In the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Georgia had a significant group of Poles. These included exiled insurgents, Polish soldiers in the service of the Tsar, civil servants, but also those who themselves chose this country as a place to live and work. Many of them made their mark on the history of this Caucasian country through their active participation in economic, social and cultural life.

Poles came to Georgia not always of their own free will, but a great many found their home here. In time, they were so numerous that in the 1860s, the Polish Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Tbilisi was built for them. Among the Polish emigrants were a group of architects, including Aleksander Szymkiewicz and Aleksander S. Rogojski, who designed many representative buildings in the capital, Kutaisi, and in Batumi. Their work is so far relatively little recognised, apart from an important article by Janusz Opaska from 2012 discussing it.

The POLONIKA Institute is carrying out a project involving a wide range of research. Preliminary identification in autumn 2018 was carried out by Dr Marcin Zgliński, Dr Zbigniew Michalczyk and Piotr Jamski, MA. As part of the second stage of the project in 2019, the experts carried out study work and source research in selected Georgian archives, carried out field reconnaissance and documented the surviving works of Polish architects.

The results of the work carried out are presented by several reports, complementary documentation of Polish church furnishings and abundant photographic documentation of monuments, including the buildings of the Supreme Court and Conservatory in Tbilisi, the Court of Appeal in Kutaisi and the former Roman Catholic Church and Gymnasium (now University) building in Batumi.