Editor’s note

Blue has always been the color of Georgia.

The blue pigments which depicted the heavenly skies in the Chris-
tian Orthodox wall painting of the middle ages in Georgia were

made from Lāzhvardi, same as Lapis Lazuli - a semi-precious stone

which was found in the Caucasus. This is how Lāzhvardi became an-
other word for blue in Georgian.

It is Lāzhvardi which resembles Georgia in the 1990’s and not claret,
black and white. Just in the 1990’s, as Lāzhvardi was no longer in
use, the same color was now defined by Electric Blue. It is the color
of the imported cheap blue canvas which covered the cities across
the country during these years. It endured the wind and humidity in
the cheapest way, kept the heat in the cold winters and the shadow
during the hot summers.

This issue is blue too. Given in it’s all encompasing historic and sym-
bolic

meaning. This blue too changes it’s tints and shades from the heavn-
ly Lazhvardi to the Electric Blue and vice versa, thus resembling a

combination of the local and imported materials related to the us-
age of this color.

The online version of this issue is open for renewal, a constant edi-
tion. It hopes to serve as an open platform for archiving the histori-
cal works of and about the period.

We look forward to your online contribution,

Elene Abashidze,
Tbilisi, 2017.