House of Culture

Location: Pitsunda, Abkhazia

Completed: 1960s

Artist: Zurab Tsereteli

Genre: Soviet relief, former USSR

Pitsunda sits on one of the largest bays in the Eastern Black Sea region. Orders to establish the first mega-resort in the USSR came from the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. Two of the Union’s top architects, Mikhail Posokhin and Ashot Mndoyants, were given the task of drawing up the blueprint and more than three thousand labourers, artisans and craftsmen etc. descended on the small town to create the resort as per their plan.

The mosaics, motifs and bas-relief dotted around the resort and in the town centre were created by a team of artists under the leadership of Zurab Tsereteli, the renowned Georgian artist and current President of the Russian Academy of Arts. More information about Resort Pitsunda.