Rengim Mutevellioglu

Photographer

The custodian of Georgia's communist past

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Sikmashvili with a gift from the Chinese Embassy.

This well was the original entr...ss the printing area.

This well was the original entrance that the bolsheviks used to access the printing area.

Due to years of neglect and flo...ss is heavily rusted.

Due to years of neglect and flooding following the dissolution of the Soviet Empire, the old printing press is heavily rusted.

The cordened off bed on the lef... bed Stalin slept on.

The cordened off bed on the left is rumored to be the bed Stalin slept on.

Entrance to the museum.

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Thumbnail of The custodian of Georgia's communist past

Thumbnail of Sikmashvili with a gift from the Chinese Embassy.

Thumbnail of This well was the original entra_ess the printing area.

Thumbnail of Due to years of neglect and floo_ess is heavily rusted.

Thumbnail of The cordened off bed on the left_e bed Stalin slept on.

Public Project

The custodian of Georgia's communist past

Copyright Rengim Mutevellioglu 2024

Date of Work May 2017 - May 2017

Updated May 2020

Location Tbilisi

Topics Activism, Aging, Documentary, Editorial, Essays, Historical, Photography, Photojournalism, Politics, Portraiture, Senior Citizens, Travel, Workers Rights

Jiuli Sikmashvili is the tour guide that greats you when you enter the Stalin’s Underground Printing House Museum in Tbilisi. He’s also the Vice President of the Communist Party of Georgia.

A fervent admirer of the eponymous leader and the country’s communist past, he gives you the tour with the confidence and the zeal of someone exceptionally knowledgeable and invested in the topic.

Your tour includes the museum building and the wooden house behind it that hides the printing press below.

Stalin, as a young bolshevik, worked at the secret press churning out communist material in the early years of the pre-revolution 20th century. The press was discovered and destroyed only to be reopened as a museum in the 30s.

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