The idea to build a new opera house in Tiflis came almost immediately after the fire in Gavriil Tamamshev caravanserai on Erivan Square in 1874. Tamamshev's caravanserai housed an opera house, shops, guest rooms, etc., and was considered one of the marvels of Tiflis at that time. The competition for a new design for the opera building was announced in 1876. The new location for the opera house was allocated in the upper part of the Alexander Garden, where the National Art Gallery (former "Temple of Glory") is now located. One of the requirements of the competition was that the new design should be in an Islamic, oriental style. The winning design was by the St. Petersburg architect Victor Schrotër. Later, the competition committee decided that this place was not suitable for the winning project and decided to move it a little further on Shota Rustaveli Avenue. In this regard, Victor Schrotër slightly altered the original version of the project, which was approved in 1880. The construction began in the same year and was only completed sixteen years later. On November 3, 1896, the first season of the new theater opened with Mikhail Glinka's opera 'A Life for the Tsar' (Ivan Susanin). Great opera singers such as Fyodor Chaliapin, Sergey Lemeshev, Vano Sarajishvili, also famous dancers such as Vakhtang Chabukiani and Mikhail Lavrovsky, performed here for many years. The State Opera and Ballet Theater was named after composer Zakhary Paliashvili, in 1937. The theater building burned down in 1974. The large-scale restoration work modernized the stage and altered the internal layout of the building, making it more comfortable. A lot of effort went into preserving the external appearance to its original look. The construction of the building, which lasted sixteen years, was led by Tiflis architects Paul Stern, Albert Zaltsman, and Alexander Shimkevich in different years.