Museum of Mestia in Georgia, what to see in Svaneti, Svan Highland Museum
There is a museum in proud Svaneti that displays the entire history of this great people of Georgia. We will tell you what the Sidihan icon has to do with the Calvary cross, what relics are kept in Mestia, and why residents from all over the country kept their jewelry here. Diversify your vacation with the Madloba catalog!
The famous Italian photographer Vittorio Sella visited Svaneti in 1889, 1890 and 1896 and captured footage of Svaneti landscapes, settlements and customs of the local population on film. The great-grandson of Vittorio Sella donated photographs of the famous photographer to the Mestia Museum. His works are currently on display in the museum.
Mestia - the administrative center of the Zemo Svaneti region, is surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 1,500 meters. You can get here from the city of Zugdidi by a 145-kilometer road, which is laid between picturesque mountain ranges. For centuries, this single road leading to Svaneti was covered with snow from late November to mid-April, and the region was cut off from the outside world for several months. The hard–to-reach Svaneti served as a repository of the country's treasures - during the war years, church or secular jewels were brought here from different parts of Georgia. This is how magnificent icons, ancient manuscripts and other relics have come down to our days, which are currently located in local churches and in the historical and ethnographic museum of Svaneti.
The museum was founded in 1936. Unique archaeological and ethnographic exhibits are displayed in six halls of the permanent exhibition. It should be noted the Syrian bronze censers of the VI century, relics of the X-XI century and the oldest manuscripts made on parchments. There is also a silver Sassanid jug of the XII century, a Byzantine embroidered icon, a Venetian, so-called decorative cross of the XIII century, which is known as the "cross with stones" and other examples of Georgian, Syrian, Byzantine and European art. The pride of the museum is the richest collection of Georgian manuscripts. "Adish four-headed" is the oldest among the dated Gospels (897), "Jerusalem Canonar" (X century), "Mestia four-headed" (1033), other ancient editions of the New Testament: handwritten Labskald and Yenash Gospels with stamped covers, other stamped and picturesque examples of Georgian art. Of particular significance is the icon of Sidihan, in which a piece of the Golgotha cross is placed, and which for many centuries was kept in Zemo Svaneti ' in the village of Adishi.
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В окружении гор на высоте 1 500 метров есть единственная дорога, ведущая в Сванети, большую часть года покрытая снегом. Регион оторван от внешнего мира и в военные годы церковные и мирские драгоценности везли сюда с разных уголков Грузии, на хранение. Так до наших дней дошли великолепные иконы, древнейшие рукописи и другие реликвии.
Музей основан в 1936 году, где выставлены археологически и этнографические экспонаты. Серебряный кувшин XII века, византийская вышитая икона, Венецианский «крест с камнями», коллекция грузинских рукописей, чеканные и живописные образцы искусства. Особой значимостью отличается икона Сидихана, в которой помещен кусочек голгофского креста.