SOME HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF MESKHETI DESCRIBED BY THE PEN OF A PUBLICIST (END OF THE XIX CENTURY, BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY)

Abstract

In the Georgian press of the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century (Newspaper "Iveria", magazine "Nakaduli"), the travel-experience of the famous Georgian public figure Alexander Kipshidze (Fronelis) (1862-1916) in Meskheti is systematically printed. These letters were published in 1914 under the name of the collection "Glorious Meskheti". The collection presents historical monuments of Meskheti, Javakheti, historical Georgian regions preserved or already destroyed on the basis of what has been described according to A. Pronrli, the assessment of his work as a publicist and historian, based on the mentioned collection, what has survived.

The study of the material revealed that "Great Meskheti" by Aleksandre Proneli is indeed a journalistic collection, containing elements of the travel genre, or an essay, but the historical monuments described in it are studied with deep knowledge, preliminary study of historical sources, new observations are based on the monument seen with one's own eyes or on new folklore records. It still contains very important information about the state of the monument remined at that time. In this regard, several parts of the historical monument Vardzia (Tamari's room, etc.) and Sapara, are noteworthy.

Keywords: Glorious Meskheti; Vardzia; Sapara;  Zarzma.