Colchis Fountain

A fountain on the central square of Kutaisi, opened in 2011. It is assembled from more than thirty gilded figures, enlarged copies of Colchian bronze ornaments and statuettes found during excavations at Vani and other settlements of western Georgia. The originals date from the eighth to the third century BC and are kept in museums; here they are scaled up several times over and set out on the tiers of the basin. Most of the attention goes to the pair of horses and the deer figures, but the composition also includes lions, riders and smaller pieces. The idea behind it is direct: Kutaisi stands on the site of ancient Kutaia, the capital of Colchis, where by the myth the Argonauts sailed for the Golden Fleece, so the fountain refers both to the archaeology and to that story. In the evening the lighting is switched on, and the square turns into the main place for an evening walk.

On the map