The Travelling Museum of the Caucasus by Alexandre Roinashvili: the first Georgian photographer and his museum

In the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi is an exhibition of Alexandre Roinashvili’s Travelling Museum of the Caucasus from 21 December 2015 to 31 March 2016.

Alexandre Roinashvili (1846-1898) was born in Dusheti. At the age of 14 he was an apprentice to the famous artist and photographer, Fiodor Khlamov. After five years, Khlamov gave Roinashvili his camera and materials to establish himself as an independent artist. Roinashvili opened his own photography studio called Sasuratkhato (which means photo imagery) in Palace Street in Tbilisi.

Roinashvili began collecting artefacts and antiquities. He travelled throughout Georgia exhibiting his antiques while taking photographs. His photographs included castles and cathedrals, as well as portraits of statesmen, writers, clergymen, and actors.

In 1847 Roinashvili created photo reproductions of Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli and Queen Tamar according to Gagarin’s French edition ‘Caucase Pullore Due.’ He perfected the photographs and made them look like modern portraits, and distributed them throughout Georgia for free.

His studio became a gathering place for Georgian celebrities, especially actors who often rehearsed there. It was the predecessor of The Society for the Propogation of Literacy among Georgians.

He travelled to Dagestan and stayed in Temirkhanshura for eight years from 1880 to 1888. In 1887 he established the Travelling Museum of the Caucasus and travelled with his museum van to Astrakhan, Saratov, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. Most of the items he collected were from the 7th-9th centuries, including Georgian, Caucasian, Islamic, Asian, and European pieces.

In 1888-1889 he returned to Tbilisi and opened a boarding school, enrolling 17 students, providing them with free accommodation and free photography lessons. He also collected the patterns of Georgian national handicrafts, fought for restoration of traditional needlework, and employed women artisans. Rescuing and restoring folk art became a passion, and he tried to establish the Georgian National Museum by commissioning the design to architect Peter Shtern, printing its postcards, and disseminating them. Unfortunately the museum was never established.

He eventually owned three photography studios, and collaborated with the French magazine, La Caucuse Illustre, and with Georgian publishing houses. In his birth town, he opened a library.

He died in 1898 at the age of 52.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).