State Silk Museum

The aim of the Georgian State Silk Museum, one of the world’s oldest silk museums, is to promote the understanding and appreciation of silk, its production and use through exhibitions and educational programs.

The Collection

Herbaria features a variety of mulberry tree species, healthy and diseased butts of tree-trunks, samples reflecting the biology of mulberry, inventory used in mulberry cultivation including knives, hatchets and tools, fragmented leaf samples, methods of cultivating various species, a 4,5 m long root, wood and fruit produce, such as musical instruments, domestic items and instruments, as well as boiled mulberry juice, vodka and vinegar.

The museum also feautures a variety of butterfly species, which is fairly interesting. Unfortunately, a major part of the collection has either been destroyed or is in a very poor condition. The decay was caused by the lack of proper preservation conditions.

There is a variety of samples reflecting the biology of a silkworm (dry and wet specimens). You can also find exhibits presenting the pathology of worms (samples of worms affected by different diseases).