Zurab Tsereteli
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli (Georgian: ზურაბ კონსტანტინეს ძე წერეთელი, romanized: zurab k'onst'ant'ines dze ts'ereteli; 4 January 1934 – 22 April 2025) was a Georgian painter, sculptor and architect known for large-scale and at times controversial monuments. Tsereteli served as the President of the Russian Academy of Arts from 1997 until his death.
Also recorded as Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli · Zourab Tsereteli
Zurab Tsereteli

Совет Федерации · Council.gov.ru · CC BY 4.0
- Born
- 1934. · Tbilisi.
- Died
- 2025. · Moscow.
- Nationality
- Soviet Union, Russia and Georgia.
- Occupation
- painter, sculptor, architect, artist, art educator and designer.
- Fields
- art of sculpture, visual art activity and painting.
- Education
- Tbilisi State Academy of Arts.
- Teachers
- Giorgi Chitaia.
- Known for
- Freedom Monument in Tbilisi and Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument.
- Honours
- USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Hero of Socialist Labour, Knight of the Legion of Honour, Order For Merit to the Fatherland and 1st class.
- Languages
- Russian and Georgian.
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Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli (Georgian: ზურაბ კონსტანტინეს ძე წერეთელი, romanized: zurab k'onst'ant'ines dze ts'ereteli; 4 January 1934 – 22 April 2025) was a Georgian painter, sculptor and architect known for large-scale and at times controversial monuments. Tsereteli served as the President of the Russian Academy of Arts from 1997 until his death.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1358703 · wikipedia · Zurab Tsereteli
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Zurab Tsereteli studied at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. Training under Giorgi Chitaia is recorded. The recorded working language is Russian and Georgian. The field of work recorded is art of sculpture, visual art activity and painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are art of. Positions recorded include UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and museum director. Works named in the authority record are Freedom Monument in Tbilisi and Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument. Distinctions recorded are USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin, People's Artist of the Russian Federation and Hero of Socialist Labour.
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi on 4 January 1934. Tsereteli studied at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and graduated from there in 1958. He was married to Inessa Andronikashvili. Between the years 1960 and 1963, 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. In 1964, he made his first trip abroad to France. He stayed in Paris for three months, during which time visited Pablo Picasso in his studio. This experience served to greatly shape his later creative production. At a later stage he also became acquainted with Marc Chagall, and as well as the work of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, the influence of whom can also be seen in the Tsereteli's work. In the 1970s, Tsereteli also designed several Soviet embassies and consulates over the world. In 1978–79, Tsereteli was invited to teach painting as a visiting professor at the College at Brockport, State University of New York. In 1980, Tsereteli was appointed the chief designer for the XXII Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. In 1981, he became a professor at his alma mater, the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. In 1990, Good Defeats Evil, Tsereteli's interpretation of St. George slaying the dragon as an allegory for world peace in the modern age, was unveiled at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. In the 1990s, Tsereteli continued to work on public commissions for the city of Moscow, which many insist was due to his personal friendship with mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The most significant of these projects include: the reconstruction of Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Manege Square, the War Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Gora, the Moscow Zoo, as well as the 98m tall Peter the Great, monument erected in 1996–97, which has elicited mixed feelings among the citizens of Moscow. The Birth of the New Man was inaugurated in Seville, Spain in 1995, in celebration of the European discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus. Tsereteli was elected the President of the Russian Academy of Arts. He founded the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in 1999, becoming the first state museum in the country entirely dedicated to modern and contemporary art. In 2001, the Gallery of Arts of Tsereteli was opened in Moscow. In 2006, Tsereteli unveiled his monument To the Struggle Against World Terrorism, or The Tear of Grief, in Bayonne, New Jersey. It was donated to the United States as an official gift by Russia in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks to show support and solidarity for the American people. In 2005, Holocaust was donated by Russia to Israel and opened in Jerusalem. In 2009–10, he was elected a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Austria), given the title of Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor by France, as well as a 1st Rank Order "For Services to the Motherland" by the Russian Federation. In 2011, he received two awards from the Roman Academy of Fine Arts: the "For Life in Art" Prize and the International Giuseppe Sciacca Award for significant contribution to the arts. In 2012, Tsereteli founded the Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi, Georgia. In March 2016, Tsereteli was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. 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. On 6 December 2020, 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. Tsereteli died from a cardiac arrest in his residence in Peredelkino, Moscow Oblast, on 22 April 2025, at the age of 91.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1934
Zurab Tsereteli was born in 1934 at Tbilisi.
2025
Zurab Tsereteli died in 2025 at Moscow.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Tbilisi.
Birth place
Moscow.
Death place
Criticism
Critics note the excessive expressiveness and excessive pathos invested in the images of the heroes of Tsereteli's works. They also note the naivety of the sculptural groups on Manezhnaya Square and the mistakes made in the design of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Tsereteli's works fit into the aesthetics of postmodernism: eclecticism, kitsch, provocation, and playing with scale. From the early 1990s, Tsereteli had been supported by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and effectively became the city's chief muralist. Tsereteli's Moscow works were criticized by city residents and experts, who ranked the sculptor among the expressors of the infamous "Luzhkov style of architecture." The Peter the Great Statue, erected in 1997, sparked especially heated debate.

