Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia

The museum suffered significantly during the years of post-Soviet turmoil in Georgia early in the 1990s: It was first damaged in fighting during the military coup in 1991–2, followed by the destruction of part of its collection by fire.

The museum occupies chronologically and stylistically diverse buildings in downtown Tbilisi, with the main exhibition located in Rustaveli Avenue.

This latter edifice was designed utilizing elements of medieval Georgian décor by the architect Nikolay Severov in 1910 in the place of an older building authored by A. Zaltsman.

A permanent exhibition chronologically follows the development of Georgia's material culture from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century.

Some of the museum's most valuable exhibits include the Homo Ergaster fossils discovered at Dmanisi; the Akhalgori hoard of the 5th century BC which contains unique examples of jewelry, blending Achaemenid and local inspirations; a collection of approximately 80,000 coins, chiefly of Georgian minting; medieval icons and goldsmith pieces brought here from various archeological sites in Georgia; Shukhuti's mosaic, a bath mosaic from the village of Shukhuti that dates from the 4th-5th century; and a lapidary which includes one of the world's richest collection of Urartian inscriptions.