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The personal archive of German Kartvelologist Richard Meckelein has been donated to Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University free of charge by his grandchildren, on the initiative and with the support of TSU Professor Alexander Kartozia. The event was attended by TSU Vice Rector Nino Gvenetadze, Head of TSU Library Zurab Gaiparashvili, five members of the Meckelein family, professors, administrative staff, students and invited guests.
During the World War I, Prof. Richard Meckelein lectured on Georgian culture and taught the Georgian language at the Friedrich Wilhelm (now Humboldt) University in Berlin. He is the author of the first Georgian-German dictionary and the first German textbook in Georgian, which was used to teach German at the newly founded Tbilisi University. Richard Meckelein translated Grigol Robakidze’s novel “Snake Shirt,” which was published in Germany in 1928 with a foreword by Stefan Zweig. He also translated Grigol Robakidze’s “Caucasian Novels.” The book was published after the Georgian writer emigrated to Germany. Prof. Meckelein had close friendships with Georgian personalities who were educated in Germany in the first quarter of the last century or were official representatives of independent Georgia in that country. His closest friends were Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, a classical Georgian writer, and Grigol Diasamidze, one of the most respected representatives of the Georgian emigration.
Among Georgian scholars, Richard Meckelein had a friendly relationship with academicians Akaki Shanidze and Simon Kaukhchishvili, as well as Archimandrite Grigol Peradze. Although he had never been to Georgia, Richard Meckelein, with the help of his closest friend, Raphiel Nizharadze, began to study the Svan language and prepared a lecture course on the ethnography of Svaneti for the students at his university. With the support of Prof. Meckelein, the Rustaveli Society was founded in Berlin and the journal “Akhali Agmosavleti” (New East) was established, which mainly published articles written by Georgian and German authors about Georgia. In 1918, with the support of Richard Meckelein, organizational work was carried out for the establishment of the Georgian-language journal “Evropis Moambe” (Europe Herald).