Церемония вручения государственных наград. Орденом «За заслуги перед Отечеством» I степени награждён Зураб Церетели – президент Российской академии художеств.
Пресс-служба Президента России · Kremlin.ru

Photo of Zurab Tsereteli
Valerij Ledenev · Zurab Tsereteli Зураб Церетели
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1358703: Zurab Tsereteli
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Zurab Tsereteli”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, known for his gigantic and controversial work, dies at 91. CityNews Halifax. 22 April 2025.
- 2.Zurab Tsereteli, Georgian-born artist and Russian patriot, has died aged 91. www.theartnewspaper.com. 24 April 2025.
- 3.A Master Ahead of His Time The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine. www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com. 25 April 2014.
- 4.Zurab Tsereteli, sculptor. Biography. Ivestia. 22 April 2025.
- 5.Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli's work comes to London's Saatchi Gallery. Architectural Digest India. 30 January 2019.
- 6.Zurab Tsereteli – Obras De Arte En Venta de Zurab Tsereteli. Es.Arte Gallery.
- 7.Georgian-Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli dies aged 91. www.bbc.com. 22 April 2025.
- 8.Passport Magazine. Vladimir Kozlov on Zurab Tsereteli.
- 9.Díaz, Cristina. Huevo de Colón: 20 años de daños impunes. Diario de Sevilla. 26 April 2017.
- 10.Groundbreaking Ceremony: September 16, 2005. 911monument.com.
- 11.Oscharov, Roman. Zurab Tsereteli: Artistic licence. Financial Times. 25 June 2015.
- 12.Zurab Tsereteli: Larger Than Life – Announcements – art-agenda. www.art-agenda.com.
- 13.Zurab TSERETELI. UNESCO.
- 14.Hill, J. (2019). Zurab Tsereteli. 1st ed. Milan: Skira, pp.92–95.
- 15.RAH, 2020 ПРЕЗИДЕНТУ РАХ З.К.ЦЕРЕТЕЛИ ВРУЧЕН ОРДЕН СЕРБСКОГО ЗНАМЕНИ I СТЕПЕНИ
- 16.Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, known for his gigantic and controversial work, dies at 92. AP News. 22 April 2025.
- 17.Умер Зураб Церетели — самый критикуемый российский скульптор Почему его работы, которые все привыкли ругать, — на самом деле настоящее постмодернистское искусство. Meduza.
- 18.«Профессия такая — нужно каждый день искать»: жизнь Зураба Церетели. РБК. 22 April 2025.
- 19.Revzin, G. I. Хрустальная часовня в Охотном ряду. «Коммерсантъ» № 166. 9 September 1998.
- 20.Klimenko, А. А. Открытое письмо Президенту России Владимиру Путину. «Единый художественный рейтинг», выпуск 6. 2002.
- 21.От Петра I до коней на Манежной площади: главные работы Зураба Церетели. Forbes.ru. 22 April 2025.
- 22.Умер Зураб Церетели — самый критикуемый российский скульптор Почему его работы, которые все привыкли ругать, — на самом деле настоящее постмодернистское искусство. Meduza.
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