Ivane Javakhishvili, the rector of Tbilisi University, had stated his viewpoint about such an evasive measure in mid-February, and Ekvtime Takaishvili, his friend and the university’s founder, echoed it: "If the treasure is not hidden, the Bolsheviks will steal everything; we know very well what they did to Georgian churches."

In the nineteenth-century, Kutaisi was the second-largest city of Georgia and a center of governance within the Russian Empire. By the end of the century, the construction of administrative and public buildings in the city had significantly increased. Among these new buildings was the District Court, built between 1898 and 1900. Located at the end of present-day Newport Street, near the bank of the Rioni River, the court building plays a prominent role in the city’s urban landscape. Today, it houses the Kutaisi Court of Appeals.

Paris, autumn 1959. The Galerie Charpentier is getting ready for its traditional exhibition of artists - graduates from the Paris School. But then Raymond Naceta the gallery's director, decides to launch an unusual experiment: in order to objectively describe the current art scene in Paris, he contacts five authorized art experts with diverse creative interests and asks them to exhibit seven artists with their most recent three pieces.