Ekvtime Takaishvili Museum away from tourist routes

Ekvtime Takaishvili was a historian, archaeologist, co-founder of the first University of the Caucasus region, author of numerous publications on archaeological expeditions throughout Georgia, etc.

In order to protect the cultural heritage from invaders, Ekvtima Takaishvili was given the task to prepare the most valuable exhibits of Georgian museums for evacuation and take them out of the country.

He took this treasure on a ship to Marseilles and put it in a bank for safekeeping.

Georgian emigrants could not afford to pay maintenance fees to the bank, so in 1934 a court ruled that the treasures should become the property of France and be transported to Paris. After that, Ekvtime called for years to return this treasure back to Georgia.

In 1940, when the German army occupied France, they knew about the Georgian treasure, so they actively searched for it, but the French people hid it in the basement of the Palace of Versailles, and Ektime helped them in this. He spent 4 nights in a cold basement, after which his health deteriorated.

In 1945, after long negotiations and under the influence of Stalin, the national treasure of Georgia was returned. At that time, Ektime was 82 years old. When the plane arrived in Tbilisi, Ektime stayed away from getting off the plane because his jacket and shoes were so torn that he was ashamed of people.

At that time, there was still a very strict Russian regime in Georgia, so Ektime was under house arrest for 8 years before his death.  Only a few could see it. He died alone in a studio apartment at the age of 90.

In 2002, he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, he was awarded the title and Order of the National Hero of Georgia.

Author of the text Anano Chikhradze