DINEBA has initiated a documentation of the Ioseb Grishashvili Library-Museum, capturing both its architecture and exhibition displays. Detailed records of museum architecture and collections provide a vital historical archive that supports research, education, and conservation efforts.
Ioseb Grishashvili Library-Museum is housing over 70,000 books, printed matter, photographs, musical instruments, manuscripts, and sound recordings in multiple languages. The collection includes materials related to the history, ethnography, culture, languages, and politics of the Caucasus, Eastern Turkey, Iran, and Southern Russia.
Ioseb Grishashvili was a multifaceted figure—poet, actor, researcher, translator, journalist, editor, publisher, bibliographer, and collector. From 1907 onwards, Grishashvili collaborated with Georgian magazines and newspapers, often publishing anonymously or under different pseudonyms. He regularly contributed lyrical, political, and social poems, impromptu pieces, riddles, theatre reviews, literary and critical letters, polemical articles, bibliographical reviews, comedic plays, and prosaic works. He also dedicated much of his time to editing books by other authors.
The museum's design reflects its historical and cultural significance. Architect Temur Tkhilava designed the wooden displays, which echo the wooden joinery of Georgian vernacular architecture. Artist Avto Varazi was responsible for the colour selection and the design of the vertical display panels hung throughout the museum's two main rooms. Simon Bolkvadze was assigned to install the books, arranging them in a distinctive layered format with transparent plastic pins inserted directly into the vertical panels. Alexander (Lali) Javakhishvili, an art historian and archaeologist, carefully curated the ethnographic objects.
Photographs: Gregory Sokolinsky
Concept and art direction: Nina Akhvlediani
Project coordinator: Salome Tabatadze
Year: 2025
The photographs were initially published in the third issue of The Horizon anthology (Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Kazakhstan). Please refer to the link for the full article: Digressions in a Library by Nina Akhvlediani.
DINEBA has initiated a documentation of the Ioseb Grishashvili Library-Museum, capturing both its architecture and exhibition displays. Detailed records of museum architecture and collections provide a vital historical archive that supports research, education, and conservation efforts.
Ioseb Grishashvili Library-Museum is housing over 70,000 books, printed matter, photographs, musical instruments, manuscripts, and sound recordings in multiple languages. The collection includes materials related to the history, ethnography, culture, languages, and politics of the Caucasus, Eastern Turkey, Iran, and Southern Russia.
Ioseb Grishashvili was a multifaceted figure—poet, actor, researcher, translator, journalist, editor, publisher, bibliographer, and collector. From 1907 onwards, Grishashvili collaborated with Georgian magazines and newspapers, often publishing anonymously or under different pseudonyms. He regularly contributed lyrical, political, and social poems, impromptu pieces, riddles, theatre reviews, literary and critical letters, polemical articles, bibliographical reviews, comedic plays, and prosaic works. He also dedicated much of his time to editing books by other authors.
The museum's design reflects its historical and cultural significance. Architect Temur Tkhilava designed the wooden displays, which echo the wooden joinery of Georgian vernacular architecture. Artist Avto Varazi was responsible for the colour selection and the design of the vertical display panels hung throughout the museum's two main rooms. Simon Bolkvadze was assigned to install the books, arranging them in a distinctive layered format with transparent plastic pins inserted directly into the vertical panels. Alexander (Lali) Javakhishvili, an art historian and archaeologist, carefully curated the ethnographic objects.
Photographs: Gregory Sokolinsky
Concept and art direction: Nina Akhvlediani
Project coordinator: Salome Tabatadze
Year: 2025
The photographs were initially published in the third issue of The Horizon anthology (Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Kazakhstan). Please refer to the link for the full article: Digressions in a Library by Nina Akhvlediani.