On May 13, 2011 was held the meeting of the Georgian Government. The agenda included 85 items.
Before the meeting started, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri, made a statement about the archive on Georgia in Vatican. We present the Prime Minister's speech:
"Good day. Before we start the government meeting, I would like to give the public a piece of information. This concerns historic heritage of Georgia. During the past years, we have carried out negotiations with Vatican in order that the documents kept in Vatican archives are available for us. The negotiations were completed several days ago and from now on, scientists in Georgia will be able to get acquainted with tens of thousands of documents concerning Georgia kept in Vatican archives, which were classified up to now.
In the nearest future, we will be able to introduce many new historic facts about Georgia to the public, which were unfamiliar to us up to now. I mean about 10,000 documents concerning Georgia that have not been seen or studied by anyone so far."
Nika Rurua: "the material covers the history of 800 years. Vatican missioners were first sent to Georgia in the 12th century.
From now on, any documents concerning the 12th-20th centuries will be available for Georgian researchers. This is the prerequisite that a very big and unknown part of our history will be revealed.
These persons not only were missioners, but they also had political tasks. They were prepared in languages, painting, cartography. This is a unique material about Georgia, which is not studied even where it is kept. The documents are sorted, waiting for visitors.
The US has implemented a similar program. Although the history of the US is very short, covering only 200 years, there were so many documents concerning the US that it took 13 years to study them. The 800-year piece of our history is untouched waiting for the attention of Georgian scientists. Everything is ready. With combined forces of three universities, we have created a group which will leave at the beginning of summer, presumably, at the end of June, to proceed to the most important historic work."
Prime Minister's Press Service