The plight of cultural heritage sites

"Our biggest challenge is that cultural monuments that are important to everyone are in great distress," said Thea Oniani, Director of the Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, at the Culture Committee meeting in the Parliament.

According to him, the problems on the monuments were created by the rehabilitation works that were carried out in a flawed way until now.

"Which one will I list: be it Svetitskhoveli, Bagrat, Nikortsminda, Fitareti, Kintzvisi, Shekarini, Tsaishi, Tsalenjikha, Atenis Zion... the problems are caused by faulty rehabilitation works in previous years. In Bagrat and Nikortsminda, water is leaking from the roof and the walls are getting wet.

Copper leaching turns green and then blackens the facing stones, which is a huge problem. Naturally, this problem definitely needs to be solved. We are not really afraid, but as a rule, speed is not suitable for monuments, and the example of Gelati and Bagrat clearly convinced us of this.

If such landmark monuments were not fully studied and researched, M Starting any work at ten often leads to irreparable mistakes, which we are facing today. Monuments deteriorate because either the roof is improperly arranged or the material is improperly selected.

All this needs long, scrupulous research. Our primary task is to take care of this type of outstanding, first-class monuments", says Thea Oniani, adding that there are problems with the painting of the monument as well.

"On all landmark monuments, such as Kintsvisi, Gelati, Tsai, Shekariti, frescoes are actually falling.  We are trying to plan works on these temples. Let's find out what threatens the frescoes, what caused it. Either water falls from the roof or as a result of capillary suction, these temples are wetted from the ground.

First of all, we have to eliminate these problems that pose a danger to the frescoes, and then we can start the conservation work to save the frescoes. Here, too, we face a huge problem, because the frescoes are necessary multidisciplinary studies.

The example of Gelati clearly showed us how many specialists should be involved and in what profession to accurately diagnose what is wrong with wall painting. Biologists, microbiologists, climatologists, mineralogists who study in detail the causes of biological damage to frescoes are needed. One reason may be climatic conditions, the other may be biology. We do not have a laboratory in the country that would give us the opportunity to make an accurate diagnosis.

The carried out rehabilitation works showed us that the frescoes in Svetitskhoveli are turning white, in Kintsvisi they are pink. It is a fact that something was not done as it should have been done. Therefore, in order not to spoil what we have, it is necessary to start the rehabilitation of such monuments only on the basis of detailed studies", - says Thea Oniani.

According to the director of the Cultural Heritage Protection Agency, it is already planned to work with foreign experts to solve the existing problems. They are Georgian Spe Together with specialists, they will work out problems based on international experience, discuss existing projects and indicate whether it is necessary to prepare new projects, what are the shortcomings in these projects.

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