Zakaria Chichinadze

Zakaria Chichinadze

Zakaria Chichinadze (Georgian: ზაქარია ჭიჭინაძე; 1854 – 27 December 1931) was a self-educated Georgian literary critic, bibliophile, historian, and a book publisher.

Born in Tiflis (Tbilisi), then part of the Russian Empire, Chichinadze began his career as a worker in a tobacco factory. An avid history reader, he began writing articles on the history of Georgian literature and printed book for the Georgian press in 1872. He collected and published hundreds of old manuscripts of the historical Georgian chronicles and documents as well as his contemporary Georgian articles. He wrote extensively on the history and culture of Georgia and helped propagate Georgian literature among the Muslim Georgians of Adjara and Samtskhe.^[1] He was a socialist sympathizer and his bookshop in Tiflis was frequented by revolutionary-minded youngsters such as young Joseph Stalin.^[2]

Chichinadze was also known by his pen-name Mtatsmindeli, that is, "of the Holy Mountain", a mountain at Tbilisi, where he is now buried, at the Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures.^[1]

References