The new museum complements the existing small ethnographic museum and is fully integrated into the Batonis Tsikhe museum complex in Telavi. The new building stands within the walls of the Royal Palace on the area protected by the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. The building is an underground structure, designed not to create any visual barrier to the valuable assets surrounding it and not to alter the historical and environmental context of the site. It is built almost entirely underground and the only visible volumes are entirely covered by the typical ‘quevri’. The roof is flat and entirely covered with turf and paved in local stone. The foundations and supporting structure are in reinforced concrete with brick infill walls. The spaces are determined by plasterboard partitions. The spaces have been organised in such a way as to create a sensorial tour through the heart of Georgia’s cultural heritage, offering information on the evolution of its culture using locally crafted materials.

Realization of a new museum building included into the historical context of the Royal Palace. Foundations, load-bearing structure made in reinforced concrete and walls made in bricks for the new museum building which has been designated to be camouflaged by grass covers and local quevris. Rehabilitation and enhancement of the external zone.