Municipal Development Fund will Implement Rehabilitation of “Batoni Castle” in Telavi
Representatives from the Municipal Development Fund under the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia organized public discussion of the project on the Rehabilitation of Erekle the Second’s Castle and Museum in Telavi. Ilia Darchiashvili, executive director of the Municipal Development Fund presented the detailed concepts for the rehabilitation projects. For the high quality and effective implementation of works the final project has been discussed with the experts and stakeholders at the initiative of the Fund. Regional Development Project is implemented under the financing from the World Bank and the Government of Georgia. The objective of project implementation is to facilitate development of tourism and routes’ circle for the cultural heritage monuments in Kakheti Region.
It has to be noted that restoration of “Batoni Castle” last time has been carried out in 80-ies of the last century; however, in certain cases the restoration did not use the materials which were utilized during the Palace construction; moreover, international restoration standards were not followed. Due to the above, with the efforts of the Municipal Fund the existing project was corrected in order to fully comply with all relevant standards and not to destroy the appearance of the monument.
Corrected project considers retaining the authenticity of the castle’s roof arch; for the plastering of walls the lime will be used instead of plaster, as the arte-facts existing on the building confirm that initially, during the castle construction lime material was used for the plastering of walls; it is necessary to consider all the above mentioned details for the proper rehabilitation of Batoni Castle.
For overcoming made mistakes and correction of above discussed issues as well as to have sound project, all parties were involved in the development of the rehabilitation project implemented by the Municipal Development Fund. In addition to the above mentioned, there were certain changes made to the project, in particular: addition of exhibition area in the building, planting of greenery and replacement of concrete ornaments with the pitcher type ornaments.
Mayor of Telavi - Mr. Platon Kalmakhelidze, Vice-Mayor – Mr. Tengo Mtvarelishvili, chairman of council - - Mr. Archil Tkhlashidze, majoritarian member of the Parliament – Mr. Gela Samkharauli, employees of the museum as well as other interested parties attended the presentation. It was decided at the presentation that similar meeting would be again conducted in future.
Batoni Castle was established and was functioning for its initial purpose in one of the most difficult periods of the Country’s history – from 70-ies of XVII century up to 1801 year.
