US Embassy: Georgia's Jvari Monastery Invited to the Second Round of AFCP

The US Embassy community has congratulated the Easter holiday to the population of Georgia, sharing some wonderful news about one of its most important historical monuments - the Jvari Monastery and its ongoing preservation funded by the US Government. 

"On this Easter Sunday, the U.S. Embassy community would like to wish health and happiness to you and your families. We would also like to take this opportunity to share some wonderful news about the Jvari Monastery's ongoing preservation funded by the US Government. The Jvari project has been invited to the second round of the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), in a highly competitive call.

"If selected, the project will be extended to cover the entire outer sandstone masonry of the building, including all four facades and all eight sides of the drum, about 1200 square meters of wall surface in total. The first phase of Jvari Monastery project, ongoing now, has been funded with $100,000 through the AFCP," the Embassy said in a statement released on April 19. 

On November 12, the US Embassy in Tbilisi announced funding for a project focused on the conservation of damaged stones on the facades of the main church at Jvari Monastery.  
Funding for the project was made available by a grant through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).

The first phase of the project was implemented by the George Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation, with the help of various interdisciplinary teams.

The main church 'Jvari of the Holy Cross' (586-605 A.D.) is Jvari Monastery’s most important and valuable monument. The Jvari Monastery complex is part of the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation has provided financial support to more than 1000 cultural preservation projects in more than 125 countries through the contribution of nearly $74 million towards the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide. In Georgia, the AFCP has funded 19 preservation projects worth nearly $1,5 million.

By Ana Dumbadze