2025-04-22 MEMORY ETERNAL! Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli

CHRIST IS RISEN!

The Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, is sad to note the death on April 22, 2025, of Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli. He was 92 years old. Zurab Tsereteli was one of the most famed Russian and Georgian artists, a sculptor, painter, and educator. He was the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, and a knight of the Imperial Order of St. Anna, First Class, and of the Imperial and Royal Order of the White Eagle.

Zurab Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934, in Tiflis, into an ancient noble family. His parents were Konstantin Georgievich Tsereteli and Tamara Semyonovna (née Princess Nizharadze). In 1958 he graduated from the Department of Art of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts and took a position at the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

He studied in France in 1964, was the Principal Artist of the XXII Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, was appointed a full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1988), was the Artistic Director for the construction project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and for the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill for the 50th anniversary of the victory in World War II (1995). Beginning in 1997, he served as the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and Honorary Member of the Patriarchal Council on Culture.

He married Inessa Alexandrovna (née Princess Andronikashvili) (1937-1998). Their daughter, Elena Zurabovna Tsereteli, is a PhD in art history, an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Director of the Tsereteli Art Gallery, and Dame of the Imperial Order of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Comforter of Captives. Zurab Tsereteli was a friend of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, her mother, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna (1914-2010), and the Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, and he contributed to many of the social and cultural activities led or supported by the Romanoff dynasty. He lent his efforts to the transfer of the remains of Emperor-in-Exile Kirill I Vladimirovich and Empress-in-Exile Victoria Feodorovna from the Ducal Mausoleum in Coburg to the Mausoleum of the Russian Imperial House—the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg (1995)—and the remains of the Head of the Royal House of Georgia, H.R.H Prince George Alexandrovich, and his wife, H.R.H Princess Elena Sigismundovna Bagration-Mukhransky-Gruzinsky, from Spain to the family mausoleum of the Kings of Georgia—the Svetitskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in Mtskheta (1995).

For his extraordinary services to the Church and the nation, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia awarded Zurab Tsereteli the Imperial Order of St. Anna, First Class, and the Imperial and Royal Order of the White Eagle. She also awarded him the Imperial hereditary medals “Anniversary of the Nation’s Triumph. 1613-2013,” and the “Commemorative Medal of the 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanoff, 1613-2013.” In 2019, in response to a request by Z. K. Tsereteli and in recognition of his outstanding services to the nation, and as a gesture of respect and friendship, Her Imperial Highness extended hereditary noble status to his grandsons Vasily and Zurab and granddaughter Victoria; great-grandsons Alexander, Nikolai and Philip, and great-granddaughters Anastasia and Maria, as descendants of their grandfather and great-grandfather (in the female line).

Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, her son and heir, Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, and his spouse, Princess Victoria Romanovna, extend their deepest condolences to Elena Zurabovna and to all Zurab Konstantinovich’s family, friends, colleagues, and students.

Grant, O Lord, eternal rest to Thy newly reposed servant Zurab in Thy Heavenly Kingdom.

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