St. George and the Dragon in Freedom Square

In Freedom Square, in Tbilisi, Georgia, stands a 35-metre (almost 115-foot) high concrete plinth. On top of the plinth is a golden statue of St. George slaying a dragon. It was previously called Lenin Square with a statue of Vladimir Lenin. It was named Freedom Square in 1918.

The Square is actually a large roundabout with 5 intersections in the centre of the city, on the edge of Tbilisi’s Old City. And the golden statue is a popular tourist attraction, as well as the site of public gatherings, events, and concerts.

Acclaimed Tbilisi-born artist, Zurab Konstantines dze Tsereteli (1934-) created the Freedom Square – or Liberty Square – statue.

The statue of Lenin was removed in August 1991, and replaced with Tsereteli’s golden statue on 23 November 2006. Tsereteli called it Good Defeats Evil, and first created it as a model bronze statue in 1990. He created several models and several versions of the sculpture. One is on the northern lawn of the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Two bronze models of Good Defeats Evil are displayed in the Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in Tbilisi.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and 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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