Georgian Manuscripts in the British Library



“Georgian Manuscripts of Chronicles of Georgia in the British Library,” project has recently been recognized as one of the successful initiatives under the “Diaspora Initiatives” program for its outstanding execution, and has received an award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Georgia. The project, initiated by Tamar Latsabidze together with Giorgi Kalandia, involved the creation of two illuminated manuscripts to be donated to the British Library’s Georgian manuscript collection. The British Library contains probably the largest number of Georgian manuscripts outside of Georgia but none of these were illuminated. The new manuscripts were created in 2022 of the texts, ‘Life of the King of Kings – David’ and ‘Life of the King of Kings – Tamar’, copied from the ‘Kartlis Tskhovreba’ (the Georgian Chronicles, literally ‘Life of Kartli’ or ‘Life of Georgia’). The work was undertaken by the Georgian artists and calligraphers, Giorgi Sisauri and Otar Megrelidze using traditional colours and techniques to create beautifully written and illustrated manuscripts. Further information can be found about this project on the British Library blogpost, Georgian Manuscripts in the British Library, and in a video on the Georgian Art and Culture media platform, Atinati.