ninoshvili, chairman of the former organisation, said his community was joining the festival to ensure “more promotion in the western countries” for Georgia.

Visual promotional materials for the event are designed by GeoArtMood - a project led by young entrepreneur and designer Tsiko Shamrelashvili producing graphical works for artistic promotion of Georgia on the web.

The Georgian edition of the Tbilisi City Fest, also known as Tbilisoba, is held in the autumn in the capital, with theatrical shows, exhibitions and tasting of wine and cuisine marking the history of the city.

The first Swedish edition of the event follows efforts in recent years for fostering cultural and tourist ties between the two countries, with the Traveller’s Club of Sweden visiting Georgia in 2016 to learn about winemaking heritage, art and more.

Historical ties between the states were also marked in Stockholm’s Royal Armoury, the oldest Swedish museum, in 2015 with events titled Georgian Evenings.