Culture
The uniqueness of Georgian culture owes much to being located on the crossroads between Europe and Asia.
There is no country in the world that has an older tradition for polyphonic singing than Georgia. In year 2001 UNESCO recognised the polyphonic singing tradition of Georgia as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. The Russian composer Igor Stravinsky is supposed to have said that Georgian polyphonic singing is more important than all other inventions within new music. The polyphonic songs sung by Georgian men are still an integral part of daily life, for example, when a group of people eat together.
In 1994, three unique places in Georgia were included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List: the mountain village of Ushguli in Svaneti, the old capital of Georgia - Mtskheta, as well as the Gelati-Bagrati monastery outside Kutaisi.
The Georgian alphabet, which many people believe exceeds all other alphabets in terms of beauty and elegance, emphasizes the uniqueness of Georgian culture. Church buildings in Georgia differ from others both through their architectural style and their location in nature, often on beautiful hilltops.
Shota Rustaveli is Georgia’s national poet who lived from 1172 to 1216 and his great epic work ”The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” is considered to be one of the major contributions to world literature from the Middle Ages.