CULTURE
GEORGIA TODAY JANUARY 11 - 14, 2019
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A New Year Offer from City Full of Love, or... Maqro Construction OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE
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TRANSLATED BY KETEVAN KVARATSKHELIYA
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ocation, a green yard, spaces for various needs, an experienced construction company and parking spaces – these are the main criteria potential customers pay attention to while choosing an apartment. Within the high level of rivalry on the construction market, Maqro Construction is one of those outstanding companies that fully meets all the above mentioned requirements. It has prepared special offers for those who are interested in acquiring real estate for the New Year. When purchasing an apartment in the Green Diamond Residential Complex before January 15, you will receive a discount of 23%, along with an underground parking space free of charge. The offer includes units of different size in the completed residential complex, with finished renovation works and fixed kitchen facilities. The number of apartments is limited. Built to the highest standards in European residential development, Green Diamond comprises three stages and will integrate a 70,000 sq. m area and 1,800 residential apartments in total. Within the scope of the project, three swimming pools will be set up on the territory. One of them has already opened following completion of the first stage of construction and the welcoming of the first residents. The given complex also includes playgrounds, relaxation areas and pathways, all of which are located in the specially greened area close to nature and far from the busy rhythm of urban life, presenting residenta all the necessary elements for maximum comfort. The first stage of Green Diamond was completed by Maqro Construction ahead of plan. The construction process of the
Image source: Maqro Construction
second stage of the project is now well underway, and is scheduled to be finished within the next several months. In 2019, the final stage of the construction of Green Diamond will begin, set to last 30 months. It will be the continuation of the concept the company has been following for multiple years already: “The best residential and working standards for the country’s local population and its visitors is the paramount aim of our company”. Taking into consideration the given factors, the company has launched a brand new concept – Smart Living, which is based on ameliorated standards applied in every aspect of life. The Green Diamond Residential Complex and its facilities represent the constituent of the given concept, offering everything needed for a comfortable and enjoyable life, far from the busy city, close to nature. Playgrounds, fitness and recreational areas, children’s play parks, swimming pools, commercial areas – everything for the residents of Green Diamond to utilize without leaving the territory of the complex. Delighted clientele is the credo of Maqro Construction. Maqro Construction is the constituent company of Maqro Group. With the total
size of investments carried out in Georgia, Maqro Group is one of the five leading investors. The value of the direct investments to the Georgian economy exceeds $270 million. The core spheres of operation of Maqro Group are construction and development, tourism and the hotel industry, furniture production and its retail and wholesale transactions, nutrition and restaurant industries. In ongoing construction projects, Maqro Construction is included in the list of the top three companies. The residential complexes Green Budapest and Green Diamond, hotels Mercure Tbilisi Old Town and Ibis Styles Tbilisi Center, furniture enterprise Glorya Furniture and furniture salon Bellissa, home décor and perfumery brand Madam Coco stores, Dinehall restaurant – these are the successful projects the company has launched since 2013. Maqro Construction has completed the construction of one of the outstanding residential complexes Green Budapest, representing the customer oriented complex with the high quality works beeing carried out during the building process. The total investment cost of the project counts to $48 million, while the total investment cost of Green Diamond exceeds $120 million.
