A Living Archive — Digitally Unfolding

Photographs, research and stories from Georgia and the wider Caucasus.
Building on Giorgi Gersamia’s legacy through documentation, digitisation and responsible access.

Digitisation and documentation are ongoing. Images gain meaning through identification, context and research.

Digital infrastructure and workflow development supported by AI Insider Georgia.

The Georgian Museum of Photography is an independent cultural and research initiative dedicated to preserving and sharing the photographic heritage of Georgia and the wider Caucasus. Its work builds on Giorgi Gersamia’s photographic and research legacy, alongside the wider history explored through the original Photomuseum website. The renewed platform connects photographs with their stories, sources and context, while documentation of the inherited material continues.

Mission

To preserve photographic heritage, advance research into the history of photography, and widen access to images and their context through careful documentation, education and responsible digital sharing.

Vision

To develop a trusted photographic archive and research platform that connects Georgia’s visual history with wider scholarship and creates opportunities for learning, collaboration and dialogue.

History & Formation

The original online Photomuseum grew from Giorgi Gersamia’s research into the history of photography in Georgia and the Caucasus. In 2000, the earlier Georgian Association for the History of Photography in the Caucasus received support from the Open Society–Georgia Foundation to establish the museum online. The legacy website, Photomuseum.org.ge, preserves research, captions and references to photographs in public and private collections.

Following Giorgi’s death in May 2026, his sons Archil and Beka Gersamia continued this work. On 27 August 2026, they registered a new non-profit organisation, the Georgian Association for the History of Photography in the Caucasus, to carry forward his research mission and develop the renewed Photomuseum.ge. The current Association is a new legal entity building on the original project’s legacy.

The Founder & Today’s Team

Georgian cinematographer Giorgi Gersamia operating a film camera during a production shoot in Georgia

Giorgi Gersamia

Founder of the original Photomuseum · Photographic historian, author and cinematographer

Giorgi Gersamia devoted many years to collecting, identifying and researching historical photography in Georgia and the Caucasus. His work combined archival research with the study of photographs held by institutions, private collectors and families. His photographic and research legacy remains the foundation of Photomuseum’s continuing work.

Read Giorgi’s biography →

Today’s Team

The current Association is led by its two volunteer founders, Giorgi’s sons Archil and Beka Gersamia.
Archil Gersamia — Director and co-founder. Archil brings institutional administration experience and leads the renewed initiative.
Beka Gersamia — Co-founder. Beka developed the original Photomuseum website and brings continuity with the project’s early digital work.
AI Insider Georgia supports digital infrastructure and workflow development for the renewed platform.

Original Project Credits

The original website credits Giorgi Gersamia as project author and Association president, artists Tengiz Mirzashvili and Otar Vepkhvadze, and Beka Gersamia as webmaster. Their contributions remain part of Photomuseum’s history.

Archives & Sources

Our work draws on the photographs and negatives collected by Giorgi Gersamia, photographs he made himself, and the research he assembled. These are distinct parts of his legacy; their extent, identification and documentation remain under review.

The original Photomuseum also drew on information about photographs held by museums, archives, libraries, private collectors and families. A source reference does not mean that the original photograph is held by Photomuseum or that reproduction permission has been granted.

We are developing clearer records of authorship, dates, sources, custodial location and access conditions. Where information is uncertain, that uncertainty is part of the documentation. Public access and reuse depend on the circumstances of each photograph.

Sources Referenced by the Original Photomuseum

* State Cinema-Photo Archive
* Janashia State Museum of Georgia
* State Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia
* State Literary Museum of Georgia
* Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts (Georgian Academy of Sciences)
* Tbilisi History Museum
* Grishashvili Library-Museum
* Laboratory for Fixation of Art Monuments
* State Conservatory Library
* Georgian Silk Museum
Additionally:
* Private collections
* Family archives

Black-and-white institutional emblem depicting an allegorical female figure beside an early photographic camera with mountains and radiant light, inspired by historical Tiflis photographic culture.
Institutional emblem of the Georgian Museum of Photography, created by Georgian painter and ceramic artist Otar Vepkhvadze and inspired by the visual language of late 19th-century photographic culture in Tiflis, including exhibition aesthetics associated with the Tiflis Society of Amateur Photographers.

The Georgian Museum of Photography is an evolving archive, open to new research, collaboration, and dialogue.

The Stories & Podcasts

Digital platform and workflow development supported by AI Insider Georgia.