The workshop organized by the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Hub, taking into account the current epidemiological situation in the country, was held in a hybrid manner. Leading scientists of various scientific institutions of Georgia took part in the meeting:

• Zaza Skhirtladze, Professor, Head of the Educational-Scientific Institute of Art History and Theory, TSU (Tbilisi);
• Damana Melikishvili, Professor (TSU), Founder and Full Member of Gelati Academy of Sciences (Tbilisi);
• Anna Kharanauli, Professor, Head of the Center for Christian Oriental Studies at TSU (Tbilisi);
• Levan Gigineishvili, TSU Professor; Doctor of Philological Sciences (Tbilisi);
• Tamar Otkhmezuri, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Head of the Department of Codicology and Textology of K. Kekelidze National Center of Manuscripts (Tbilisi);
• Magda Sukhiashvili, Doctor of Musicology, Assistant Professor at V. Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatory (Tbilisi);
• Giorgi Cheishvili, Director of IV. Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology (Tbilisi).
• Merab Kezevadze, Director of Kutaisi State Archive (Kutaisi).
• Nona Kartsidze, Deputy Director of N. Berdzenishvili State Historical Museum (Kutaisi);
• Tsitsino Mumladze, Curator of the Collection of the Manuscripts and Old Printed Books at N. Berdzenishvili Kutaisi Historical Museum (Kutaisi).
• Akaki Goletiani, Head of Educational Process Management Service, Gelati Theological Academy (Kutaisi).

The meeting was virtually attended by:

• Roland Isakadze, Manager of the Kutaisi Historical-Archaeological Reserve of the Cultural Heritage Protection Agency of Georgia, A. Tsereteli State University Associate Professor (Kutaisi);
• Marika Didebulidze, Professor, Project Coordinator of the Georgian Cultural Heritage Protection Fund (Tbilisi);
• Ekaterine Gedevanishvili, G. Chubinashvili Georgian Art History and Monument Protection Research Center (Tbilisi);
• Magda Mtchedlidze, Professor at the TSU Institute of Classical Philology, Byzantine Studies and Neo-Greek Studies (Tbilisi).

The meeting was also attended by a well-known specialist in Byzantine art, Professor Anthony Eastmond, the Courtauld Institute of Art (London, UK).

Among the participants of the meeting were TSU Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze and  Academic Director of the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub Davit Prangishvili.

Gelati Academy – the Medieval Center for Science and Education Amidst Eastern and Western Christianity

      The project “Gelati Academy – the Medieval Center of Science and Education Amidst the East and the West” was launched in the late fall of 2020 at the initiative of the Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub. Several workshops were held during the past period where the the group of scientists involved in the project discussed various aspects of this large-scale project. This time the main topic of the meeting in Kutaisi was one important part of the project – preparation of the bilingual, Georgian and English “Handbook” about Gelati and Gelati Academy. The purpose of this book is to summarize the scientific research on Gelati and Gelati Academy in various fields and based on the summary and complex analysis of this material, to present the importance of Gelati Academy for the history of the development of the culture and the various fields of art and science (history, philosophy, philology, architecture, fine arts, music) of the medieval Eastern Christian world.

Two papers were presented at the workshop. These papers were the first, draft versions of the two sections of the forthcoming book. Magda Sukhiashvili spoke about the Gelati Chanting School, and Tamar Otkhmezuri spoke about the codicological and palaeographic peculiarities of the manuscripts containing writings and translations of medieval authors working and living in Gelati. Discussion of these papers helped the group of scholars to better define the overall character of the forthcoming book and the requirements for authors.

The project initiative group discussed the work to be done and established the following action plan:

1) The conditional plan of the future book according to the different fields of science and the persons responsible for the relevant parts of the book have been defined. At the end of November 2021, another workshop will be held, where the persons responsible for book chapters will present a detailed plan for their part and determine the deadline for the implementation of this plan.

2) At the end of December 2021 and the end of January 2022, three parts of the next book will be presented in the form of reports.

3) The first working version of the book will be completed by October 2022.

4) In October 2022, another extensive working meeting will be held, where the book as a whole will be discussed and a future action plan will be defined.

At the end of the workshop, the participants viewed the exposition of the Kutaisi State Historical Museum and the unique manuscript books preserved in the museum.