Ilia Chavchavadze

Ilia Chavchavadze (1837–1907) was a Georgian writer, poet, journalist, and national figure regarded as the founding father of modern Georgian literature and political thought. A nobleman by birth and educated in law in St Petersburg, Chavchavadze became the leading voice of the Georgian national revival in the 19th century. Through his literary works, political essays, and civic activism, he championed cultural independence, social reform, and the preservation of the Georgian language and identity under Russian imperial rule. Assassinated in 1907, he remains a symbol of moral integrity and patriotism, and was canonised by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1987.