(1887, Tbilisi – 1957, Kyiv)
Architect and researcher of architecture; Academician of the USSR Academy of Architecture. He graduated from the Petrograd Institute of Civil Engineering in 1915. From 1918 to 1948 he worked in Tbilisi (serving as Chairman of the Union of Architects of Georgia in 1935–1948) and from 1948 onward lived and worked in Kyiv. He was one of the founders of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts and served as a professor there (1922–1948). Beginning in 1942, he headed the Department of Art History at the Institute of Georgian Art History.

Severov devoted considerable time to the study and documentation of medieval Georgian ecclesiastical architecture. He authored studies on several major Georgian monuments (Samtsevrisi, the “Bagrati Cathedral” in Kutaisi, Samtavisi) and published the first illustrated volume on ancient Georgian architecture.

He made an especially significant contribution to the measurement and graphic documentation of monuments (Nekresi, Shiomghvime, the Jvari Monastery of Mtskheta, Tsromi, Kumurdo, Martvili, Alaverdi, Nikortsminda, and many others). He also surveyed monuments of secular architecture, including historic residential buildings of old Tbilisi. A notable achievement of Severov’s work was his pioneering development of analytical graphic documentation, which visually separated and identified the historical phases of a structure.

Severov was also highly active as a practicing architect. He designed numerous public and residential buildings in Tbilisi and other cities of Georgia. Among the projects carried out according to his designs were the 1929 reconstruction of the S. Janashia Georgian State Museum building, Queen Tamar Bridge, the “Rustaveli” cinema, and others. He received state awards in recognition of his work. N. Severov’s entire professional career was deeply bound to Georgia, where he left an enduring and highly esteemed legacy.

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