In recent years, political divisions in Georgia have fractured society into parallel, non-overlapping worlds. But on June 28, at Tbilisi’s Kashveti Church, these invisible boundaries vanished. On the day of the final farewell to the prominent businessman Temur Ugulava, those who gathered there included people who would never shake hands in everyday life: Bidzina Ivanishvili’s son Bera and the billionaire’s former confidant Giorgi Bachiashvili, MPs from both the ruling majority and the opposition, and journalists from rival media outlets. The loss of this one man temporarily put all differences aside. Because this was a man who embodied Georgia and its journey.
