12, Merab Kostava Street

One of the outstanding samples of urban architecture of Tbilisi was built in 1910 by the project of Russian architect A. Ozerov, the plastic ornaments of the building were made by Avetik Tshmaritian, a master from Tbilisi. The income house belonged to a philanthropist, merchant and businessman working in Georgia - Mikael Aramiants. According to the story, Aramiants built the house for his lover - Evgenia, who was twice as young as him. In the late Soviet period, in order to widen the historical Kostava (former Olga) street, a passage was arranged at the level of the first floors of the building, which, obviously, sacrificed the original appearance of the building; On the other hand, the facade of 12, Merab Kostava Street has reached us in a completely authentic form.

The rather eclectic building of the Art Nouveau style this time refers to the motifs of Northern European architecture, which is clearly indicated by the artistic solution of the facade, including the distribution of door and window openings on the wall covered with white bricks, the tower-like volume crowned with a pyramidal gable roof, the risalite imitating the construction method of panelling, the artistic processing of the wooden balcony, the painting of the iron openwork balconies and the reliefs carved on the stone on the wall itself. A distinctive element of the facade decoration is the stone sculpture of a bear cub standing on two hind legs, placed in the corner of the tower-like volume and difficult to notice at first glance and its "discovery" gives the visitor a completely unexpected joy. The medieval-looking building, imbued with a romantic mood, looks strange and unusual in the urban environment of Tbilisi, even if, ironically, it is one of its pearls.