Georgian PM hails Ilia Chavchavadze as “creator of contemporary Georgia” on 116th anniversary of death
Ilia Chavchavadze was assassinated in 1907 while travelling in his cart outside the historical capital Mtskheta near Tbilisi.
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday paid tribute to Ilia Chavchavadze - Georgian publicist, author and a major figure of the country's 19th century national movement - on the 116th anniversary of his assassination by calling him a “major creator of contemporary Georgia”.
Highlighting Chavchavadze’s “righteous service” to the country, the head of the Government stressed the public figure was seen as “the father of the nation, [and] a role model of patriotism and morality”.
Indeed, it is difficult to find a person in the entire history [of Georgia] whose biography is so closely connected with the fate of the country. His titanic efforts, his greatest contribution to the development of all spheres of public life had laid foundation to the freedom of Georgia, determined its further development, created an indestructible system of values, which still remains a guide for us”, Garibashvili said.
He noted Chavchavadze being canonised as a saint in 1987 and given the name Ilia the Righteous as “not accidental”, noting he was credited for his role for the nation “precisely because of his serving the country and the Lord with righteousness”.
Born in 1837, Chavchavadze studied in St Petersburg, Russia before returning to his country - under the Tsarist Russian rule - in 1860. He led the Tergdaleulebi cultural and social movement that introduced liberal European ideas in Georgia, while also founding two of the newspapers publishing articles on the subjects.
Also known for his establishment of the Society for the Spreading of Literacy among Georgians and his role in the launch and chairmanship of the Land Bank of Tbilisi, Chavchavadze gradually became a major figure in the social, economic and cultural scenes in 19th century Georgia.
Promoting preservation and promotion of the Georgian language against ongoing processes of Russification of the local culture, he published a number of major literary works on subjects of social and cultural gaps between countryside and urban population, moral stagnation in society and more.
Chavchavadze was assassinated in 1907 while travelling in his cart outside the historical capital Mtskheta near Tbilisi, with various elements of the killing remaining unresolved by subsequent investigations.
The Ilia Chavchavadze Literary Memorial Museum, a Tbilisi venue dedicated to the life and legacy of the major public figure of the 19th century Georgia, has been selected for the Special Commendation of this year's European Museum of the Year Award.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday paid homage to Ilia Chavchavadze - a Georgian publicist, author and a major figure of the country's 19th century national movement - on the 185th anniversary of his birthday, by saying the public figure had dedicated his life to an “awakening of the national self-consciousness” and development of “statesman thinking”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday paid tribute to Ilia Chavchavadze - Georgian publicist, author and a major figure of the country's 19th century national movement - on the 115th anniversary of his assasination, by saying that the country would “never forget the bright memory” of the “father of the nation”.
Cultural centres, Government officials and ordinary citizens across Georgia are celebrating the 178th birthday of Georgia’s highly-esteemed public figure, writer, poet and 19th Century journalist Ilia Chavchavadze.