10 Lari 2008, Georgia
| in Krause book | Number: 71c |
| Years of issue: | 2008 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | President of National Bank of Georgia: David Amaglobeli (in office from October 2007 till February 2009), Minister of Finance: Nika Gilauri (in office from 07.09.2007 till 06.02.2009) |
| Serie: | 1995 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1995 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 125 х 63 |
| Printer: | Polska Wytwornia Papierow Wartocziowych, Warszawa |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Denomination 10. Abbreviation "GEL". The image of the griffin with lions body from the east wall of Samtavisi Cathedral.
Samtavisi (Georgian: სამთავისი) is an eleventh-century Georgian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Georgia, in the region of Shida Kartli, some 45 km. from the nation’s capital Tbilisi. The cathedral is now one of the centers of the Eparchy of Samtavisi and Gori of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The cathedral is located on the left bank of the Lekhura River, some 11km of the town of Kaspi. According to a Georgian tradition, the first monastery on this place was founded by the Assyrian missionary Isidore in 572 and, later, rebuilt in the X century. Neither of these buildings has survived however. The earliest extant structures date to the eleventh century, the main edifice being built in 1030 as revealed by a now lost stone inscription. The cathedral was built by a local bishop and a skillful architect Hilarion who also authored the nearby church of Ashuriani. Heavily damaged by a series of earthquakes, the Cathedral was partially reconstructed in the XV and XIX centuries. The masterly decorated eastern façade is the only survived original structure.
The Samtavisi Cathedral is a rectangular 4-piered cruciform domed church. It illustrates a Georgian interpretation of the cross-in-square form which set an example for many churches built in the heyday of medieval Georgia. The exterior is distinguished by the liberal use of ornamental blind arcading. The apses do not project, but their internal position is marked by deep recesses in the wall. In contrast to earlier Georgian churches, the drum of the dome is taller surmounted by a conical roof. Artistically, the most rounded portion of the church is its five-arched eastern façade, dominated by the two niches and enlivened by a bold ornate cross motif.
Beyond the main church, the Samtavisi complex includes a badly damaged two-storied bishop’s residence, a small church (5.8 х 3.2 m.), and a three-storied belltower (5.7 х 7.3 m.) attached to the 3-5 m. high fence made of stone and brick. All these structures date to the XVII-XVIII centuries. 
Avers:
Akaki Tsereteli (Georgian: აკაკი წერეთელი) (1840-1915), often mononymously known as Akaki, was a prominent Georgian poet and national liberation movement figure.
Born in the village of Skhvitori, Imereti region of western Georgia on June 9, 1840, to a prominent Georgian aristocratic family. His father was Prince Rostom Tsereteli, his mother, Princess Ekaterine, a daughter of Ivane Abashidze and a great-granddaughter of King Solomon I of Imereti.
Following an old family tradition, Tsereteli spent his childhood years living with a peasant’s family in the village of Savane. He was brought up by peasant nannies, all of which made him feel empathy for the peasants’ life in Georgia.He graduated from the Kutaisi Classical Gymnasium in 1852 and the University of Saint Petersburg Faculty of Oriental Languages in 1863.
Akaki was a close friend of Prince Ilia Chavchavadze, a Georgian progressive intellectual youth leader. The young adult generation of Georgians during the 1860s, led by Chavchavdze and Tsereteli, protested against the Tsarist regime and campaigned for cultural revival and self-determination of the Georgians.
He is an author of hundreds of patriotic, historical, lyrical and satiric poems, also humoristic stories and autobiographic novel. Tsereteli was also active in educational, journalistic and theatrical activities.
The famous Georgian folk song Suliko is based on Tsereteli’s lyrics. He died on January 26, 1915 and was buried at the Mtatsminda Pantheon in Tbilisi. Had a son, Russian opera impresario Alexey Tsereteli. A major boulevard in the city of Tbilisi is named after him, as is one of Tbilisi's metro stations.
On top is an emblem of National Bank of Georgia. The main motive of emblem is Borjgali.
Borjgali (Georgian: ბორჯღალი; also Borjgala or Borjgalo) is a Georgian symbol of the Sun with seven rotating wings over the Christian Tree of Life and is related to the Mesopotamian symbols of eternity. It is usually depicted within the circle that symbolizes the Universe. The roots of the Tree go into the "past" and its palm-like branches are for the "future". The Tree itself symbolizes the continuity between past, present and the future. The Borjgali is usually placed above the tree and symbolizes the Sun, eternal movement and life.
The term Borjgali is believed to derive from Megrelian word ბარჩხალი ("barchkhali"), which literally means "strong shining". Some other scholars believe that it has different origins. In old Megrelian borj means "time" and gal means "pass" or "flow". So the whole phrase would mean "the flow of time".
As I was informed from the money museum of the National Bank of Georgia - namely, by Mr. Roland Spanderashvili, the image of apple blossom (Malus domestica) and Swallow (Hirundo rustica) are shown as symbols of spring.
This is due to the poems of Akaki Tsereteli, in which, often, the onset of spring figuratively meant hope for the independence of Georgia.
"The swallow twittered, shrill and gay,
Arriving from across the main.
'This spring!' 'This spring!' it called to me;
My heart with hope was filled again.
I flung my window open wide;
How changed and fair was all the world!
And cleaving to my throbbing breast,
Delight its rosy wings unfurled.
Spring's fragrance filled the air; and I
Inhaled the sweetness, and was glad.
The future seemed so rosy that
I cried with joy: 'O why be sad!'
I will attain my heart's desire
By wintry frosts made cold and drear;
In wedlock will all nature smile,
And Hymen's anthem will I hear.
Sweet is the essence of the rose;
The violet droops before my eye;
The nightingale her lays of love
Pours forth in thrilling melody".
...exclaims a jubilant poet in the poem "Spring" in response to the news of the murder of Alexander II.
Cheerful sounds concluding lines of the poem "My faith":
"And my heart beats again, believing
The people in the prime of his native country,
Like it or not, winter, all the doors
Open wide for the spring!" (С. Чилая. Акакий Церетели .rus)
Denomination is in lower right corner.
Revers:
On top, right and left sides, are the stone bas-reliefs of wine grape - The Tree of life, from the wall of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
Centered is the portrait of mother of Georgian artist David Kakabadze (8 (20) August 1889 - 10 May 1952) from his painting "Imereti - Mother of Mine" (1918).
Today its kept at the Georgian National Museum (საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი). More precisely - in The Art Museum of Georgia (საქართველოს ხელოვნების მუზეუმი), because Georgian National Museum is the complex of important Georgian museums.
Before 1991 it was kept in The Art Museum of Georgian SSR.
Denominations are in left and right, lower, corners.
Comments:
Security strip with microtext.
Designer: Georgian artist Nodar Malazonia.
Designer of Lari sign: professional artist-ceramist Malkhaz Shvelidze.
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