The Chronicle of Georgia

February 24, 2023

Day two hundred and eighty, Georgia. When I lived in Germany I was proud of knowing how the world works. The rich exploit the poor. Things used to be better. What I am told is presumably correct.

It is correct, isn't it.

The truth is I know nothing about life. The further I travel, inside and out, the less of the world I understand, and I have come to think that is the right direction. Not knowing leaves the door open. I learn what things are instead of what they are supposed to be, and I keep finding qualities in myself that I had no idea were in stock.

So I turn my attention inward, because the world out there is contradictory, peculiar and off its head.

At least the world I believe I am seeing is. Which might have something to do with me.

Take the Chronicle of Georgia. Wikipedia says a mad artist called Zurab Tsereteli built it in a single year. Sixteen bronze columns, thirty-five metres high, in front of which a human being feels like an ant.

In a year. More or less on his own.

I stand at the bottom of them and notice that my first reaction is to look for who is lying.

Bronze pillars of the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi with reliefs of kings and saints against a blue sky — Sixteen pillars, thirty-five metres high, and in front of them you feel like an ant.

Bronze relief of a biblical scene at the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgian lettering set in the ground — Each panel tells a story I would have to learn before I could read it.

View between the bronze pillars of the Chronicle of Georgia to a king holding a sword and a church model — According to Wikipedia, Zurab Tsereteli built all this in a single year.

Plaza at the Chronicle of Georgia with a relief base, a few visitors and a view over Tbilisi — The city lies below; up here a few people stand about, looking very small.

Bronze pillar of the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi with a Georgian inscription on a scroll, seen from below — In one year, more or less alone, and my first reaction is to look for who's lying.

Several bronze pillars of the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi above a flight of steps under a blue sky — From the steps the whole thing looks like a forest of bronze.

Bronze Ionic capitals stacked at an angle on top of each other at the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi — Wikipedia calls the artist mad, and the capitals don't argue.

Fluted column with a bronze Ionic capital against a cloudy sky, Chronicle of Georgia, Tbilisi — I'm learning what things are rather than what they should be, columns included.

Frank in a scarf and leather jacket in front of a bronze relief at the Chronicle of Georgia, Tbilisi — Proof that I was there, in case someone here is lying after all.