On Some Implications of Ilia Chavchavadze’s Barakala

Georgia’s unification with Russia has been assessed on many occasions from various perspectives: artistic and metaphorical, cultural and historical, political and pragmatic, and many others, whether mixed or homogeneous. Two of these assessments stand out most clearly in our memory: Nikoloz Baratashvili: “The road was opened and the Iverians were given hope to receive education from there”; Ilia Chavchavadze: “What? Twenty generals in this handful of people! [...]Barakala! [Bravo!] Orthodox Russia! Fame and glory! Wherever it treads, it establishescivilization”.This article in no way means to question these two perspectives or to offer a third one. Rather, it is aimed at researching the essence of the perspectives. I mean research into the explicit content of Ilia Chavchavadze’s metaphorical assessment – Barakala! – on the basis of hitherto unknown or little known Georgian-Italian sources. These sources include materials kept in the historical archives of Propaganda Fide in Rome, and in the archives of the Capuchins, Theatines, and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.