New opportunities for scientific research of Georgia's historical path have been discovered in the Vatican archives

The history of Georgia continues to reveal its secrets thanks to new finds from the Vatican archive. The scientific work of Georgian scientists, researchers and teachers has brought unexpected discoveries, thanks to the accessibility of studying materials in archives, museum repositories and libraries in the heart of the Vatican for representatives of Georgia.

The former residence of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith (Propaganda Fide), founded back in 1622, has become a reliable haven for historical documents of Georgia of the 17th and 19th centuries, letters of Georgian kings (Erekle II, Solomon II) and other political figures of past eras that were not previously available to the general public.

Cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Vatican has already been officially established. This means that Georgian historians get access to unique materials in the vaults of the Vatican and, undoubtedly, their study will open many new important pages of Georgian history.

In addition to written documents, it may be possible to find photographs, including historians hoping to find a photo of the poet Nikoloz Baratashvili from the personal archive of Ekaterina Chavchavadze, which is kept in the Vatican museums. The approximate total volume of materials that researchers have accessed is more than 885 kilometers of bookshelves, 35 thousand volumes, about two million books and 150 thousand manuscripts, so their study will take several years, historians expect.