Dream to Travel from NCM

Tag: #sovietrepression

Museum day.

November 21st, 2023

Georgian National Museum and Georgian National Art Gallery.

Georgian National Museum.
The museum opened around 1920 and has an impressive permanent collection of more than 140,000 stunning items. The highlight of this impressive collection is in the basement. Archaeological Treasury, displaying a wealth of pre-Christian gold, silver and precious-stone work from burials in Georgia going back to the 3rd millennium B.C. Most stunning are the fabulously detailed gold adornments from Colchis (western Georgia).

Georgians love their qvevri(s). And rightly so!

3rd Millennium B.C.

Painted and gilt white glass pitchers. One bears the image of Dionysos, the god of wine making, of course,
Syrian workmanship. 3rd century A.D.

A unique piece of Colchian goldsmithery(sp?), one of the earliest examples of making patterns in the sheet gold by cutting out portions of metal in the jeweler’s art of the Classical period. Burial headdress. End of the 4th Century B.C.

There were so many beautiful pendants, headdresses, rings, earrings . . . The room is arranged chronologically.
Many items are currently on loan to a museum in Brussels. Stay tuned, we may get to see more.

The top floor of the museum is devoted to the Soviet occupation. And has copious details on Soviet repression and local resistance to it.

The period of 1921 to 1926 saw a predetermined extermination of the elite of the Georgian society, including aristocracy, clergy, intelligentsia and rich peasants.

This floor houses materials, representing the period of Georgian history during the Soviet occupation, 1921-1991.

Incomplete list of public figures and citizens shot during the period of Soviet occupation.

The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to February 1921. Recognized by all major European powers of the time. Although short-lived, DRG continues to be an inspiration for modern day Georgia due to its legacy of democracy and pluralism.

Occupation seems to continue.

Kvashveti Church of St. George. Passed this beautiful church on my walk from the Georgian National Museum to the National Art Gallery.

Georgian National Art Gallery.

Family Picnicking. Oil on waxcloth. Niko Pirosmanashvili.
Nikoláy Aslánovich Pirosmanashvíli or Niko Pirosmani simply referred to as Nikala, 1862 – 1918, was a
Georgian painter who posthumously rose to prominence.

Carousal in a Vine Pergola. Oil on waxcloth. Niko Pirosmanashvili (1862 – 1918)

Songs and Rhymes. Paper, Watercolor, Application.

Eskimo Dreams. Paper, Watercolor, Application.

Thamar de Létay-Vachnadze was a versatile artist who worked in many different areas, from ballet productions to theater and fashion design. Her talent and creativity were showcased in exhibitions held in prestigious galleries in Paris, including the “Gallery of the XVI arrondissement” and the “Salon Sofitel Group 36. The emigrant Georgian artist created several sketches for the French fashion house Dior in the 20th century.

Tag: #sovietrepression

Museum day.