or Christmas, I had a couple of old friends from the US visiting with me in Tbilisi. They have been in love with Georgia since the end of the 1980s when we were extensively involved in all kinds of exchanges with America – business, cultural, sports, medical and journalistic. The Americans used to come over to stay with our families and we went to the States to spend time in American homes, mostly in the famous Peach State of Georgia whose mottos are ‘wisdom, justice and moderation.’ With Georgia on their minds, my guests came back to revisit their favorite sights of Tbilisi and its environs, and the first question they asked me when I took them for a glimpse of the gorgeously illuminated downtown was: “Why did you guys want to put that bilingual message in gigantic letters around your electronic Christmas tree? Just to tell the public that this city is full of love? It must’ve cost the earth, to say nothing of the pains taken by the city administration. Is the message that valuable and significant? No city in the world is full of love. Hate is in the same abundance as love everywhere!” I was a little nonplussed to hear the question and quickly came up with the excuse that the sturdy oversized slogan was only an emphatic reminder of what is most innate for our capital, and that is love. That said, I felt better and proceeded with entertaining the visitors. I don’t really know how convincing I sounded, but about ten minutes after the first question was promptly answered, I heard another, this time about the weird-for-the-holidays structures which had been erected in front of the Old Parliament. My first reaction was to give a strong political speech, briefly explaining why those unsightly tents had been set up right in the middle of the main city thoroughfare, but then I thought that perhaps a witty nonchalant answer
would be better to save the day. “Well, my friends,” I said, “it’s a little love and a little hatred to balance the Christmas moods in town so we can really appreciate life and be happy enough to celebrate the holidays.” No laughter ensued. Not even the faintest of smiles. To escape the acutely inquisitive curiosity of my foreign friends, I thereafter became so voluble that nobody could get a single word in. When, finally, after the evening meal and drinks and my accompanying profuse gibberish, I took to bed physically tired and emotionally overwhelmed, and lay there contemplating my life – long enough to be worth reminiscences, but not quite long enough to stop worrying about the image and fates of the motherland. A lot has happened since we said no to the idea of communism and held up the prospect of capitalistic development. We have certainly changed as a community, but there are things that still linger on as socialist leftovers. And now, following the train of my psychoanalytical thoughts, it’s my turn to ask a question: in what particular way would messages like ‘City Full of Love’ enhance our chance for a better life and boost our sense of happiness as the dwellers of this ancient urban development? How about those city folks who feel perpetual resentment instead of love due to chronic deprivation and lack of the resources needed to feel love rather than hate? Personally, I got the “love” message– I am a successful consumer of the fruits of love in general, but again, I have no need to be reminded that I am living in a place that is overflowing with the stuff. Let me throw in one quizzical contrast here: if somebody who eagerly wants to pester the author of the slogan in question and the executors thereof put up somewhere within the city boundaries the contrary slogan ‘City Full of Hate,’ what would happen? Would the alternative slogan be just as lawful to carry? As the saying goes, there’s only one step from love to hate. So why does it make sense to put up either one or the other?
NYT on Georgian Opera Sensation Antia Rachvelishvili
Photo: Toronto Star
BY SAMANTHA GUTHRIE
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ast week, the New York Times published an article about Georgian opera singer Anita Rachvelishvili. NYT classical music editor Zachary Woolfe
quotes eminent conductor Riccardo Muti calling Rachvelishvili "without doubt the best Verdi mezzo-soprano today on the planet. Without. Doubt." Woolfe praises the young star's performance in as Princesse de Bouillon in "Adriana Lecouvreur" at the Metropolitan Opera - "Diving into her chest voice, but not milking it or pushing too hard, her
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tone stayed round, warm and not all that loud, an iron fist in a cashmere glove." Rachvelishvili, 34 years old, was born in Tbilisi in the mid 1980s, and grew up in a time all Georgians remember as hard, full of suffering, but also of community and warmth. In a childhood she recalls as happy, she tells Woolfe stories of how she and her neighbors would gather in one room they could afford to heat. “We would sing, we would play cards,” she said. “We would play word and spelling games. My dad would play guitar, or mom would play piano. The music was, of course, part of 99 percent of it.” In her mid-20's, Rachvelishvili "was accepted into the prestigious young singers’ academy at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan" where a lucky cancellation saw her onstage as Carmen for opening night of the 2009 La Scala season, paired with tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Woolfe explains that Rachvelishvili "has rocketed to stardom over the past few years with performances built from brief moments just like it: combinations of arresting vocalism and thoughtful subtlety. Her sensual, even elemental presence makes her particularly ideal for the daunting mezzo roles that anchor some of Verdi’s most important operas."
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