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Caucasus Biodiversity: natural history museum exhibition in Georgia



Everything old is new again. One hundred and fifty years after the first exhibition of the Natural History Museum, the Georgian National Museum presents the exhibition "Caucasus Biodiversity" in renewed exhibition halls. The exhibition is dedicated to the 100 year anniversary of the first Democratic Republic of Georgia, and will be displayed from 12 June 2018 to 31 August 2023. 

The Georgian National Museum preserves unique geological, botanical and zoological collections of the Caucasus. Among them are rare, endangered and already extinct species. 

The first exhibition cabinets of the Museum of Natural Sciences, founded by naturist Friedrich Bayern, endured from 1856-1868. Now, 150 years later, the Georgian National Museum presents the exhibition "Caucasus Biodiversity" in a modern updated way. It is noteworthy that part of the exhibits showcased today was presented at the Paris International Exhibition in 1867-1869 and many of them received gold, silver or bronze medals.

In the mid-19th century, German scientist and naturalist Gustav Radde made significant contributions to the development of museology in Georgia. An assortment of stuffed animals in his taxidermy collection predicated the region’s first zoological exhibition (1928-1972). 

Today, at the new exhibition, created using modern museum technologies, visitors will see the biodiversity of the Caucasus region - geological, botanical and zoological. The exhibition showcases minerals, rocks, invertebrate animal fossils, herbariums, mollusks, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals that reflect the evolutionary development of flora and fauna of Georgia and the Caucasus region. 

Special attention is paid to the decades-old dioramas, restored by the National Museum specialists adopting modern approaches: the Turan tiger and wild boar displayed in the Kura floodplain forest; the fauna of Georgia's lakes and wetlands; and a variety of mammals on the Vere River panorama.

"Caucasus Biodiversity" represents a synthesis of traditional museology, perennial scientific research, and modern technological capabilities. The event is implemented within the "European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018" in partnership with the National Geographic Georgia and with the support of the David Bezhuashvili Education Foundation.































MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), 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).
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