ეროვნული სასახლე - National Palace

I was 13 years old when I first came to attend the literary classes of the Pioneers
Palace and started the whole epoch of for me and boys of my generation. It was an
extraordinary event, completely unusual and paradoxical - the Pioneers’ Palace, which
should be the foundation of the Soviet ideology, was exactly the opposite. It was
the only place in Tbilisi at that time, where the freedom of speech was supported.
Even today, its stays mysterious for me. The prodigious merit for it goes to young and
beautiful Ketevan Ananiashvili, aunt Keto...
Aunt Keto’s guidance on us, and her supervision revealed in the total freedom – we
held nice evenings in this huge hall of the palace. It was a truly peculiar event during
the war period in the dark Tbilisi, full of stressful atmosphere. Meanwhile we gathered
in the palace, with the hall full of people. They said that in order to learn the truth, one
should go to the Pioneers’ Palace. The guests of the evenings were actually significant
persons, including Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Giorgi Leonidze, Geroni Kikodze, Ioseb
Grishashvili, Levan Gotua, Niko Ketskhoveli, Akaki Khorava, Levan Asatiani… Giorgi
Leonidze once said:”Children like these are born once in the century!” And we totally
believed it. We were not known by our modesty, but contrary, we all believed that
children like us were actually born once in the century in our country…
Lana Gogoberidze
Film Director
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