 |
Niko Nikoladze House-Museum Address: Didi Jikhaishi |
Didi Jikhaishi, one of the beautiful villages of Kvemo Imereti is located in the Rioni river valley, 20 kilometers west of Kutaisi. In the heart of this village, in a yard-park decorated with hundred-year-old trees, there is the House-Museum of Niko Nikoladze, who was a great Georgian thinker, publicist, great lawyer, economist, financier and versatile public, political and practical figure, a brilliant representative of the national liberation movement. The House-Museum was founded on June 29, 1947 by the decree of the Council of Ministers of Georgia in Nikoladze's house itself.
On July 1, 1951, Niko Nikoladze's House-Museum was opened in two rooms of Nikoladze's house in a solemn situation. In the early days of the opening of the museum, there existed only one memorial item in its fund and this was a cast-iron stove brought by Niko from Paris. In the educational facilities of the technical school and among fellow villagers, the museum curators found many family and household items belonging to Niko, most of which were brought by him from abroad. The memorial itemswere handed over to the museum also by the family members of Niko Nikoladze. Today, the museum fund includes more than 1340 main exhibits. The museum has a rich collection of books and a library. Over the years, the exposition of the museum has grown and diversified, the funds have been enriched, between 1958 and 2003 the museum underwent 5 overhauls, but this is not enough for the 122-year-old memorial complex.
In 1958, an exhibition depicting the life and work of Giorgi Nikoladze, the famous son of Niko Nikoladze, was placed in one room of the museum. This is already a separate museum. So, there are two museums in Didi Jikhaish, memorial museums of Niko and Giorgi Nikoladze. The monuments of Niko and Giorgi Nikoladze were erected in the yard of the museum under the authorship of the famous sculptor Vladimir (Dutu) Chkheidze from Didi Jikhaishi.
In 1953, the 110th anniversary of the birth of Niko Nikoladze was celebrated on a large scale in the museum, which became a great public celebration. Since that, big anniversary celebrations were held every 5 years, which from 1972 turned into an annual public holiday, "Nikooba" - "Niko Nikoladze Day"
Since 1976, the People's University of Literature, Culture and Art has been operating in the museum, where the meetings were held on the last Thursday of every month. The museum was and is now engaged in scientific, cultural-educational, collection, exhibition and other types of work. Until today, more than 60 scientific topics has been worked out in the museum and 50 times were invited scientific sessions, conferences, etc. About 3 million people have visited the museum since its foundation. of these visitor’s great admiration clearly speak the books of impressions. The museum's rich exposition and fund material give a distinct impression about Niko Nikoladze, this encyclopedic and versatile figure, and reflects his relationship with public, political, literary figures, businessmen, and business circles of Russia and many European countries; It sheds light on many topical issues of the socio-political-economic and literary-cultural life and relations of Georgia, Russia and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Namely: on his participation in the implementation of the famous experiment of Marcel Depres; Niko Nikoladze's grandiose projects in the construction of hydroelectric plants in Russia and for Russia, to turn one of the largest deserts in Central Asia into an oasis, about the construction of railways in Georgia, in Russia to faraway India and China, the implementation and operation of the Baku-Batumi oil pipeline project, functioning with Rothschild, Nobel, his tireless struggle for urban planning (including demands for holding democratic, multi-party elections) and etc. …Nikoladze's siblings received their higher education in Switzerland - at Zurich and Geneva universities. Niko Nikoladze himself received his higher legal education at Sorbonne, Geneva and Zurich universities. He defended his doctoral dissertation on "Disarmament and its socio-economic consequences" at the University of Zurich, earning the title of Doctor of Legal Sciences. His son, a famous mathematician, engineer-metallurgist, engineer-inventor, athlete-gymnast, alpinist and a very versatile person, defended his doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne University and etc. First of all, the museum draws attention to the first and only wind engine built by Niko Nikoladze in 1910 in the village Didi Jikhaishi. With this facility, water was mechanically pumped from the well and all buildings and crops were supplied with water. It is possible to install also a micro-electric generator with this engine, which will supply the entire memorial complex with electricity if such necessity comes. Nikoladze built his house in 1886. Then he redid it three times.
In the 1910s, the house received its final form, designed by the Swedish architect Frick. The house is covered with tiles brought from Marseille, which also serves as windows in several places. The house's balconies, cellar, basement and other are coved with concrete brought from Europe and used for the first time in the Russian Empire house construction, with which Niko built the city of Poti and the port of Poti. Among other memorial items in the exhibition, attention is drawn to household items and agricultural machinery brought by Niko from various foreign countries. Namely: piano, barometer and thermometer, counting frame and box for pencils, iron chess table and chairs, hand washing machine brought from Berlin, part of the service brought from Dresden, sulfur etching machine from the company „Vermolil“, bottle capping machine, bathhouse brought from Berlin, Austrian lamps. Items brought from Paris: Niko's hats, pince-nez and pocket inkwell, a glass fly catcher, a sundial specially ordered by Nikoladze in Paris for the village of Jikhaishi, with the meridians of the village and the monogram "ON"; on it, Cast-iron stove, Milk separator and butter churns made in Copenhagen, Denmark. A pony carriage brought from London. Writing table. A corn threshing machine made in Cincinnati, USA. An American typewriter that printed in several languages and could type two different texts at once. American "Kodak" camera, one of the first releases. A hay press brought from Russia, two samovars made of copper, an engraved icon of Saint George made by a Russian artist, which was also the emblem of the city of Poti… Vines of different varieties brought from France together with local Georgian vineyards were planted by Nikoladze. In the yard, there still are left trees of endemic species brought by Niko from different countries: sequoia brought from South America, American walnut trees, soapwood, cork oak, Himalayan cedar, until the 70s of the last century, this yard was decorated with araucaria, a pine tree brought from South America, juniper tree, here is catalpa - Italian plane tree, wisteria, eastern and western plane trees, fragrant osmanthus and others. Current – 2008 marks 165 years since the birth of "Great Niko"; and 80 years since his death and 120 years since the birth of his famous son Giorgi Nikoladze.
