Tbilisi History Museum (Karvasla. Grishashvili Museum of Tbilisi History) was founded in 1910 as a City Museum. In 1943 it was renamed to the Tbilisi State Historic-Ethnographical Museum. Currently the museum is named after Georgian poet Ioseb Grishashvili.
Beyond the museum’s collection, the building itself is of great historical significance. It stands on the site of the Caravanserai built by King Rostom in 1650. In the early 18th century, the property was transferred to Domenti III, the Bishop of Tbilisi, after which it became known as the โTbileli Caravanserai.โ From the 1820s, it became the property of the Artsruni family and was subsequently referred to as the โArtsruni Caravanserai.โ In 1855, the building burned down and was later rebuilt.
The museum houses collections that represent Tbilisi history, everyday life and culture (50.000 items). There are collections of archaeology, ethnography, documents, folk and applied art. The museum collection contains unique objects, weapons, various kind of ceramic, china, musical instruments, numismatics, textiles and household accessories starting from the Bronze Age.
The museum has the collection of Lado Gudiashvili, Mose Toidze, Elene Akhvlediani paintings as well as masterpieces of other renowned Georgian artists; I. Zaretski collection.
In the museum makes exhibitions of contemporary art.