The Ilia Chavchavadze House Museum in Kvareli

The family estate and 1,346 items

Ilia Chavchavadze (1837-1907), writer, publisher and public figure, called in Georgia the father of the nation, was born in Kvareli. The museum in his family house at 2 Rustaveli Street opened in 1937, on the centenary of his birth.

The complex consists of the dwelling house, a fortified manor with towers of the kind built in Kakheti against raids, and an exhibition hall. The holdings number 1,346 items.

On show are Chavchavadze's manuscripts and bound runs of Iveria, the newspaper he published, the family coat of arms and seal, weapons of the 18th and 19th centuries, the family's furniture and household objects, and paintings made after his writings.