10 Best Museums in Georgia

As a cultural hub, the museum plays an important role in bringing and preserving culture and history unchanged. In addition to spending time and visual enjoyment, here you will find more information about art as an integral part of the culture.

Visiting a museum is one of the best ways to get to know your own or another country better and become more self-aware.

In this article, you will find out about 10 interesting museums and galleries that you should see in Georgia.

1. Tbilisi History Museum

Tbilisi History Museum is the best place to get acquainted with the historical past of Georgia. The museum is located in Old Tbilisi, Ioseb Grishashvili Tbilisi History Museum (Carvasla).

The museum's funds hold more than 50,000 exhibits dating back from the end of the 4th millennium BC to the present day and tell the history of Tbilisi: how did the city develop, what difficulties did it face and how did it get its present look?

The museum preserves archeological (From the Bronze Age), ethnological, documentary materials, photo collections, folk, applied, and fine works of art. An important part is occupied by the architectural collection, which is a collection of models of individual buildings and neighborhoods of urban development. In addition to artifacts, you can also attend exhibitions of contemporary art at the Tbilisi History Museum, which is often hosted by this museum. The museum has a collection of photographs of the life of Tbilisi City in the XIX century.

Tbilisi History Museum was built in 1910. It has been named after Ioseb Grishashvili since 1965. Ioseb Grishashvili was a Georgian public figure and poet.

The museum is located at Sioni Street 8, Tbilisi. The functioning entrance of the gallery is from the back, from "Alexandrovi Garden".

2. Museum of Illusions

While you are still wandering in the districts of old Tbilisi and have already visited the historical museum, spend time in illusions on Betlemi Street. The space opened in 2019 and promises people of any age and taste an illusory, eye-catching, cognitive, visually rich experience.

Installations and exhibits are on display at the Museum of Illusions Tbilisi. The collection consists of more than 70 exhibits based on the knowledge of science - physics, and geometry. If you can hardly take a photo in any other museum, here you will be given complete freedom. You can take thousands of pictures with friends, family, or a partner.

In the museum, you can play games in the game room of wisdom, train your mind and have fun. The museum also has a souvenir shop where you can buy souvenirs. You can also organize an event, and a birthday party and schedule group visits.

The Museum of Illusions is located at Betlemi Street 10.

3. Holoseum

After visiting the Museum of Illusions, you can also visit the Holoseum at Betlemi Street 10. The Holoseum is an audio-visual museum where various projects are carried out using modern technologies.

This multidimensional - 'Museum Without Frames' - will take you on a journey into the digital world of projections and audiovisual.

The space offers a digitized version of the artist's works. Visuals created in magical colors promise an unforgettable, impressive spectacle. The Holoseum is a place where modern technology and art meet.

4. Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts Art Museums

Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts Art Museums has been part of the Georgian National Museum since 2004. It was founded in 1920 and continues to exhibit, research, and protect collections under the current reforms.

The building itself has been a real monument of Georgia since 2007, it is historic and was built in 1838. It is a sample of European architecture and one of the main components of Museum Street.

The museum's treasures display Georgian engraved and painted icons, Georgian goldsmithing of the VIII-XIX centuries, cloisonne enamel, jewelry, unique samples of artistic fabrics, and embroidery. Old Georgian wall paintings, masterpieces of Georgian artists, and art monuments of Russian, European, and Eastern countries attract the visitors' attention.

The fund of the Art Museum consists of 140,000 unique exhibits from ancient times to the present day.

The building of the Art Museum has been in poor condition for years and is in danger of collapsing.

In the summer of 2021, the Ministry of Culture transferred the museum to an emergency management system. The reorganization of the art museum is part of a reorganization of the museum system that has already begun. The exhibits included in the Gold Fund should be moved from the damaged building to temporary storage.

Art Museum is located at Pushkini st. 2/4.

5. The National Gallery (Also known as Blue Gallery)

In 2020, the Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery celebrated one century since its founding. The space, which serves the development of Georgian fine arts, is named after the Georgian public figure and artist - Dimitri Shevardnadze. The building was painted blue, hence the name - "Blue Gallery", however at the moment it is more in gray tones.

The National Gallery has 8 halls where you can find many interesting exhibitions and works of art. The Blue Gallery features exhibits of distinctive art. In 2007, the National Gallery joined the Georgian National Museum. The building underwent a large-scale reconstruction, however, the central facade of the building and the exhibition space remained unchanged.

Today the gallery is one of the central exhibition spaces of the National Museum.

The museum often hosts festivals, open lectures, and conferences. From 2021 - curator tours.

The National Gallery is located at Rustaveli Avenue 11.

6. House Museum of Alexander Chavchavadze

If you decide to leave Tbilisi for a short trip, take the road to Kakheti, in particular - to Tsinandali. Apart from nature, Tsinandali is famous for its estate and Alexander Chavchavadze House-Museum and estate. You have a chance to travel in the 19th century for a while because:

Tsinandali Museum Complex - combines Alexander Chavchavadze House-Museum, Tsinandali's beautiful garden, and a unique 19th-century wine cellar.

Tsinandali Palace belonged to Garsevan Chavchavadze - Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Georgia to Russia during the reign of King Erekle II. The palace was inherited by his only son - Alexander Chavchavadze, the founder of Georgian Romanticism, a poet, and public figure.

