Maia Mania:
Early Neoclassical Architecture in Tbilisi

This presentation deals with some of the Neoclassical edifices built in Tbilisi, four of which have survived, while others no longer exist. It traces the origins of the architecture of these buildings and examines their functions as spatial accents in the old town, as evidenced by photographs and panoramic sketches of old Tbilisi drafted by various artists and travellers, as well as by the surviving urban fabric.
The early nineteenth-century urban fabric of Tbilisi and its separate units, along with an uninterrupted building tradition and a highly specific urban structure that was still in the process of formation at the time of the arrival of Neoclassicism in Tbilisi, defined the specificity of Neoclassical designs made for Tbilisi, making their creators respect the local building culture and existing settings. 

Maia Mania, PhD, is an architectural historian whose  research area is Georgia’s urban and architectural heritage. Her principal research interests include late medieval, nineteenth- and twentieth-century secular architecture of Tbilisi and other cities and towns of Georgia. She is a Chief Researcher at the George Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation. She is a Professor at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (Department of Architecture from 1987 to 2006; Faculty of Restoration/Conservation, Art History and Theory since 2006).
Maia Mania  is the author of the books European Architects in Tbilisi (2006), Tbilisi Geophysical Observatory: History and Architecture (2010), Dusheti: Urban and Architectural Heritage (2016) and German Architects in Tbilisi (2018).