Author Tika Bujiashvili

When you decide to travel to Kazbegi and visit Gergeti Trinity Church, before Stepantsminda, on the way, 8 km from the main road there is a small village Sno. Amost everybody knows, that Sno is the home of the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church with a small church in the courtyard of the residence. The village also has a large statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali, and a tower fortification from the XVI century, known as Ghudushauri fortress. Though, Before you reach the places, you will see contemporary sculptures in the open air and you will immediately recognize the faces of Georgian eminent people -Ilia Chavchavadze, Akaki Tsereteli, Vazha Pshavela, Shota Rustaveli and Jesus Christ (his last piece of work). These stone sculptures belong to Merab Piranishvili, a self-taught sculptor. ‘The form of the stone itself tells what to do. I just curve eyes, a nose and a mouth. I leave the rest natural. A beard? The stone had it itself,’ says Mr. Merab. His dream is to make a museum in the open air and plans to create the history of Georgia here, in Sno, with about 500 sculptures. ‘Years will pass, but these sculptures will remain forever’, says Merab Piranishvili. He makes these sculptures with his own expenses.

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