Tbilisi’s Opera House has a history spanning more than 160 years. Named after famous Georgian composer and founder of modern Georgian music, Zakaria Paliashvili, the project was initiated by the Russian Tsar’s viceroy to the Caucasus - Mikhail Vorontsov. Supposedly, the initiative to build the opera house was seen as an attempt to soothe unrest in Georgia in 1832, and give credit to the cultural policies of the Russian Empire in the eyes of the restive Georgian aristocracy. French writer Alexandre Dumas visited Tbilis in 1858 - 7 years after the completion of the Opera House - and wrote in his book, “Caucasus”, that he had “never seen any hall more spectacular than the one of Tbilisi Opera House in my entire life.” Throughout its history, the Opera House has sustained two raging fires, one in 1874 and a second in 1973. After six years of renovation works, the Tbilisi Opera House opened yet again in January of 2016, and hosted a performance of “Abesalom and Eteri” - one of Zakaria Paliahsvili’s most famous traditional opera scores. Step inside to be transported into a world long gone, but make sure to call ahead before going.