Tbilisi History Museum

Karvasla, the old caravanserai

The Tbilisi History Museum is named after the poet Ioseb Grishashvili and occupies the historic Artsruni caravanserai by Sioni — the very building where merchant caravans once put up and trade was done.

The display carries the city from the Middle Ages to old Tiflis: models of quarters, craft shops rebuilt at full size, carpets, tableware, signboards, Ermakov's photographs and playbills. A separate thread is daily life: balconies, bathhouses, courtyards, a carpet shop, a pharmacy, a workshop.

The building itself, with its inner yard and wooden galleries, explains the trading Tiflis better than any display case.