The James Bond house in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi
The £30 million complex, designed by the futuristic Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu, took a decade to buildThe 10,000 sq m grounds include a glass tower housing a circular swimming poolA giant rotating steel ball containing a private café is suspended above the poolCredit: ANDREW OSBORN Locals wondered for years who the owner of this glass palace could be, and it was only very recently that its proprietor opened his doors to the prying eyes of the outside worldCredit: ANDREW OSBORN Meet Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Georgian banking oligarch worth an estimated £3.5 billion, who is the 185th richest man in the worldCredit: AFP/GETTY Bidzina Ivanishvili says that, despite his world-class art collection, he’s 'not a big art lover'; instead, he is building a collection for a Guggenheim-style museum he eventually wants to open here in GeorgiaCredit: REUTERS A Roy Lichtenstein still life in a sitting room in Bidzina Ivanishvili's houseCredit: ANDREW OSBORN One of the Damien Hirst artworks on display in Mr Ivanishvili's collectionA Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture, 1966, like the one in Manhattan, NYCCredit: ANDREW OSBORN The Robert Indiana sculture can be seen the the right of the buildingLast month, Bidzina Ivanishvili finally emerged from the shadows to enter politics, with his eyes set firmly on the prime minister's job in the strategically important former Soviet republic of GeorgiaCredit: AFP/GETTY
