1. Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was a Georgian painter, sculptor, and architect known for large-scale and at times controversial monuments.
16 Facts About Zurab Tsereteli
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Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi on 4 January 1934.
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Zurab Tsereteli studied at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and graduated from there in 1958.
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Between the years 1960 and 1963, Zurab Tsereteli worked as a staff artist as the Georgian Academy of Sciences and participated in research expeditions, which in turn served to influence his work.
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Zurab Tsereteli stayed in Paris for three months, during which time visited Pablo Picasso in his studio.
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In 1980, Zurab Tsereteli was appointed the chief designer for the XXII Summer Olympic Games in Moscow.
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Zurab Tsereteli was elected the President of the Russian Academy of Arts.
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Zurab Tsereteli founded the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in 1999, becoming the first state museum in the country entirely dedicated to modern and contemporary art.
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In 2001, the Gallery of Arts of Zurab Tsereteli was opened in Moscow.
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In 2006, Zurab Tsereteli unveiled his monument To the Struggle Against World Terrorism, or The Tear of Grief, in Bayonne, New Jersey.
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In 2012, Zurab Tsereteli founded the Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi, Georgia.
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In March 2016, Zurab Tsereteli was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
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Zurab Tsereteli continued his service as President of the Russian Academy of Arts, organised regular exhibitions by Georgian and international artists at the Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi, and continued to produce artwork.
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On 6 December 2020, Zurab Tsereteli was honored the highest state order of Serbia for his contribution of the interior decoration of the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, for which the Russian Academy has been the main contractor.
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Zurab Tsereteli died at the age of 91 from a cardiac arrest in his residence in Peredelkino, Moscow Oblast, on 22 April 2025.
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Since the early 1990s, Zurab Tsereteli had been supported by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and effectively became the city's chief muralist.