The Kukia cemetery is the oldest surviving cemetery in Tbilisi, opened, according to Lech Sokół - author of the article 'On the 100th anniversary of Dagna's death' (Polish Community Association Bulletin, No. 7/2001, pp. 2-6), most probably at the beginning of the 18th century, as evidenced by the oldest inscriptions on the gravestones. However, the exact date of the necropolis' foundation is unknown. A well-known Norwegian painter, tragically deceased, Dagny Juel - Przybyszewska, wife of Stanislaw Przybyszewski, was buried in this cemetery in 1901. Of the most famous Georgians, Akwsenti Cagareli was buried in this cemetery in 1902, Lado Agniaszwili in 1904, Sio Czytadze in 1906. They were first buried in the central part of the cemetery, then their graves were moved to the newly created Pantheon. Joseph Stalin's wife Ekaterina Svanidze-Djugashvili was also buried in the Kukia Cemetery in 1907.
One of the oldest parts of the cemetery is the so-called 'Fraternity Cemetery' where the graves of the soldiers of the Ardagan Battalion who took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 are located. However, there are graves even older.
In 1895, St Nina's Church was built in the Kukia Cemetery. The construction of this church took two years. The idea to start this project belongs to the then Metropolitan of Saint-Peterburg - Paladi.
After the closure of the old cemetery, where there was no more space for new graves, the state set aside an additional 50 ha on 24 June 1955. The first person buried in the new section was Ketevan Vashakidze.
The Cemetery also contains Memorials for those who disappeared during the Second World War and during the war in Abkhazia.
Approximately 70,000 people of various nationalities are buried in the new Kukij Cemetery: Georgians, Kurds, Armenians, Russians, Assyrians. The cemetery is staffed by 7 people: a manager, a supervisor and 5 gravediggers.
The cemetery is located in the central part of the city, on the north side of the Mtkwari (Kura) River, north of the railway line. It has an irregular, polygonal shape, extending from the north-west towards the south-east, on a rising terrain towards the north and north-east.