There are two defining characteristics that have shaped the Kakhetian town of Telavi and its people: the land and the king’s palace. These two powerful forces have influenced the community physically and culturally. The hills, forests, and old buildings provide a sanctuary. One that is valued and protected.
It’s a place that nurtures artists and scientists, farmers and philosophers, athletes and musicians. It’s a community of aspirations and inspirations, a breeding ground for transformation.
Welcome to Telavi.
The museum complex “Batonis Tsikhe” (“Lord’s Castle”) consists of the Palace of Kakheti Kings, King’s Bath, Royal churches, the remains of the Philosophic-Theological school building, founded by King Erekle II in the mid-18th century, a secret tunnel, unique eastern and western gates, administrative buildings, a museum, the former St. Nino’s School, and the Ketevan Iashvili Art Gallery. A small pantheon dedicated to famous Georgian poets and public figures, is also included in the complex.
The state museum of Telavi was founded in 1927. It is the richest treasure house of the Kakheti region and the most important scientific-research institution. More than 65 thousand artifacts of the cultural heritage of the country are preserved there: many splendid artifacts of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, numismatic collections, and sarcophagi of the early Feudal Age among them. The Royal Bagrationi family's memorial items of the 16th-18th centuries, Georgian-Caucasian weapons, a collection of Georgian manuscripts and rare printed books, deed charters, ethnographic artifacts, very important patterns of fabric, metal, ceramics, and wood carvings found during archaeological excavations in Kakheti are also preserved.
More than 200 exhibits are kept in the Ketevan Iashvili Art Gallery presented to the museum by Iashvili from her private collection. Among them, paintings of famous Georgian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Russian art schools’ representatives are also displayed.
“... to be in service of my country was the aim of my life. I’d consider myself to be the richest person, if a present of mine will show the love towards my people that strengthened, encouraged and inspired me trough my life” - Ketevan Iashvili.
There is a 4-meter plane tree, the biggest plane tree in Georgia, located next to the palace of King Erekle II and slowly dying. Its trunk is 3.6 meters in diameter and 11 meters in circumference. It is 900-years old and was for a long time uncared for. Now, it is being better taken care of.
The statue of King Erekle II stands in front of the historical museum of Telavi and was designed by Merab Merabishvili in 1971. The statue is 8.5 meters high and is made of bronze.
By Kakha Davitashvili