NINO KIPIANI – PORTRAIT OF A PUBLIC FIGURE WITH EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The study of Nino Kipiani’s life and work is of particular significance for understanding the development of European vectors in Georgia. It can be argued that in the early 20th century, the intensive efforts to transfer European thought and culture to Georgia were primarily linked to several intellectuals who went to Europe to pursue their education during this period. Among them, Nino Kipiani occupies a particularly distinguished place.  She was the first Georgian woman, not only from Georgia but from the entire Russian Empire, which included Georgia at that time, to receive a comprehensive legal education at the University of Brussels. This accomplishment facilitated Georgia's access to the leading trends in European political thought. It can be asserted with confidence that she was among those whose initiatives laid both the ideological and legal foundations for the country's independence in 1918.

This study is based on materials from Nino Kipiani’s personal archive, which is distinguished by a particular degree of authenticity and provides insight not only into the portrait of the figure herself but also into the historical and cultural context. These sources offer a view of Georgian reality from a different perspective - through the lens of European life and thought. Observing from the outside enables Nino Kipiani to identify various dissonances that are often not apparent from the native context. Consequently, her methods of work and her decisions are far more radical and bold than those typically expected from her contemporaries of that period.

The study reveals a highly diverse portrait of a female public figure characterized by her familial, social, civic, and political roles, whose interests and experiences stand in radical opposition to even the most subtle manifestations of conformity.

Keywords: European vectors; Personal Archive; Human rights defender; Diplomat; Inter-party congress; Federalist; Anarchist.