Statue of Sofiko Chiaureli opens her eyes

The eyes of the statue of Sofiko Chiaureli opens her eyes. In the Old City of Tbilisi, Georgia, is a statue of actress Sofiko Chiaureli – unveiled in April 2016 – with her eyes open. It replaces the previous statue with her eyes closed (below).

Sofiko Chiaureli (1937-2008) was a Georgian actress who performed in films and on the stage in the Rustaveli Theatre (1964-1968) and the Kote Marjanishvili Theatre (1960-1964, 1968-2008) in Tbilisi. She was born in Tbilisi to the film director and sculptor Mikheil Chiaureli (1896-1974) and actress Veriko Anjaparidze (1890-1987). She graduated from the Tbilisi Girls Secondary School and the All-Russian Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography), returning to Tbilisi.

She met her second husband, Kote Makharadze, an actor, at the Rustaveli Theatre. It is said that he put pomegranates (the symbol of love in Georgia) in her dressing room. They had two children.

Sofiko appeared in more than 100 local and international films, most notably ‘Our Courtyard’ (1957) directed by Rezo Chkeidze, ‘Do not Grieve’ (1969) directed by her cousin Georgy Daneliya, and ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’ (1970) directed by Sergei Parajanov. She is also said to have taken her first parachute jump at the age of 65.

In April 2016, the old statue was removed and replaced with one with her eyes open.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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