Archives
Our archives are characterised by the complete works or projects that give an insight into Georgian architectural practice. The archives ranging in date from 1900 to 1995 and focuses on materials that summarise around 100 projects throughout the Soviet Union. Starting with the Rustaveli Avenue after the civil war, an archives with almost 1000 individual items including correspondences and competition materials; spanning the development of modernity in Tbilisi with the archives of Baratashvili Bridge and Central Bus Station – around 150 excellent documents; the archive of Marjanishvili Quarter, with 500 individual parts – several hand-drawn sketches, photos and negatives, as well as the technical records; finally, a small selection of postcards illustrates a radical transformation of the city of Tbilisi.
Photogra
phy
The photographic collection is based on original photographs from the 20th century and comprises around 1500 individual photographs, ca. 5000 slides and negatives, including large- format negatives. The collection holds over 500 photographs showing buildings under construction and remarkable prints of the destroyed buildings; almost 400 photographs of the interiors and exteriors of modernist buildings from the 1960s to the mid- 1980s; photographs depicting streets, intersections and places of Tbilisi; reproductions from development of city centre in the 19th/20th centuries. The collection includes several other examples of these large-scale urban-planning and development projects; as well travel photographs of Scandinavian and Balkan countries, the USA and Great Britain – there are about 250 photographs from these journeys in the collection.
Prints and Drawings
The prints and drawings collection is based on the original materials from the 20th century and comprises around 1000 works. The holdings are relatively small, including significant individual works with great research potential, mainly from Georgia, although projects realised in Russia, such as the village Nia, on the Baikal-Amur railway mainline, are also well represented. The collection holds over conceptual and design drafts and sketches that indicate the various thought processes in Georgian architecture. Notable holdings include: an album from 1992 – is represented in the collection by 48 drawings depicting architectural details, elevations and floor plans; three prints from the 1930s; two drawings for Marjanishvili Quarter from 1982; the sketches of the Museum District planned in1980s; drawings for the competitions, e.g., Hotel Orient 1992.
Library Holdings
The library contains around 2500 books, magazines and brochures. The collection is based on publications from the 20th century to the present. The books are largely from the Soviet era, with Georgia being very well represented with art and architecture books. There are also books from the 19th century on the subject of urban planning. Visitors to the AA platform are invited to familiarise themselves with one or other of the publications in the reading portal we have set up. The books, albums, magazines and brochures are presented in two collections.