The Georgian Silk Museum

A LIVING WITNESS OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN SILK CULTURE

Nina Kipshidze

The "Silk Roads" have played an important role in cultural exchange and the establishment of economic relations between East and West. It is likely that with the help of ETN's "Silk Route" program cultural contacts within the textile industry will be established. Although it has always been part of European culture. Georgia has been isolated from Europe for centuries as a result of political conditions. Every opportunity for displaying Georgian culture or treasures is therefore most welcome to us.

Georgia established trade relations with the Far East early. The northern part of the "Silk Route" crossed its territory. The importance of the Egrisi towns to this traffic was well-known in the early Hellenistic period and also later in tile 5th - 6th centuries.

Tiny fragments of silk fabric have been found in Georgian burial grounds of the 2nd - 4th centuries. As they have not been studied from the point of view of weaving technique, it is difficult to determine their origin. It is interesting to note that in Georgia. on the banks of the river Mtkvari and elsewhere, certain endemic species of mulberry trees were wide-spread. All this leads one to believe that Georgia has long been acquainted with silk. According to legend, silk culture was introduced to Georgia from India and is connected with the 5th century Georgian King Vakhtang Gorgasali.

A contemporary Georgian manuscript. "The Martyrdom of Shushanik" mentions silk in connection with needlework and other products used by women. We find silk mentioned in the literary works of the l0th and 11th centuries and the memoirs of foreign travelers have provided considerable evidence for the existence of a silk culture from the loth century onwards. Over the course of time silk has served as payment for domestic service in Georgia. Since the 19th century domestic silk production has been unable to compete with manufactured silk and has therefore ceased to exist. Despite lhc existence of local species the introduction of silk worm eggs from Europe seemed necessary. This was followed by the spread of hereditary silkworm diseases in.

The Silk Museum's library is sited in the main building: the complete interior has survived intact. The Caucasus. During the Vienna Congress on 1815 it was decided that, in the interests or improving sericulture and carrying out scientific observation. a number of sericultural centers would he opened in Western Europe. Such silk centers were set up in Austria. Italy. France. Hungary and, in 1887. the Caucasian Sericultural Center was founded in the Georgian capital. Tbilisi. It has played an important role in breeding healthy silkworms anil in tile preservation and development or sericulture in tile Caucasus and Russia. Serious scientific work was conducted at the center, and reports and scientific publications were issued. The center also kept a museum and its own library.

The Caucasian center and museum were founded by Nikolas Shavrov (1858 - 1915), a versatile scholar and natural scientist. Shavrov spent the years 1885-1887 traveling Europe in order to study sericulture. He returned to Tbilisi enriched with knowledge, impressions and museum exhibits and proceeded to produce a detailed plan for founding the center. It was built between 1887 and 1893 to a design by the Polish architect Shinkevich. then living in Tbilisi.

The Silk Museum and technical library were sited in the main building. which is a prime example or the eclectic style characteristic of Tbilisi in the late 19th century. The original building, part of which was intended for a museum. as well as the original library furniture. display cases and sericultural equipment still survive intact and hear witness to the integrity ants purpose-built design as it was then perceived.

The museum exhibitions endeavor to display the entire silk manufacturing process and its history. Shavrov collected many exhibits himself, in the main they were donated by individuals or sericultural institutions.

The Silk Museum often faced dangers during the Civil Wars ( 1912-1921). The Museum was temporarily closed between 1966 and 1986 but the most dangerous years were 1986-1988. On the brink of destruction. it was saved only due to the heroic striving of a devoted employee. now head of the museum. Mrs. Irene Tchotorlishvili. Even today, without any financial support and relying only upon their own enthusiasm. the employees are trying to preserve the museum's treasures. As a result of these difficulties a number of museum exhibits have been damaged, tile others arc decaying. The sheer enthusiasm of faithful employees is now insufficient to preserve the exhibits without financial support.

Some interesting collections and individual exhibits are still preserved in the building, which consists of three halls.

One hall displays samples of mulberry growing, cuts of 100 year-old mulberry trees collected by Shavrov: herbaria of natural species, selected species endemic to Georgia and those from Shavrov's collection, tools for mulberry exploitation, musical instruments. objects made from mulberry wood, etc. These. together with the exhibit displaying mulberry tree pests collected by Shavrov, demonstrate an earnest desire to completely display the cultivation of mulberries. This exhibition was later enriched by an unbroken 4.5 meter long mulberry root.

The museum possesses models of incubators and cases for worms dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is valuable ethnographic material that presents, in detail, characteristic features of the highlands and lowlands of Georgia. There are also demonstrations of silkworm feeding, collections of boxes for transporting eggs, and an exhibit displaying the productiul-i of a healthy egg b Pasteur's method.

One of the most interesting exhibits is a unique collection of cocoons consisting of 5000 species and variations and comprising cocoons of silkworms fed in Europe. Asia, India and Japan. The oldest of these samples were awarded a prik at an international competition in France. Exhibits are displayed according to their size. shape, colour. quality and origin.

One can also see collections of silk cocoons and threads from India, China and the St. Petersburg Imperial Gardens; wild silkworms fed on various plants. collections of plant, chemical. mineral, foreign and local silk dyes; dyed silk threads and samples of raw silk thread contributed from international fairs. The bulk or the exotic silkworm butterfly and entomological silk spinning collection was damaged during the 20-year shut-down of the museum.

The exotic silkworm butterfly collection includes samples from Brazil, Mexico. Argentina. Bangkok. Japan and India. Shavrov brought these samples from the Lyon sericultural center. and from museums and botanical gardens in Paris. Part of this collection was contributed by Ernst Heine of Leipzig.

Most relevant to us are the silk fabric samples. The museum preserves fragments of silk fabrics for clothes and striped woven fabrics for wall carpets hung in Caucasian households. These samples have interesting patterns displaying a beautiful harmony of color.

One is attracted to silk belts and headdresses worn by Georgian women: small-format wall carpets or Caucasian silk: motley silk handkerchiefs of the Eastern type and 19th century French silks. There are also numerous silk laces brought hack from Munich by Shavrov. and silk fabrics manufactured by Georgian silkspinning mills.

The silk museum's technical library keeps unique books in 14 languages concerning sericulture and other natural sciences. It contains 17th - 18th century publications. 19th - 20th century periodicals on silk and a unique Chinese drawing on rice paper detailing silk production and processing. The library resulted from Shavrov's close. friendly relations, in the late 19th century, with individuals and institutions interested in sericulture.

At present the museum is isolated from international sericulture and is therefore unable to obtain information on silk collections abroad and the current state of affairs at the Lyon museum. Consequently any contacts and information concerning silk museums would be valuable and, indeed, indispensable to the employees of the Tbilisi Silk Museum.


"ETN Textilforum". European Textile Network Journal. 3/94 September

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