National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia: from a group of museum-reserves to a national heritage body

Every country that takes its past seriously needs an institution to turn policy into daily work. In Georgia that role belongs to the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation. Its story is fairly short, yet it already includes a European award, an education programme recognised in Strasbourg and a heritage database open to the public.

A decree in 2008

The agency came into being on 3 November 2008. Decree No. 533 of the President of Georgia established it as a Legal Entity of Public Law, a status that places it within the public sector while giving it its own legal identity.

It was not built from nothing. The new body drew together regional museums and museum-reserves that already existed. Among them were the museum-reserves of Greater Mtskheta, Vardzia, Uplistsikhe, Gonio-Apsaros and Kutaisi.

This origin shaped its character from the start. Rather than a purely administrative office, the agency was founded as the custodian of real places, with sites and collections in its direct care.

Mutso: a mountain settlement restored

In 2014 the agency began rehabilitating Mutso, a fortified settlement in the mountains. The work relied on support from the Government of Georgia. Private money came from the International Charity Foundation Cartu.

The project drew attention beyond Georgia. On 21 May 2019 it was announced as a winner of a 2019 European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in the conservation category.

A second distinction followed on 29 October 2019 in Paris. Mutso received the Public Choice Award, decided by roughly 8,500 people voting online.

Leadership and reporting

By July 2017 the agency was headed by Nikoloz Antidze as Director General. He remained in charge in June 2020. That month he presented the agency’s annual report for 2019, choosing Vardzia, one of the founding museum-reserves, as the setting.

The work of the agency

The agency is the operational arm of Georgia’s national policy on cultural heritage. Where the policy sets the direction, the agency carries it out on the ground.

Much of this work is regulatory. Anyone planning works on a monument or an archaeological site needs a permit, and the agency is the body that issues it. It also monitors the condition of heritage across the country.

Recording is another core task. The agency keeps the inventory of Georgia’s heritage, covering both tangible and intangible forms. Alongside this, it continues to manage the museums and museum-reserves from which it grew.

Data, education and work abroad

To bring its records together, the agency created a unified cultural heritage database, which it also operates. Part of it is publicly accessible through an online GIS portal at memkvidreoba.gov.ge.

Education has its place too. The ‘Children’s Archaeology’ programme is based at the Mtskheta World Heritage sites. The Council of Europe listed it among the good practices of its European Heritage Strategy for the 21st Century, known as Strategy 21.

The agency’s concerns also reach beyond national borders. It has taken part in efforts to protect Georgian cultural heritage in Cyprus.