Salome Kobulashvili is a direct descendant of the last Georgian king, Erekle II. But I would have never known this if it weren’t for a chance encounter. As fate would have it, this princess turned out to be… my dentist! And not just mine: a highly renowned dentist in Georgia, she once treated Eduard Shevardnadze and even Alain Delon himself!
One day, while at Salome’s office for an appointment, I admired an elegant, Art Nouveau-style shelf for flowers. Casually, Salome remarked, “If you like such things, you’ll surely appreciate my work,” and took several miniature figurines from her desk drawer. All of them were made of stone or glass and metal: a bust of a woman in an oriental turban, a bathing beauty, a swan princess, sleeping beauties, and many others. These pieces seemed like discoveries from some ancient treasure, perhaps even artifacts from ancient Colchis! It turns out all these precious items are the creations of her delicate hands, and for her art, Salome uses… a dental drill with various attachments. I had never heard of works of art being created with ordinary medical equipment!
“Returning Home”
In response to my delight, Salome invited me to her exhibition, “Returning Home.” It was 2021, the height of the pandemic. The vernissage took place, in my opinion, in one of Tbilisi’s most impressive buildings, the Academy of Arts, also known as Arshakuni House.
The oriental halls of this palace, adorned with myriads of mirrored tiles, accentuated the piercing splendor of Salome’s works, making them glow like treasures from fairy tales! There were countless guests, most of them friends and acquaintances of the artist. When we approached Salome to express our admiration, I couldn’t resist asking why the exhibition had such an unusual name, what “returning home” meant. To this, Salome casually replied, “The thing is, this palace is our family home.” These words were followed by an invitation for a conversation that would stun me no less than the artist’s works. However, four years passed between her invitation and my visit: the pandemic and the war in Ukraine not only reshaped Salome’s and my plans, but also altered the agenda for the entire planet.
The Residence of a Modern Princess
And so, finally, I had the good fortune to visit the residence of a modern princess. It’s no palace, but an atmospheric apartment in a Stalin-era building in the Vake district, where every object and every photograph breathes living history.
In the spacious, cozy living room, Salome’s artfully illuminated works are displayed on a grand piano, while the walls are adorned with the entire family history in photographs, featuring the noble faces of the Kobulashvili lineage, beginning with the last Georgian king. I carefully examine these faces, eager to learn about Salome’s connection to Erekle II.
“My great-great-grandfather Evgeny, Erekle II’s grandson, was the viceroy in Kakheti. And in 1902, Evgeny, along with his young wife, bought Arshakuni Palace at auction for 36,000 gold pieces,” Salome recounts. This was followed by her captivating account of the incredible intertwining of her family’s history.
Before the palace came into her great-great-grandfather’s possession, the building was in complete disrepair. The Armenian merchant who built it never got to live a single day in the house, peacefully passing away right after its completion. After purchasing the palace, the new owner brought in the best craftsmen not only from Georgia, but also from Persia, Italy, and England, to restore the building. They transformed the palace into a true work of art, divided into two wings, executed in Oriental and Western European styles. The palace ended up costing ten times its purchase price—500,000 gold pieces! That’s how wealthy Salome’s ancestors were!
Salome explains, smiling, “The thing is, my great-great-grandfather gave their family home to his recently married sister. Who knows, perhaps that’s why fate generously rewarded Evgeny with a huge fortune? He received a colossal inheritance from his aunt, Princess Orbeliani.”
Romantic Intrigues and Fateful Decisions
According to contemporaries, Liza Orbeliani was a young lady with typical Oriental features, petite, fragile, and exceedingly charming. However, the princess was unlucky in her marital life: she ended up marrying a gambler, a spendthrift, and a womanizer, David Davidov, who served in a dragoon regiment. Around this time, General-Field Marshal Prince Alexander Baryatinsky, a close friend of Tsar Nicholas I, was transferred to the Caucasus due to his somewhat improper behavior. Baryatinsky, who belonged to the highest Russian aristocracy, was known primarily for facilitating Russia’s final conquest of the North Caucasus and the capture of Imam Shamil, the main leader of the North Caucasian highlanders.
The arrival of such a distinguished person as Prince Baryatinsky caused a real sensation in Tbilisi, and all the Georgian nobility and army went to pay him homage. “And so Liza Orbeliani’s husband asked his wife to also go to the Prince to beg for some position for him,” Salome recounts. “The princess indeed went for an audience with the General-Field Marshal, but she asked him for something completely different: ‘If my husband comes to you and asks for anything, give him nothing!'”
They say Prince Baryatinsky fell madly in love with Liza (she was 25 years his junior!), summoned her husband, and asked him how much money he wanted for his wife. And Davidov named a price to the prince. That is, he sold his wife to the Russian prince! A wild scandal ensued, but Baryatinsky took the princess with him, married her, and introduced her at the imperial court in St. Petersburg. Liza appeared before the Russian Tsar all in white lace, and he exclaimed, “And all this fuss over this ‘beauty spot’ (a faux mole) in milk?”
Then the Russian prince and the Georgian princess were married in Belgium. There is even a legend that Shamil himself made them a lavish wedding gift. Afterwards, the newlyweds went to France, and soon Baryatinsky passed away. His widow, according to Salome’s grandmothers, entered a monastery. “I don’t know how plausible the monastery story is, but I know for sure that when Liza Orbeliani passed away, according to her will, all her enormous property was distributed between my great-great-grandfather Evgeny Kobulashvili and another descendant of the Orbeliani family.”
The story of Prince Baryatinsky’s marriage so intrigued me that I started searching for details online. I found versions that differed from Salome’s account. Upon learning this, Salome remarked, “I know nothing about other versions. My story is our family history.”
To be continued in next week’s GT and on georgiatoday.ge
BLOG BY TATJANA MONTIK
