Inasmuch as Georgia lies in the extreme south-eastern part of «Europe»
bordering on the «Asian» part of the Eurasian continent, ancient
Georgian culture and civilization naturally constitute a synthesis of Western
and Eastern cultures, arising as a result of a merger and symbiosis of
these cultures.
Georgian statehood which may be traced back to the Kingdom of Colchis
found in the old Greek mythological tradition and whose historical
reality has been corroborated by recent research, has been preserved throughout
the ages and gave rise to the unified Georgian Kingdom, later Republic
of Georgia. It appeared in the bosom of Eastern Christianity cherished
by Byzantine cultural traditions, creating and furthering national scripts
and local cultures based on East-West civilizations. Herein lies the uniqueness
of Old Georgian material and spiritual culture and its attractiveness both
to the West and to the East.