Tbilisi exhibition presents French archives on Georgia’s First Democratic Republic

Contemporary history enthusiasts have a new exhibition in Tbilisi to satiate their interest with, after high-profile guests launched a display of French diplomatic archives on Georgia’s First Democratic Republic in the capital.

At the Art Palace museum venue, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs and Mikheil Giorgadze, the Minister of Culture and Sport of Georgia, marked the opening of the exhibition on Saturday.

The occasion marked celebrations for Georgia’s Independence Day as well as for the centennial of the 1918-1921 republic, and involved foreign dignitaries in Tbilisi.

Tbilisi's Art Palace museum is the venue hosting the display. Photo: French embassy in Georgia.

Organisers said the Art Palace exposition involved "unique” documents from French national vaults and displayed them in Georgia for the first time.

[The materials] show the attitude and interest of France towards the events in the Caucasus and Georgia during the independence period”, their summary said.

Georgia’s government between the years of independence held active diplomatic talks with its western European counteparts including France.

French diplomatic mission was present alongside those of other European states in Georgia during the brief sovereignty of the country.

France also was the country of destination for the Georgian government after it was forced into exile by the invasion and annexation of the country by Soviet armies in February 1921.

Members of the first government settled in an estate in the town of Leuville, located 37 kilometers south of Paris, being unable to return to their homeland.

The historical significance of the estate was mentioned by French president Emmanuel Macron in a congratulatory address to his Georgian counterpart for the May 26 celebrations.

The exhibition Georgia’s Independence in French Diplomatic Papers (1918-1921) is organised in partnership between the French embassy in Tbilisi, the National Archives of France and the Art Palace venue in Tbilisi, and will be open at the museum through June 8.