Ancient Georgian alphabet exposed in Tallinn exhibition

Estonia’s capital city Tallinn is hosting an exhibition about the ancient Georgian alphabet, which is named among the top five most beautiful alphabets in the world.

The ancient Georgian alphabet has been granted the national status of cultural heritage in Georgia and had applied to UNESCO for further recognition, ensuring it was appreciated in Georgia and around the world for many years to come.

Georgian Ambassador in Estonia Tea Akhvlediani and director of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia Nika Antidze are preparing for the exhibition in Tallinn.

The Estonian exhibition, named Three types of Georgian scripts was held at the National Library of Estonia yesterday.

Representatives of diplomatic corps accredited in Estonia, scientists working in the field of culture, Georgia’s Estonian friends and potential partners also attended the exhibition.

Within the exhibition an official reception ceremony was hosted by the Georgian Embassy in Estonia. There, guests had the opportunity to taste Georgian wine made in the traditional way using special clay pottery called Qvevri. This way of making Georgian wine is incredibly unique and this method was recognised and preserved on the World Intangible Heritage List.

The exhibition aimed to promote Georgia’s unique cultural heritage around the globe.

The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia director said the Agency tried to come up with novel ways to promote Georgia’s ancient culture so had decided to host a series of exhibitions of the Georgian alphabet in a numerous countries around the globe.

Meanwhile, three types of Georgian scripts were officially presented at the UNESCO Intangible Heritage nomination in March by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection. Georgia honoured its ancient alphabet and granted it cultural heritage status on March 10.

Georgians are extremely proud of their unique writing system, which comprised of 33 characters. It is the only alphabet in the world that is pronounced exactly the same way it is written. In addition all letters are unicameral meaning they make no distinction between upper and lower case.

Georgian is written in its own unique script that once described as one of the most beautifully written languages in the world.

Today there are three types of Georgian scripts; asomtavruli (capitals), nuskhuri (lower case), and Mkhedruli, which is used today in modern Georgian language (the cursive script).

The first scripts are more historic and are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Together this writing is called khutsuri (priests' alphabet).

Scholars believed the Georgian alphabet was created in the 4th Century AD, or at the latest in the early 5th Century.