National Library of Georgia in Tbilisi: History and Buildings

The main Public Library of Georgia has a long history. She was not the first in Tbilisi and Georgia. In 1842, with the support of D. Kipiani, a "Private Library of Friends" was opened in Tbilisi. And a little later, in 1846, the Tiflis Public Library was established at the main chancellery, which became the largest library in Georgia. Initially, it was mainly used by officials, but the library was accessible to everyone.

In 1848, the funds of the Comradely and Public Libraries merged. And since 1852, the library has received two copies of all publications published in Georgia. An important event in the life of the library took place in 1937 – its collections were replenished with printed publications collected by the Georgian Society of Literacy Distributors in 1880-1927. The public house becomes the owner of the most complete collection of national print publications.

The buildings housing the library are architectural monuments. Three of them are located in the center of Tbilisi, on Purtseladze and Gudiashvili streets. These are the buildings of the former Noble Bank, the Tiflis branch of the Russian Volga-Kama Society and the State Bank.

The fourth building is located on Tsintsadze Street in the Saburtalo district. And the sixth is the museum of the Avlabari underground printing house on Kaspi Street. One of the buildings, the fifth, is located in Kutaisi (additional storage).

Currently, the National Parliamentary Library is the cultural and educational center of Georgia, the Center for National Bibliography, which collects, stores and processes all printed publications published in the country. In addition, the library has many books published in other countries. A lot of scientific research and methodological work is being carried out here. The National Library is an outpost of librarianship development in Georgia.