Skip to main content

Aleksandre Chavchavadze House and Museum: poetic beauty



In the town of Tsandandali in eastern Georgia is the former residence of poet Aleksandre Chavchavadze.

Chavchavadze (1786-1846) was a poet, writer, translator, military leader, diplomat, and inventor. He was considered to be the founder of Georgian romantic poetry. He was also a wine maker, which is why he established a home in Georgia’s wine region of Kakheti.

Chavchavadze was the godson of Catherine II of Russia and from 1813-1815, as lieutenant general in the Russian army, he fought against Napoleon.




The Aleksandre Chavchavadze House and Museum opened in 1947 and was renovated in 2008. The architecture is Georgian-European with furnishings and decor from Georgia, France, and Russia. The extremely wide verandahs, high ceilings, ornate cornices, and French doors make it an open-spaced, light living accommodation in grand style, yet in reality it is a two-story rectangular home. However, the crockery and china, drapes and tapestries, from all over the world, show a collection of interesting pieces. There are also five pianos, one of them is a Steinway.






Within the grand residence is a one-room art gallery, with an original Salvador Dali painting. There is also a wine cellar with wine tasting (degustation) and sales of the Tsinandali wines that are still produced on the estate.



The garden should not be overlooked as it is wonderful to walk around. The grounds occupy 18 hectares of land. Aleksandre Chavchavadze was the first landowner to design a European landscape with grassed areas, a lily pond, natural and manicured gardens, and a labyrinth (hedged maze). It includes European, Asian, and American exotic plants and trees.









However, there is a tragic side to the beauty. Chavchadze had four children; a son David and three daughters – Nino, Catherine, and Sophia. After Aleksandre’s death, David took over the estate. In September 1854 Imam Shamyl and his tribesmen from Dagestan kidnapped 23 women and children from the house (including his wife and children). David had to mortgage the house to pay the ransom. He paid 14,000 silver rubles, less than the asking ransom, and it took nine months before he was reunited with his family. However, he was heavily in debt to the Russian Public Bank.


After David’s death in February 1886 the Estate Department of the Russian Empire bought his house and land which passed to the property of Tsar Alexander III due to the Chavchavadze family’s failure to pay the debt on the home. In 1947 the estate was turned into a museum.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more