Alexander Roinashvili, one of the founders

of professional photography in Georgia,

moved from Dusheti to Tbilisi in the
beginning of the 1860s, when he was 14,
and became an apprentice of Khlamov,
a renowned photographer of the Tbilisi
of that time. It is precisely in the artistic
atmosphere of Khlamovs photographic
studio that Alexander Roinashvili became
an artist and the first professional
Georgian photographer.
In 1875, Roinashvili opened his own photo
studio in Tbilisi, on Palace Street. It is also
at that period that he developed a passion
for archaeology and that he started
collecting antiquities.
With his pictures of ancient monuments
and landscapes, with his portraits of public
figures and writers, Roinashvili made
photography popular among Georgians,
who used his pictures as an important
decorative component of their interior.
Alexander Roinashvili then thought about
creating a mobile museum of Georgian
antiquities, for which he bought several
hundred exhibits. He continued to look for
such objects in Dagestan, where he had
worked for a couple of years.
In 1887, Roinashvili established this
mobile museum and took it to Astrakhan,
Saratov, and then Saint Petersburg.
Together with many photographic and
stereoscopic images depicting Georgian
antiquities, he exhibited old weaponry
and military equipment, copper and silver
kitchenware, a numismatic collection, and other items from Georgian and oriental cultures. The exhibitions were very successful,
so Roinashvili envisaged to take his mobile museum abroad, something that did not eventually happen.
Alexander Roinashvili was one of the initiators of the Tbilisi Society of Amateur Photographers, the first meeting of which was
held in his studio, in April 1893. He was also a member of every active cultural or public organization in Tbilisi. He published
articles, arranged theater rehearsals in his atelier, gave out books to villages libraries and schools, always hurrying to do as
much as he could He was 52 when he died in 1989.
The board of administrators of the Society for the Spreading of Literacy decided to keep the photographic studio as it was and
continue its functioning with the existing staff. Until June 1899, it was headed by Vassil Roinashvili, before he moved to Telavi,
taking a part of the studios photographic devices with him. After a couple of years, other colleagues left the studio too.

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The board of administrators of the Society for the

The editorial board expresses its gratitude to the

Spreading of Literacy was clearly not able to efficiently

Dimitri Ermakov Fund of the Georgian National

run the photographic studio they inherited.

Museum for providing us these pictures and also

In 1905, the studio and the negatives of Alexander

Roinashvili became the property of the renowned

to the author of the album Alexander Roinashvili,

Lika Mamatsashvili.

Tbilisian photographer Dimitri Ermakov.

saqarTveloSi profesionaluri fotografiis

erT-erTi fuZemdebeli, aleqsandre
roinaSvili, me-19 saukunis 60-iani wlebis
dasawyisSi, 14 wlis asakSi duSeTidan
TbilisSi Camovida da imxanad TbilisSi
cnobil fotograf xlamovs daudga mowafed.
swored xlamovis fotosaxelosnos mxatvrul
atmosferoSi Camoyalibda al. roinaSvili
rogorc mxatvari da pirveli qarTveli
profesionali fotografi.
1875 wels aleqsandre roinaSvili Tbilisis
centrSi, sasaxlis quCaze xsnis sakuTar fotosaxelosnos. amave wlidan iwyeba roinaSvilis
gataceba arqeologiiTa da siZveleebis
SegrovebiT.
a. roinaSvilis gadaRebuli istoriuli Zeglebis
xedebiT da cnobili qarTveli sazogado
moRvaweebisa da mwerlebis portretebiT Sevida
fotografia qarTuli ojaxebis saxlebSi,
rogorc interieris mniSvnelovani nawili.
aleqsandre roinaSvils hqonda idea Seeqmna
qarTuli siZveleebis moZravi muzeumi, risTvisac
man ramdenime aseuli eqsponati SeiZina.
eqsponatTa Ziebas is agrZelebda daRestanSic,
sadac ramdenime wlis manZilze muSaobda.
1887 wels roinaSvilma Seqmna kidec moZravi
muzeumi, waiRo igi q. astraxanSi, saratovSi,
xolo Semdeg peterburgSi. saqarTvelos
siZveleTa amsaxvel mraval fotografiul
da stereoskopul fotosuraTebTan erTad
gamofenili iyo Zveleburi iaraRi da samxedro
akazmuloba, spilenZis da vercxlis WurWeli,
numizmatikuri koleqcia da sxva qarTuli da
aRmosavluri kulturis amsaxveli nimuSebi.
gamofenebs didi warmateba hqondaT, ramac
roinaSvils afiqrebina Tavisi moZravi

muzeumis sazRvargareT gatana. es Canafiqri

ganuxorcielebeli darCa.
a. roinaSvili iyo erT-erTi iniciatori
Tbilisis moyvarul fotografTa sazogadoebis
Seqmnisa, romlis damfuZnebeli Sekreba Catarda
mis fotoatelieSi 1893 wlis aprilSi. igi
aseve iricxeboda TbilisSi moqmed yvela
kulturuli da sazogadoebrivi organizaciis
wevrad. aqveynebda publicistur statiebs,
awyobda Teatralur repeticiebs Tavis
atelieSi, ufasod ugzavnida wignebs soflis
biblioTekebsa da skolebs, igi Cqarobda
gaekeTebina rac SeiZleba meti... misi sicocxle
1898 wels, 52 wlis asakSi Sewyda.
wera -kiTxvis gamavrcelebeli sazogadoebis
gamgeobam gadawyvita ucvlelad gaegrZelebina
fotosaxelosnos muSaoba Zveli SemadgenlobiT.
1899 wlis ivnisamde mas xelmZRvanelobda
vasil roinaSvili, Semdeg igi sacxovreblad
gadavida TelavSi da saxelosnodan Tan waiRo
fotoaparaturis nawili. ramdenime xnis Semdeg
fotosaxelosno sxva TanamSromlebmac datoves.
wera -kiTxvis gamavrcelebeli sazogadoebis
gamgeoba aSkarad ver arTmevda Tavs
memkvidreobiT miRebul fotosaxelosnos
xelmZRvanelobas.
1905 wels fotosaxelosno a. roinaSvilis
mier gadaRebul negativebTan erTad gadavida
cnobili Tbiliseli fotografis dimitri
ermakovis sakuTrebaSi.
redaqcia madlobas moaxsenebs saqarTvelos
erovnuli muzeumis dimitri ermakovis fonds
mowodebuli fotomasalisTvis da aseve
aleqsandre roinaSvili wignis avtors, lika
mamacaSvils.

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