Georgian cultural centre to open on plot presented by Jordan’s royals to country

A Georgian cultural centre will be launched on a plot of land gifted by Jordan’s royal family to the country, with the location near the baptism site of Jesus Christ marking a “return to the holy land”, prime minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday.

Garibashvili revealed the news following a service at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, telling worshippers the development would mark a return to the location for Georgians for the first time in 300 years.

The piece of land near the site of baptism of Jesus has been gifted to Georgia by a decision of His Majesty King Abdullah II and His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan,” the head of the government said in his reveal.

Both secular and clerical authorities were involved in the transfer of the 4,000-square metre plot near the river that flows through the Sea of Galilee lake and towards the Dead Sea. Photo: gov.ge.

Garibashvili added the opening of the cultural institution would take place with the blessing of the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II.

Both secular and clerical authorities were involved in the transfer of the 4,000-square metre plot near the river that flows through the Sea of Galilee lake and towards the Dead Sea.

The river bears symbolic significance in both Judaism and Christianity, and is bordered by the West Bank and Israel on the west, and by Jordan and the Golan Heights to the east.