“No one injured” in fire on territory of National Archives, nitrate film stock was digitised - Justice Ministry
A separate building on the territory of Georgia’s National Archives, storing a nitrate film collection, caught fire on Friday. Photo: 1TV
Tweet 
Share
The Georgian Justice Ministry on Saturday responded to “various fake information” being spread over the fire on the territory of the National Archives in Tbilisi on Friday, saying “no one” had been injured in the blaze and “valuable materials” stored in a separate building had been digitised and their copies saved in the film archives.
Buba Lomuashvili, the Deputy Justice Minister, told the press on Saturday police were looking into the causes of the fire in the building located on the territory of the country’s National Archives, storing a nitrate film collection.
The official extended his gratitude to the Emergency Management Service for containing the fire shortly, adding his body would be allowed into the site after the Interior Ministry completed mandatory, legal procedures for its investigation.
He described the category of film as “easily flammable” and claimed “all necessary measures and systems” had been ensured to prevent fires or any damages to the files.
The National Archives of Georgia also released a statement over the fire on Friday, saying “all film tapes” in the building had been digitised and their copies saved.
A five-day retrospective of films by the acclaimed Georgian filmmaker Eldar Shengelaia opened on Wednesday at Tbilisi’s National Archives venue to mark the celebrations of the director’s 90th birthday.
The National Archives of Georgia on Friday presented a new book, “Georgian Manuscripts and Historical Documents", combining manuscripts and historical documents preserved in archival funds.
Archival exhibits ranging from documents on lives of religious figures in Georgia, photographs of civilian engineering projects and media publications were restored by the National Archives of Georgia over the past year, the institution said in its annual summary.
National Archives of Georgia is working to release World War II memoirs of ordinary people from the country and create a bilingual online catalogue of Georgian cinema, with the two initiatives to be presented among its projects at the next convention of the International Centre for Archival Research (ICARUS) this week.