The Giorgi ChubinaSvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation
Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia
Tbilisi 2026
The Book examines the urban heritage of an old residential and commercial quarter of Tbilisi, which until the early 19th century was located within the medieval city wall, on the western edge of the town, beyond which stretched the royal gardens. Today, this area corresponds to Lado Gudiashvili Square and its surrounding neighborhood According to 19th and early 20th century maps of Tbilisi, the block adjacent to the square was known as the Moghnisi Quarter. During the rehabilitation works conducted between 2016 and 2022, several previously unknown residential, auxiliary and utility structures from the medieval period were uncovered and cleared under archaeological supervision in and around Lado Gudiashvili Square. The rehabilitation was funded by the Tbilisi Development Fund and based on the 2015 Conservation Plan prepared by ICOMOS Georgia. The process of restoration revealed that the 19th century residential houses incorporated more or less preserved fragments of previously unknown buildings from the 16th–17th and 18th centuries, constructed of square brick, distinguished by high craftsmanship. As a result of the research, the newly discovered and previously undocumented examples have significantly expanded the list of known late medieval cellars recorded within the study area and discussed in scholarly literature. Almost every 19th century house in this part of the city incorporates older basement levels, many of which preserve, to varying degrees of completeness, examples of 17th–18thcentury urban dwellings. Recent research indicates that the late medieval urban fabric of Old Tbilisi is not confined to fragmentary remains preserved below ground level. In certain cases, entire buildings from earlier centuries have been transmitted intact, persisting into the present with stylistic transformations characteristic of 19th-century architecture. To identify both the local and shared characteristics of the urban dwelling, the project included a comparative review of the urban heritage of three historic cities: Akhaltsikhe, Gori, and Signagi.
Unknown Urban Heritage of old Tbilisi
Text by: Manana SuramelaSvili, Tsitsino Chachkhunashvili
Architectural Drawings Editor: Nato Tsintsabadze
Graphic Materials: Mate Sulkhanishvili
Translation: Nato Tsintsabadze
Desing: Tamaz Chkhaidze
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The Giorgi ChubinaSvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation
Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia
Tbilisi 2026
The Book examines the urban heritage of an old residential and commercial quarter of Tbilisi, which until the early 19th century was located within the medieval city wall, on the western edge of the town, beyond which stretched the royal gardens. Today, this area corresponds to Lado Gudiashvili Square and its surrounding neighborhood According to 19th and early 20th century maps of Tbilisi, the block adjacent to the square was known as the Moghnisi Quarter.
During the rehabilitation works conducted between 2016 and 2022, several previously unknown residential, auxiliary and utility structures from the medieval period were uncovered and cleared under archaeological supervision in and around Lado Gudiashvili Square. The rehabilitation was funded by the Tbilisi Development Fund and based on the 2015 Conservation Plan prepared by ICOMOS Georgia. The process of restoration revealed that the 19th century residential houses incorporated more or less preserved fragments of previously unknown buildings from the 16th–17th and 18th centuries, constructed of square brick, distinguished by high craftsmanship.
As a result of the research, the newly discovered and previously undocumented examples have significantly expanded the list of known late medieval cellars recorded within the study area and discussed in scholarly literature. Almost every 19th century house in this part of the city incorporates older basement levels, many of which preserve, to varying degrees of completeness, examples of 17th–18thcentury urban dwellings.
Recent research indicates that the late medieval urban fabric of Old Tbilisi is not confined to fragmentary remains preserved below ground level. In certain cases, entire buildings from earlier centuries have been transmitted intact, persisting into the present with stylistic transformations characteristic of 19th-century architecture.
To identify both the local and shared characteristics of the urban dwelling, the project included a comparative review of the urban heritage of three historic cities: Akhaltsikhe, Gori, and Signagi.