State vows to protect Orthodox cultural treasures

The Government of Georgia is taking steps to protect culturally sensitive sites and artefacts owned by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The Georgian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to protect cultural heritage sites owned by the Church.

This was the first regulatory document between the Georgian Orthodox Church and the state after the Concordant – a Constitutional agreement between the parties signed in October 2002.

Today, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Minister of Culture Guram Odisharia and Catholicos - Patriarch Metropolitan Theodore.

The document emphasized that Georgian Monasteries and churches inside Georgia and abroad, as well as museums and other items deposited at the Church that were deemed to be culturally sensitive, would be subject to protection and preservation by the Georgian Orthodox Church and the state.

Tangible artifacts set up for worship and are owned by Georgian Church are items of cultural heritage.

This document was originally signed within the European Union public services twinning project on June 11, 2013.

Today’s event was attended by the director of the National Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Nikoloz Antidze, head of the EU Representatives to Georgia Philip Dimitrov and Italian Ambassador to Georgia Federico Favi.