The Megrelian House

The Megrelians are known to be house-proud. Their one- or two-storey houses are often set within neatly cut lawns, with nothing growing too close to obscure their beauty. An external staircase leads to the upper rooms. Today the Megrelian house is often a square, wooden building with a full-length balcony along the front onto which the rooms open.

It wasn’t always that way, as a visit to the Ethnographic Museum in Tbilisi shows. The Samegrelo House is one of the first you encounter in the museum’s fascinating grounds. It was transported from Samegrelo in 1976, in the early years of the museum’s life. The one-room wooden house is from the mid 19th century, when people in the country lived simply, without windows or a chimney.