Product Description
Date of establishment: 1982
Legal status: Structural unit of N(N)LE The Union of Tbilisi Museums
Museum type (profile): Memorial
Quantity of stored items: 14375
In 1888-1901, a great Georgian thinker, writer and poet, publicist, public and political figure (later canonized as Saint Ilia the Righteous) Ilia Chavchavadze lived with his wife, Olgha Guramishvili at #7 Javakhishvili Street in Tbilisi. The house belonged to his sister, Elisabed Chavchavadze-Saghinashvili.
The house is associated with Ilia’s active socio-political and creative life. Number of national, state and cultural initiatives were generated here. Period, when Ilia Chavchavadze lived in that house coincides with a very important undertaking, which today is known as social responsibility and patronage. Different rooms of the home at different times hosted the people who actively worked on issues related to women’s education, women’s rights, women’s higher education and access to education. The house hosted Ilia’s traditional “Thursdays”.
The collection of the Museum includes memorial items, personal archives, variety of publications, as well as books dedicated to their oeuvre and life-activity: scientific papers, monographs, articles, essays and documentary photographs, paintings etc.
In 2016, the restoration-rehabilitation process of the architectural building was launched. The memorial part was restored in compliance with the recollections of the contemporaries including the study, the bedroom and the dining room, and a permanent exposition depicting the life and work of Ilia Chavchavadze was organized. On both floors of the building there are exhibition halls dedicated to the work of Ilia Chavchavadze, and the most important of them are the memorial spaces, which date back to the second half of the 19th century and represent important synthesis of traditional Tbilisi and European culture.
Working hours: Everyday, except Tuesday, 10.00 – 18.30
Ticket price: Schoolchildren, Students – 2 GEL., Adults – 10 GEL., Guided tour – 20 GEL., Audio Guide – 10 Gel.,Educational programs/workshop – 10 GEL.
Free admission: Children up to age of 6; Georgian and Foreign Museum staff, ICOM members (cardholders with ID), people with disabilities (upon presentation of valid ID), refugees.
Educational programs: “Music at Ilia’s House”, “Women from the Past”, “Magic Lanterns”, “Secret Language of Postage Stamps”, “From Altamira to Banks”, “Language of symbols”, “Ecosystem and biodiversity”, “History of Dolls”.
Total space of the Museum: 2784.5 m²
Exhibition space: 1710 m2
Courtyard -340 m2
Café – 141 m2
Education space: 513.5 m2
Collection storage space: 80 m2
Museum building’s status: Immovable monument of Cultural Heritage (The order # 3/181, 1 October, 2007 of Minister of Ministry of Culture and Monuments Protection of Georgia).
