Sculpture of Ali and Nino

Ali and Nino Sculpture is a modern work of art decorating the seafront promenade of the seaside resort of Batumi, Georgia. The installation by sculptor Tamara Kvesitadze is also called the Monument of Love. This avant-garde art composition has become a recognizable business card of the city and is among the most famous sights of the capital of Adjara, which travelers should definitely see.

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Video: Ali and Nino Sculpture

Contents

History

‘ Azerbaijan at the beginning of the last century. The dramatic story of a pair of young gymnasium students in love who met in Baku at the height of World War I and the Russian Revolution is reminiscent of the fate of the heroes of the medieval Arabic poem about Leili and Majnun or Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet.

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The hero of the novel, Ali Khan, who comes from the noble Azerbaijani family of Shirvanshirs, meets a beautiful Georgian woman, Nino, who belongs to the ancient family of Princes Kipiani and Chavchavadze. But unlike the purely political enmity of the pompous Montecchi and Capulet families, the families of the Muslim Ali and the Christian Nino were separated by a much deeper cultural and religious gulf lying between the world of Islam and Christian civilization.

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Ali Khan dies in 1920 defending his country from the advancing Bolshevik army. Grief-stricken young princess Nino goes to Tiflis, the author is silent about her fate.

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The book about the fate of Ali and Nino translated into three dozen languages, known about a hundred reprints of this bestseller, based on it filmed a movie drama, created theatrical performances. The plot of Kurban Seyid’s famous novel was inspired by the famous Georgian artist and sculptor Tamara Kvesitadze. She created a stunning kinetic sculpture of Ali and Nino, installed in 2010 on the Batumi embankment, not far from the lighthouse. But before that, the amazing composition amazed the visitors of art biennales in London and Venice, collecting the highest awards from the audience and jury. The artist was able to ingeniously embody in metal a code inexpressible in words that speaks of the magic of love and sorrowful separation.

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In 2015, Ali and Nino’s sculptures parted again, though not for long. Engineers discovered that seeping seawater was destroying the room in the base of the pedestal, where the mechanisms that move the figures were hidden. They decided to move the installation to more secure ground 50 meters from the sea. During dismantling the statue of Nino fell, the structure had to be restored.

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‘ Ali and Nino on the background of the Ferris wheel
‘ Tourists take photos at the sculpture

Sculpture

By seven o’clock in the evening, tourists vacationing in Batumi hurry along the alleys of the Park of Miracles to the Seaside Embankment, where an 8-meter high sculptural composition depicting a naked couple in love of the heroes of Kurban Seyid’s sad novel “Ali and Nino” stands.

The statues of a young man and a young woman are made of disparate stainless steel plates that make up the silhouettes of the lovers. They are mounted on a pedestal, in which the spotlights are hidden, there is also hidden the main secret of the kinetic figures. From afar, the outlines of the sculptures of Ali and Nino resemble archaic statuettes of the Bronze Age, encountered by archaeologists in western Georgia.

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At exactly 19:00 the spectacularly illuminated sculptures “come to life” and a mesmerizing 10-minute show accompanied by soft relaxation music begins. The surrealistic figures subtly move towards each other in a slow melancholic dance, they smoothly come closer together for a kiss.

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At the moment the metal faces silently touch, the audience freezes. For a few seconds the statues merge into a single shimmering silhouette, but the openwork contours of the metal bodies meet the void and pass through. The figures glide onward, like ghosts that have missed each other. The spectacle evokes the mystical feeling of being present at some sacrament in a fifth dimension of space inaccessible to mortals.

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Practical information

A hundred meters from the pedestal of the famous statues there is a beach cafe Iveria Beach Club. It serves Georgian cuisine with an Adjarian accent. Try malahto – delicious lobio with gravy made of crushed nuts and grape juice, eat ruddy borano – cheese fried in butter and sprinkled with flour. Borano is washed down with Adjara wine. For dessert order fragrant Adjarian coffee and delicious baklava soaked in sweet syrup. The price range in the menu is from 5 lari ($1.8) to 15 lari ($5.43) per dish.

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How to get there

The Ali and Nino sculpture is located in the pedestrian zone on Batumi’s Seaside Promenade. City buses #1, #2, #4, #10, #13 go here. Get off at the “Gogebashvili Street” stop, and then walk through the park.

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