From the point of view of the functional diversity of Art Nouveau, Georgia has a wealth of material to offer. In addition to apartment blocks, this style was used in buildings such as banks, colleges, shops, cinemas, hospitals, factories and restaurants. Tbilisi has a tobacco factory and a thermal power plant; Poti, a small city in western Georgia, has a library and a caravanserai; and historical cemeteries contain some wonderful monuments.
The most outstanding buildings are the Art Nouveau cinemas. The arrival and spread of Art Nouveau architecture and motion pictures took place simultaneously, and these two innovative art forms enjoyed great success in Georgia. A good example is the Apollo Cinema, an Art Nouveau movie theatre built in Tbilisi in 1909. Another cinema (now the Music Centre) was built there in 1914, but only the entrance hall and small parts of the façade remain today. In the middle of the twentieth century, two Art Nouveau movie theatres - Mon Plaisir in Kutaisi and the Apollo in Batumi - were destroyed. Only the Apollo Cinema has been preserved in its original form.
The Apollo, which continued to be used as a cinema during the Soviet period, is an architectural monument of national importance. It has been in private ownership for several years, but it is nonetheless neglected and unprotected.
In February this year, Tbilisi City Council started work on the rehabilitation of the buildings on David Agmashenebeli Avenue, and among these is the Apollo.
The importance of this building needs to be recognised by its owners and by Georgian society, particularly specialists in the protection of historic monuments. The Apollo must be carefully restored, preserved and used once again as a cinema.
Nestan Tatarashvili
Architect, Head of the Georgian Art Nouveau Preservation Group, Tbilisi