ასო

This is ა — ani, the first letter of the Georgian alphabet. It has been written for sixteen hundred years, in three different hands.

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ასომთავრულიAsomtavruli

5th century · carved

The oldest Georgian letters survive in stone: rounded capitals, all one height, drawn between two lines. They are carved in the floor mosaic of a Georgian monastery at Bir el Qutt near Bethlehem (430 AD) and on the walls of Bolnisi Sioni basilica (494 AD). The name means “capital letters.”

ნუსხურიNuskhuri

9th century · written

In the scriptoria the chisel gave way to the quill. Letters leaned right, grew ascenders and descenders, packed tighter on parchment — faster to copy, cheaper to keep. First dated to 835 AD, Nuskhuri paired with Asomtavruli capitals to form khutsuri, the priestly hand.

მხედრულიMkhedruli

11th century → today · living

Outside the church a secular hand emerged — mkhedruli, “of the horseman.” Attested from the 10th century, it carried charters, poetry and letters, and became the script of the Georgian language: 33 letters, one case, no capitals. In 2016 UNESCO listed the living culture of all three writing systems as intangible cultural heritage.

ანბანიThe alphabet

All thirty-three letters of modern Georgian. Choose one to see its three lives — stone, parchment, and the living hand.

ani — ა