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ILIA CHAVCHAVADZE

Georgian Heroes - ILIA CHAVCHAVADZE (ილია ჭავჭავაძე, 1837-1907) regarded as the "Father of the Nation” was a journalist, publisher, writer and poet. Ilia completed his legal education at the St. Petersburg University Faculty of Law. He was the leader of the founders of the new movement called "Tergdaleulebi”. Ilia created a new literary style of Georgian language that was understandable to Georgians from all social classes and places. Using this new language, Ilia launched the newspaper ‘Iveria.’ Prior to that, he had founded the magazine ‘Georgian Moambe’. Iveria aimed to bring all Georgians together around a single, unifying concept: Georgia's future autonomy and ultimate independence. One of the Ilia’s most significant undertakings, achieved together with other progressive representatives of his rank, was the establishment of the National Bank. Ilia was the head of this bank for some time, and even spent several months in St. Petersburg studying banking. His stories, novels, poems, as well as his journalistic writings are still alive. Music by: Zakaria Paliashvili Erekle Getsadze Special thanks to The Union of Tbilisi Museums