Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli has passed away at the age of 91, according to reports from Russian media citing his assistant, Sergei Shagulashvili. According to the existing information, the cause of death was heart failure.

Tsereteli - an artist and a sculptor, an educator and a public figure, President of the Russian Academy of Arts - was born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi. He graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1958.

In 1979, he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Georgia, and a year later, in 1980, he received the prestigious title of People’s Artist of the USSR.

He was in charge of many large-scale art projects. In 1970-1980, Tsereteli was the art director of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in 1980 - the art director of the Moscow Olympics, in 1995, he oversaw the construction of the Poklonnaya Hill memorial in Moscow and the reconstruction of the interior of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. His works are located in streets and squares, state and public buildings in different countries.

In 2002, Tsereteli was named an honorary citizen of Tbilisi. In recent years, he had been living and working in Russia.