The Batumi Piazza is an
Italian-style open public area in the city of
Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...
, Georgia. Various significant buildings surround the piazza which has open air cafes, hotels, and shopping. The piazza is one of the most visited and popular sights of the Batumi, located in the Seaside Zone about 4 blocks from the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
.
Mosaic
A unique feature of the piazza square is a central mosaic of 106 sq m. which is considered the largest figurative marble mosaic in Europe. The author is a Georgian-Swiss designer Natali (Natalia) de Pita Amirejibi.
The mosaic was created in 2010, according to de Pita-Amirejbi’s original sketches at the Fantini Mosaici workshop in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
. Upon its completion the mosaics were transferred to Batumi and then assembled piece by piece under Natali de Pita Amirejibi’s personal supervision in August 2010.
The concept of the whole mosaic is a harmony between sea elements and an unceasing modern urban expanse. The mosaic composition consists of eight circles laid one in the other, which reminds us of whirlpools on a sea surface. Each circle is decorated with ornamental and figurative elements, wherein the central circle is a figurative composition of five female figures. These clothed in red, light blue, purple, pink and green figures embody female hypostases of marine deities. Where the colour worn by the goddesses chimes with their individual persona’s characters. Also, it’s known that a prototype for the central figure of the composition, a small siren (mermaid), was the designer’s five year old daughter Romina.
The mosaic was constructed from 88,244,735 cut and finished elements of 1 square cm each in size and jointed into 1,764,895 segments. The marble used for the mosaic came from 15 different countries. However, the materials used for depicting the purple dress of the Marine goddess and a darker part of the red dress of another figure are
smalt
Cobalt glass—known as "smalt" when ground as a pigment—is a deep blue coloured glass prepared by including a cobalt compound, typically cobalt oxide or cobalt carbonate, in a glass melt. Cobalt is a very intense colouring agent and very littl ...
and ceramics.
Gallery
File:Batumi - Piazza.jpg
File:Batumi, střed města - panoramio.jpg
File:Piazza, Batumi. Aug 2016 (1).jpg
References
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Batumi