Kutaisi Historical Museum

The Kutaisi State Historical Museum is the best place in town to understand how old and layered the region really is. Its collections run from prehistoric tools and Bronze Age metalwork to Colchian gold and jewellery, medieval coins, icons, manuscripts, weapons and crafts from the Kingdom of Imereti, plus ethnographic displays of costume and everyday objects. The museum is housed in a handsome nineteenth-century building in the centre, and also manages several outlying sites, including Gelati and Motsameta. A visit takes about ninety minutes, costs little, and is a good choice for a rainy day or a gap between outdoor excursions.

Kutaisi has deep roots. According to Greek myth, the Argonauts came to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece, and archaeology confirms that the region had a sophisticated metalworking culture in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The museum displays gold diadems, belts and pendants, bronze axes and decorated pottery found at Vani and elsewhere. The collection helps explain why the Greeks wrote of Colchis as a land of gold, and the carefully made objects, some of them thousands of years old, show remarkable craftsmanship.

The medieval galleries cover the period when Kutaisi was the capital of the Kingdom of Georgia and, later, of the Kingdom of Imereti. Exhibits include silver icons, painted manuscripts, church plate, coins and weapons. Panels trace the links between royal power, the church and trade across the Black Sea, and the ethnographic section shows traditional dress, textiles, wine-making tools and household items from the villages around Kutaisi. Labels are mainly in Georgian with some English, so a guide or a good guidebook adds a lot.

The museum is also the administrator of several heritage sites in and around the city. Tickets or information for Gelati, Motsameta and the Okros Chardakhi site may be obtainable here, so it is a useful place to ask. The staff are usually helpful, and the building has a pleasant courtyard. Opening days and hours change by season, and the museum often closes on one weekday, so check before you set out. Photography rules vary by gallery.

Combine the museum with a walk through the old town, a stop at the central square and lunch nearby. It works well as the first stop on a day of culture, or as a counterpoint to a morning in the canyons. If you are fascinated by archaeology or by the ancient world, you may want to continue to Vani, where the museum and excavations show the source of the gold, and a day tour from Kutaisi makes that easy.

The museum is small enough to see in an hour and a half, so it never feels like homework.

If your time is limited, concentrate on three things: the Colchian gold, the medieval icons and manuscripts, and the ethnographic costumes, which together give the clearest picture of the region in an hour. A small shop sells postcards and books, and the staff will usually suggest what to see next, whether that is Gelati, the Okros Chardakhi palace site or the excavations at Vani. A quiet midweek morning gives the best experience, and it is wise to carry a little cash for the ticket, since small museums do not always take cards.