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Hall of Ethnography – Caucasian Museum, Tiflis (Tbilisi), 1870

Black and white 19th-century interior photograph of the Hall of Ethnography in the Caucasian Museum in Tiflis, showing display cabinets, artifacts, and seated figures.

Interior view of the Hall of Ethnography at the Caucasian Museum in Tiflis, photographed in 1870 by Dmitri Ermakov.

The Hall of Ethnography in the Caucasian Museum on Golovin Avenue (now Rustaveli Avenue) in Tiflis (Tbilisi), photographed in 1870 by Dmitri Ermakov, documents one of the earliest museum exhibition interiors in Imperial-era Georgia.

This historical photograph reveals 19th-century ethnographic display practices in the Russian Empire’s Caucasus Viceroyalty, with glass cabinets, traditional artifacts, and curated collections representing the cultural heritage of the region. As part of the museum’s architectural and institutional history, it offers rare visual evidence of early museology and ethnographic scholarship in Tsarist Tiflis.

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Date
1870
Photographer
Dimitri Jermakov
Source
Negatives by D. Jermakov are kept in the State Museum of Fine Arts and the S. Janashia State Museum of Georgia.
Rights
Public domain - Free to use
Dimitri JermakovOld TbilisiPublic & Commercial Architecture