Pushkin Alexander

Pushkin Alexander (1799-1837), Russian writer. Founder of a new Russian literature. He was born in Moscow. His interest in Georgia grew deeper after 1825, when some of the Decembrists were exiled to that country. In 1829 A. Pushkin visited Tbilisi twice: first he arrived in the city on May 27. Being under the supervision of the Tzar’s police, he left for Tbilisi without the permission of the authorities, travelled along the Georgian Military Road and spent a fortnight in the city. He embarked on his second 5-day visit to Tbilisi after he returned from the front of Russian-Turkish War. A. Pushkin described his trip along the Georgian Military Road in the essay Georgian Military Road (1830).

In Tbilisi A. Pushkin lived in the hotel (by his words,‘in the inn’), located on the present-day Freedom Square. Represen- tatives of local society received the poet with great enthusiasm; they acquainted him with Georgian culture, history, the city sights, customs and traditions. In his honor they organized festive banquets in suburban gardens, sited on the banks of the Mtkvari River; there he spent sev- eral evenings, enjoying European and Eastern music and songs. He was de- lighted with sulphur baths. Even today the staff members of the sulphur baths show off so called ‘Pushkin’s room’ to the visitors. A. Pushkin wrote about the impressions of Tbilisi in the essay Trip to Arzrum (1836). Georgia inspired him to compose the poems: Caucasus, Ava- lanche, Monastery on Mount Kazbek. His poem On the Mountains of Georgia are permeated with remarkable lyricism.

A. Pushkin died in Petersburg as a result of the wound, inflicted by Russian Officer Dantes in the duel. He is buried at the Sviatogorsk Monastery