Qvevri School-Academy of Ikhalto was Opened In Telavi Municipality
On September 22, Georgian Wine Week in Telavi municipality started with the opening of Qvevri School-Academy of Ikhalto. The event was opened by the minister of Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili.
As the minister noted, it is symbolic, that Georian Wine Week started with the opening of Qvevri School-Academy, as Qvevri and wine are essential to each other, it is a part of Georgian culture and traditions.
“I\'m glad, that the project of Qvevri School-academy came to reality with the active collaboration of government, church, local government and private sector in a year and now, all of us are the members of this important event. I want to note, that development of any sectors, considering winemaking should be in a complex way. Accordingly, Qvevri School-academy will be a very important element for developing the value of Qvevri wine. Almost the whole world recognizes Georgia, as the home for wine. Qvevri wine is quite unique, that gives Georgian wine different and special place on the world market. In 2013, Georgian traditional way of making wine in Qvevri received the status of non-material cultural heritage monument UNESCO, which is a great success for Georgia. And this success is a great responsibility. Traditional methods of making Qvevri needed to be survived and Qvevri School-academy will give us this opportunity. Good Qvevri is an important assumption for making good Qvevri wine. It is important for us to maintain the quality of Qvevri and improve it further, to have special standards and attitude towards this. Qvevri wine is our treasure and for maintenance this uniqueness, we needed to make the infrastructure, which would give us ability to research, improve and development the production of Qvevri. It will give us opportunity to have our word in wine field in the whole world” -mentioned Levan Davitashvili.
The Qvevri school- workroom established by the initiative of metropolitan of Alaverdi, Davit, aims to recover and maintain the ancient traditional methods of Qvevri making, also, the development of historical, cultural, tourism and educational potential of Ikalto.
At the opening ceremony, metropolitan Davit stated, that it would be impossible to build the school without the active support of ministries of Agriculture, Regional Development and Infrastructure and also, the private sector. He thanked the guests and added, that the functioning of the school will face the real positive results within the next few years.
Ikalto multifunctional academy will unit workroom, museum, library and internet cafe in one area. The school will give opportunity to all people concerned to learn not only Qvevri, but also other old traditional wine vessel making ancient methods. Besides the clay workroom, there will be Georgian porcelain, enamel and gold workrooms, any wisher will have opportunity to learn.
The school-academy is equipped with the modern installations, there is a modern standard oven for burning the clay, clay mill, tanks for clay wash, press and vacuum-press. Modern technologies help to produce high-quality and modern-standard Qvevri and clay vessels.
At the school-academy opening ceremony, the deputy of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ilia Darchiashvili made a speech and mentioned, that Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and Fund of Municipality Development are the active supporters of the project.
“We were involved in the implementation of the project actively and i\'m glad that the project is finished and today, School-academy of Ikalto is open today. The project was implemented by the co-financing of Georgian government and worldbank and it coasted 5 million Gel. After the school begins functioning in different lines, including historical, cultural, educational and tourism directions, there will be important positive results” - mentioned Ilia Darchiashvili.
The guests of the ceremony were addressed by the speech of governor of Kakheti region, Irakli Qadagishvili and the head of the committee of agricultural issues in parliament, Gela Samkharauli mentioned, that opening of the school is very important not only for Kakheti region, but for the whole state.
“Qvevri and Qvevri wine is a visit cart of Georgia, it is a part of our culture and tradition. Accorgingli, it\'s important to support and develop this tradition. This is the aim of establishing this school” - noted the governor of Kakheti region, Irakli Qadagishvili.
The opening of the school-academy was attended by the ministers of Agriculture, Aducation and Science and Regional Development and Infrastructure, representatives of Agricultural Committee of Parliament of Georgia, National Wine Agency, diplomatic body, association Georgian Wine, local self-administration and winemaking companies.