Leuville Estate Returned to Georgia
After 12 years of active negotiations and 25 years of expectations, the historical Leuville Chateau Estate, located around 27 kilometers from Paris, France, was officially returned to Georgia on September 23.
The signing ceremony of the transfer act was held in Leuville and from the Georgian side was signed by Gela Dumbadze, the State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues and from the French side by the representatives of the families of the government of the first Democratic Republic of Georgia.
Also attending the ceremony were Tea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Justine of Georgia; Ekaterine Siradze-Delone, Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of France; Gocha Javakhishvili, Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to France; the representatives of the Leuville City Hall, and members of the Georgian Diaspora.
Dumbadze explained that as a result of a resolution adopted in May, the Government of Georgia had made a decision to spend EUR 5,600,000 over 10 years on the Chateau estate for further development of the property.
“After 25 years, the estate is returned to its legal owners - the people of Georgia. This place will remain as the center of Georgian-French culture,” he noted.
The five hectare Leuville Estate is important for Georgians as it is the place where the first government of Georgia settled in exile after fleeing their home in 1921, when the Russian Red Army entered Georgia and the first Georgian government officials, chaired by Noe Zhordania and their families, boarded the Ernest Renan ship and sailed to Paris, where they acquired the chateau using Georgian state finances and founded the Georgian Association. The 30 emigrant families lived in 15 flats inside the castle and never lost hope of returning to their homeland.
The negotiations about the transfer of Leuville estate were first initiated in 1991 by academician Guram Sharadze. Georgia’s first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was also involved in the process. The negotiations were intensified in 2004 and officially ended on September 23, 2016.
Thea Morrison