Levan Muskhelishvili

(1900, Tbilisi – 1942, Tbilisi)
Historian and archaeologist. From 1918 to 1923 he studied in Germany. In 1927 he graduated from the Faculty of History of Tbilisi State University. In 1930–1931 he took part in the archaeological expedition at Nokalakevi. Beginning in 1931, he worked as a research fellow in the Archaeology Department of the Georgian State Museum, and from 1936 served as scholarly secretary at the Shota Rustaveli and His Epoch Museum. From 1940 he performed the duties of director of the same museum. In 1941 he joined the Institute of Georgian Art History as head of the Department of the History of Material Culture.

L. Muskhelishvili is closely associated with the initiation and further development of systematic archaeological excavations of medieval monuments in Georgia. Under his leadership and with his participation, excavations were conducted at the site of Bolnisi Sioni (1936), and work began at the ruined city of Dmanisi (1936–1937), the Geguti palace-fortress (1937), the settlement of Gudarekhi (1938–1939), and at archaeological monuments of the Mashavera River valley (1937). Muskhelishvili published studies on the oldest Georgian inscriptions of Samshvilde, Sioni, and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, clarifying dates and identifying historical figures.

Through his research, L. Muskhelishvili made substantial contributions to the study of the history of Georgian architecture. In addition to works of strictly historical character, he published studies discussing many architectural monuments previously unknown to scholarship. He also edited and published old texts containing important terminology and information related to construction.

Bibliography

ბოლნისი,  “ენიმკის მოამბე”,  ტ. 3, 1938;
 
დმანისი,  კრებ. შოთა რუსთაველის ეპოქის მატერიალური კულტურა,  თბ., 1938;
 
არქეოლოგიური ექსკურსიები მაშავერას ხეობაში,  თბ., 1941;
 
მცხეთის სვეტიცხოვლის ტაძრის წარწერები და მათი დამოკიდებულება მელქისედეკ კათალიკოსის ანდერძთან, Ars Georgica, ტ. 1,  თბ., 1942;
 
სამშვილდის სიონის წარწერები და აშენების თარიღი,  თბ., 1942.