See historical Georgian costumes on Europe’s largest online platform
The collection of Georgian costumes from Art Palace on Europeana website. Photo: Art Palace.
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Millions of visitors of Europeana, the largest European digital platform for cultural heritage, will now be able to learn about Georgian costumes worn by the country’s historical nobility as well as those used in classic film and theatre productions.
Over 30 exhibits from Tbilisi-based Art Palace museum have been uploaded to the online database’s fashion section, after the Georgian venue collaborated with organisers of the platform to have their collections showcased.
The range of Georgian attires, gowns and robes is displayed in the section that also presents entries such as the legacy of Paris fashion houses, famed designers including Yves Saint Laurent, and exhibits demonstrating various techniques of garment creation.
Examples from the Art Palace collection include a 1948 dress worn by an actor in Keto and Kote, a film staged based on the celebrated 1919 Georgian opera of the same name.
A costume worn by an actor in the feature film ‘Keto and Kote’. Photo: Art Palace.
Art Palace director Giorgi Kalandia told Rustavi 2 TV the dress had been donated to the museum years ago in severely damaged condition. It was later repaired by professionals at the venue and is on both physical and digital display.
Other items include a ceremonial robe worn by Georgia’s 12th century Queen Tamar — created based on an 18th century fresco by celebrated theatre designer Simon Virsaladze — and a traditional woman’s dress from the highland Mtiuleti province.
The costumes are now part of over 50 million digitised items including garments, artwork and books the Europe-wide platform has accepted on its website since its launch in 2008. About 3,000 cultural institutions from across Europe have exhibits on Europeana.
Art Palace launched talks for exhibiting the museum’s collections on the website last year, as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
A woman’s dress from north-eastern Georgia’s highland province of Mtiuleti. Photo: Art Palace.
The joining of the Europeana directory comes as part of an initiative bringing the museum’s stories on exhibits and personalities of Georgian art to online space, first launched on Google Arts & Culture — another international digital platform for cultural heritage.
Art Palace’s collections on the latter include displays for painter, art researcher and technological pioneer David Kakabadze, contemporary artist Tamara Kvesitadze and theatre designer Petre Otskheli.
The Tbilisi venue said more exhibits from its vaults are set to be prepared to be displayed on Europeana as its collaboration with the platform evolves.
Painter, art researcher and technological pioneer David Kakabadze, one of Georgian art’s most important figures, is now highlighted as part of a Google Arts and Culture display about inventors from across the world.
Georgia has officially joined a year-long, Europe-wide program of exhibitions, conferences, performances and workshops in celebration of the European Year of Cultural Heritage throughout 2018.
The extensive online database of Google Arts and Culture now features contemporary art from Georgia, after the online platform launched a display of works by artist Tamara Kvesitadze.
Tbilisi’s Art Palace venue achieved a new milestone this week after its exhibition of artwork on Google Arts and Culture online platform became the largest digital repository from the South Caucasus.
A collection of unique historical costumes worn by Georgian nobility will go on permanent display at the Art Palace museum in capital this week.
A Tbilisi art museum is the first to be showcased by the world’s largest online art database uniting collections from some of the world’s leading art venues.
Georgia's Art Palace venue is one of 61 museums nominated for the 2020 European Museum of the Year Award, with the Tbilisi-based cultural institution shortlisted by the European Museum Forum.