In the nineteenth-century, Kutaisi was the second-largest city of Georgia and a center of governance within the Russian Empire. By the end of the century, the construction of administrative and public buildings in the city had significantly increased. Among these new buildings was the District Court, built between 1898 and 1900. Located at the end of present-day Newport Street, near the bank of the Rioni River, the court building plays a prominent role in the city’s urban landscape. Today, it houses the Kutaisi Court of Appeals.

Petre Otskheli's sketches not only speak of his broad imagination, technical virtuosity and deep thinking as an artist, but also refer in general to Georgian theater and cinema of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as universal contemporary avant-garde art.

Nikoloz Kandelaki is one of the most outstanding representatives of modern Georgian art, and the development of realistic sculpture in Georgia is associated with both he and Iakob Nikoladze. In addition to his creative genius, Kandelaki was a brilliant educator. He founded the Kandelaki School, where numerous gifted Georgian sculptors honed their craft. His impact on Georgian sculpture was deep and enduring. Born in the village of Kulashi in 1889, Kandelaki attended school in Kutaisi, moving on to pursue his studies at the Leningrad (St.Petersburg) Psycho-Neurological Institute. His medical education provoked his interest in the structure of plants and the human body.