SIGHTSEEING

Dadiani palace is in downtown Zugdidi. This historical palace and now museum was the residence of Dadiani family – potentates of Samegrelo. The residence of the sovereign was first built by the ruler of Odishi, Levan II Dadiani (1611-1657). Today the historical monument of Dadiani palace consists of palace units constructed under the auspices of the sovereign of Samegrelo, David Dadiani (1813-1853), his spouse, Ekaterine Chavchavadze-Dadiani (1816-1882), and their son Niko Dadiani, as well as court church and botanical garden.
In the 60-ies of the XIX century Ekaterine trusted reconstruction of Dadiani palace to a German architect, Reiss, who used Gothic style while renovating the palace. Two-level palace of Niko Dadiani was built in the 80-ies of the XIX century by a Russian architect, Vasiliev.
The museum of Dadiani palace is the oldest in Georgia. David Dadiani founded personal museum back in 1839 with archeological, numismatic, military and ethnographic rooms. There are more than 40 000 exhibits in the museum today. Among them especially should be mentioned the Shroud of the Virgin Mary, a mask of Napoleon Bonaparte, Shamil’s sword, collections of XVIII-XX century European and Georgian painting. In the Gold Fund of the museum there are exhibits of Antique and Middle Age goldsmith’s artefacts.