The Tsinandali Chavchavadze Palace building was built in 1886 and is currently the Alexander Chavchavadze House Museum. It contains materials of his life and work, as well as contemporaries - epistolary and iconographic archives, personal belongings of Chavchavadze family members, various editions of the 19th century, 18th-century manuscripts, photos of Dimitri Ermakov, paintings and lithographs, 18-19th century Georgian, Russian and French furniture and various household items, including Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Georgian and Russian pottery with musical instruments. In 1835, one of the first wineries in Georgia was built here, where a unique enoteca is preserved (up to 16,500 bottles of wine bottled in different countries). On the shelves in a separate space of the cellar, you will definitely find centuries-old, aged wines, the history of which will surely be told if interested. You will also learn that it was Alexander Chavchavadze who established the culture of aging in wine barrels, according to European rules.

Tsinandali was a cultural-intellectual center in the XIX century. It still plays an important role in the cultural life of Georgia. This place hosts many exhibitions, concerts, literary events or masterclasses.

7. Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia

Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia is an integral part of the Georgian National Museum. The Georgian National Museum was established in 2004 and is the largest museum association in Georgia: it includes museums, the National Gallery, house museums, scientific research institutes, museum reserves, and libraries.

The Simon Janashia National Museum itself was opened in 1852 and was called the Caucasus Museum until 1919. Here you can find many interesting permanent or temporary exhibitions. Simon Janashia Museum preserves many types of exhibits that reflect the culture and life of the Georgian and Caucasian people. Archaeological and ethnographic materials are presented in the museum. Each guest has the opportunity to travel to the past. You will find national treasures from the III-II millennium BC, which are found in different parts of Georgia; Also, here you can see samples of goldsmithing, old Georgian and foreign coins, epigraphic monuments, medieval archeological expositions and many other types of Georgian treasures.

Georgian National Museum, is a place where history, culture, tradition, and the existence of the Georgian people are reflected in one whole space.

The main goal of the National Museum is to preserve and protect all national treasures operating in Georgia.

The museum is located at Rustaveli Avenue 3.

8. Museum of Soviet Occupation

The exhibition hall of the Soviet occupation, which is located in the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia, presents photos, videos, and documentaries depicting the occupation of Georgia by Bolshevik Russia (February-March 1921) and the 70-year rule of the Soviet occupation in Georgia: National Liberation, Anti-occupation Deportation and execution orders, lists of patriots shot in 1922-1924, and other artifacts depicting the history of the national liberation movement.

Today, more than 3,000 exhibits are on display in the exhibition hall. The exposition is equipped with 8 monitors, which periodically transmit documentary footage related to the anti-occupation movement.

The exposition in the Occupation Museum reflects the history of the Georgian National Liberation Movement and is dedicated to the memory of the patriots who fell victim to the Soviet political repressions.

The museum was established within the framework of the project - "Occupation Museums in Guria and Samegrelo" - with the assistance of the "Zugdidi Municipality Library Management Center" and with the funding of The Reserve Fund of the President of Georgia.

The Museum of Occupation is located at Rustaveli Avenue 3.

9. Georgian Museum of Fine Arts

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts combines and popularizes more than 3500 works by more than 100 Georgian artists. The museum allows art lovers to get acquainted with Georgian artists unknown to them and their interesting works.

The museum exhibits a private collection of paintings by the family of its founders - Gia Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardnadze, which includes 3,500 works of art by about 80 artists.

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts was opened on October 2, 2018. Permanent expositions are located on 3 floors, 31 halls, and 3 stairwells. The museum presents the period of Georgian fine arts - from 1945 to the present. In the collection, you will also find some important works from the 1920s.

The museum is especially notable for its façade. An eagle sculpture is placed on the facade. It is a symbol of the museum, which was created as a result of archeological excavations in western Georgia, according to three small eagle statues found in Vani Caves. The sculptures date back to the II-I centuries BC.

The museum is of great importance for both Georgian society and foreign visitors to get an idea of the culture of our country.

In addition to the exhibition spaces, the museum combines a "museum cafe" and a shop, as well as an ultra-modern complex of arthouse. The complex has restaurants, cafes, a lounge, a swimming pool, a fitness club, and a boutique of Georgian designers.

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts is open to visitors. The main goal of the museum is to introduce Georgian contemporary art, lifestyle, and traditions to the world.

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts is located at Rustaveli Avenue 7.

10. Tbilisi Open Air Museum of Ethnography

Finally, after visiting old and new Tbilisi, let's move to Vake Park. You can go to Turtle Lake, where the Ethnographic Museum is located, by cable car or by car.

Tbilisi Ethnographic Museum is the first open-air ethnographic museum in the Caucasus. The museum has more than 8 thousand preserved exhibits in one space.

Tbilisi Open Air Museum of Ethnography was founded in 1966 and is named after Giorgi Chitaia, the founder of the Georgian Ethnographic School. This is a scientific-educational institution, which introduces the characteristic features of Georgian ethnic culture.

The museum is divided into 11 zones, in ten of which the monument of Georgian traditional architecture is preserved, and the eleventh zone combines historical-archaeological monuments.

The museum preserves agricultural and residential monuments from different parts of Georgia. On the whole, the museum highlights the culture and traditions that the Georgian people respected in ancient times.

Every year, a well-known festival of Georgian folklore and self-creation, Art-Geni, is held here. At the festival, you can get acquainted with Georgian folk art or unknown samples, attend an exhibition sale or just enjoy listening to Georgian folk music and enjoy Georgian dance.