History, Archaeology, Ethnography
On may 10, 1852 the foundation of Caucasian department of Imperial Russian Geographic Society was laid with the force of patriots and progressive Russian public figures, living in Georgia and with support of the viceroy of Caucasus M. Vorontsov.
In 50s-60s there occurred gradual restocking of the museum funds with ethnographical, historical and naturalistic materials. The majority of these collections were donated by the local public of Tiflis. Rafael Eristavi, Vladimir Sollogub, Gabriel Tokarev, Friedrich Bayern, Adolf Berzhe and others enriched the museum by their donations.
On September 14, 1855, at the crossing of Komendantskaia and Chavchacadze streets the museum opened its exhibition. Many interesting articles were represented on the exhibition. A library was attached to the museum. The museum had three departments: natural history, ethnography and history. The staff of the museum did not exceed 7 people. The annual budget of museum was 300 roubles in silver. The museum continued functioning till August 1864. After its abolition the collection was distributed among other museums in Tbilisi.
Caucasian Department of Imperial Russian Geographic Society laid foundation of so called: “Caucasian Museum” can be considered the predecessor of the Georgian State Museum.
S. Janashia Georgian State Museum.