A giant metal cross that was bolted to the entrance of Tbilisi’s parliament building remains standing more than a week after violent anti-LGBT protests broke out.
A St. Nino’s cross installed at the entrance to Georgia’s parliament building.
A distinctive cross was affixed to the stone steps of Georgia’s parliament on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue on July 5.
The Orthodox Christian symbol was installed as crowds of anti-LGBT protesters gathered on Rustaveli and violent extremists attacked journalists after a planned gay-pride march was called off due to security concerns. Conservative activists are now warning that the cross must not be touched, while others have called for its removal.
An image of St. Nino with her grapevine cross inside the Jvari Monastery, near Tbilisi.
St. Nino’s cross, also known as the grapevine cross, is a fourth-century Christian symbol used by the Georgian Orthodox Church. The cross is associated with St. Nino, a woman who spread Christianity on the territory of today’s Georgia while traveling with the unusually shaped cross -- distinctive for its drooping horizontal arms -- that was twined with grapevine.
The base of the cross was bolted into the stone stairway at the entrance to the Georgian parliament.
The activists who emplaced the 3.5-meter-high cross cited its location -- on the site of a demolished tsarist-era cathedral -- as a reason for its installation. The Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral stood at the site of the current parliament but was demolished by Soviet authorities in 1930 to build the government building.
LGBT activists display a rainbow flag in front of the cross on July 6.
On July 8, a group of activists planned a rally to demand that the cross be removed.
Nata Peradze, an organizer of the protest, told RFE/RL’s Georgian Service that "it is absolutely unacceptable, both legally and morally, to install such a symbol in a secular state when the denomination it represents is violent and preaches homophobia.”
Peradze says the group planned to bring flowers for the “funeral of the secular state” but the action was called off after threats of violence.
A detail of the cross, which is decorated with a metal “grapevine.”
Giorgi Kardava, a leader of an ultranationalist group that threatened to counter the protest against the cross, warned that “these people do not understand what they are dealing with. If this cross is touched or disrespected in any way, I will not be held accountable for what happens.”
Anti-LGBT protesters dance in front of parliament on July 5 after a planned gay-pride march was called off amid threats of violence.
A representative from Tbilisi’s city hall responded to a query from RFE/RL about the future of the cross, saying, "We are still discussing this issue and we will inform you as soon as we have a decision."
Written by Amos Chapple based on reporting by Tamuna Chkareuli