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with contemporary security and climate control
Sighnaghi Museum
Region > Mariam Inanashvili
Sighnaghi, with its unusual scenery and 19th century architecture, its views of the splendid Alazani Valley and majestic Caucasus
Mountains, is one of Georgia’s most unique and colorful towns. History, culture and the customs of Sighnaghi and surrounding
areas are presented in the Sighnaghi Museum of History and Ethnography.
I
n 1947, the Sighnaghi Museum of
Local History was founded, directed
by Ilia Zurabashvili. The grand ope-
ning of the exhibitions on 31 December
1950 occupied 14 halls, with exhibits
showing local nature, history and socia-
list construction. In the 1970s and 1980s
the museum acquired archaeological
collections of exceptional significance
from Kakheti’s Archaeological Base and
its permanent expeditions in the region.
The museum has changed its mission
and goals several times, yet numerous
interesting exhibitions have been held
there over the years. In 2007, the Sigh-
naghi Museum of History and Ethnogra-
phy became part of Georgian National
Museum system. General Director David
Lordkipanidze of the National Museum
acted as academic supervisor of an
important rehabilitation project. Staff
from the National Museum participated
in developing a new concept and exhi-
bitions, supported by the French com-
pany, Studio Milou Architecture, whose
specialists also participated in the new
conception.
As a result of merging with the Natio-
nal Museum and completing the ambi-
tious rehabilitation project, the Sighna-
ghi Museum is now in compliance with
European museum standards. This pro-
ject was the first step towards introdu-
cing contemporary museum standards
to local museums in Georgia. The exhi-
bition halls are attractive and equipped
systems; the museum café and terrace have a re-
markable view of the Alazani Valley.
Artifacts from the Kura-Araxes and Alazani-Be-
deni cultures are exhibited in chronological order.
A bronze awl from the Chalcolithic Period found
in Kakheti confirms that the foundations of me-
tallurgy appeared in the region 7000 years ago.
There are exhibits of the black-glazed ceramics of
Bedeni. A golden sculpture of a lion dating back
to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC was
discovered in the Tsnori mound, only a few kilo-
meters away from Sighnaghi. Items from this bu-
rial mound are on display in the exhibition. Cer-
tain items that had been donated to the chapels
of Meli-Ghele, Melaani and Shilda in the region,
date to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, in-
cluding a remarkable necklace, a bronze model of
a chariot of war and medieval archaeological dis-
coveries of the Pevrebi collection (from Melaani).
The town of Sighnaghi is mentioned in his-
torical sources as early as the second half of
the 18 th century. It was already known for
its four kilometer-long brick-and-mortar wall
with 23 towers and five gates, built over a sur-
face of 40 hectares. Beginning in 1802 after
the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti disappeared,
Sighnaghi became the district center. From
the second half of the 19th century salon-style
evenings became common in the town, as in
other urban areas at the time. Popular festivi-
ties and events began to be organized and the
first official theatrical performance was held in
1872. By 1912, Sighnaghi was the fifth largest
town in Georgia; a Georgian-language news-
paper, Kakhetis Khma (Voice of Kakheti) was
being published.
Today the ethnographic exhibits bring all of
this to life, and the second floor of the museum
houses a visual arts gallery with Gudiashvili and
Pirosmani halls. Many exhibitions, events and
educational projects have been organized in the
Sighnaghi Museum since 2007. Notably, in 2009,
the museum hosted an international exhibition
of linocuts by Pablo Picasso from the museum
of the town of Vézelay, France, where Pirosmani’s
works were exhibited in 2008. The Sighnaghi
Museum of History and Ethnography is actively
involved in the cultural life of the city and the
whole Kakheti region, making an important con-
tribution to the development of tourism while
introducing Georgian culture to an international
public.
GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM 47