Presidential Library marks 230th anniversary of Alexander Griboyedov. Story of love and fidelity

Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov, whose 230th birthday anniversary is celebrated on January 15, was a talented individual who combined the roles of poet, diplomat, musician, and statesman. His melancholic nature, embittered mind, good-naturedness, and even his weaknesses and vices - the inevitable companions of humanity - were all qualities that made him extraordinarily appealing, as Alexander Pushkin described in his travel essay Journey to Arzrum during the Campaign of 1829.

Griboyedov died at the age of 34, six months before the tragic event, when he married the beautiful young Georgian princess Nina Chavchavadze. Until then, Griboyedov had not experienced any deep and strong attachments, as critic and memoirist Alexander Skabichevsky wrote in his biographical essay A.S. Griboyedov: His Life and Literary Works (1893). This essay can be found on the Presidential Library's website in the collection Alexander Griboyedov (1795-1829). According to A.A. Bestuzhev, Griboyedov disliked women. He would say, They feel vividly but not deeply, judge wittily but without reason, and, grasping the details quickly, they can hardly comprehend the whole. There are exceptions to this, however, because they are rare.

Griboyedov had the good fortune of meeting a "rare exception" in Nina. She was the eldest daughter of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, a member of a noble Georgian family and godson of Empress Catherine the Great. She had participated in the War of 1812 and had been raised in the household of Praskovya Akhverdova. As an excellent pianist, she studied music with Griboyedov when he visited her home in Tiflis in 1822. Five and a half years later, he saw her again on his way to Tehran. She had grown into a slender and graceful young woman with dark hair, regular features, and brown eyes. Griboyedov described their courtship in a letter to F.V. Bulgarin on June 24th, 1828.

In August, after recovering from yellow fever in the active military unit, Griboyedov wrote to Bulgarin, I fell ill, but by the 22nd I was better. Nina never left my side, and we were married.

The wedding took place on August 22. It was held in the Zion Cathedral. Griboyedov was not fully recovered from a recent illness and was feeling feverish. He dropped his wedding ring, but they tried not to focus on the bad omen.

On September 9, Griboyedov and his new wife left Tiflis, accompanied by his entourage, for Tehran, the capital of Persia. There, he would serve as envoy plenipotentiary. Along the way, he wrote to his friend Miklashevich, saying: "My dear Varvara Semyonovna, my wife, as always, looks at me, preventing me from writing. She knows I am writing to another woman and is jealous. Do not blame me for the long silence, my friend. You see, at this extraordinary time, I am breaking it. I have been married and am traveling with a large caravan of 110 horses and mules. We are camping under tents in the high mountains, where it can be cold in winter. My Ninushka is happy and content, she does not complain."

Nina was everything to Griboyedov. He described her as his "sister, wife, and daughter all in one" in a loving way. However, he also had some gloomy forebodings. While passing through Erivan, he told his young wife jokingly: "If I die in Persia, do not leave my bones there. Bury me in Tiflis at the monastery of St. David."

In early October 1828, the young couple arrived in Tavriz. Two months later, Griboyedov, having left his pregnant wife, was forced to go to Tehran.

On December 24, 1828, on Christmas Eve, Griboyedov wrote a letter to his beloved wife, Nina, full of love and a prayer to God that they would never be separated. This is the only surviving letter he wrote to her. It was published in The Complete Works of A. S. Griboyedov in 1889 and is now available on the Presidential Library's portal.

On February 11, 1829, a mob incited by religious fanatics attacked the Russian embassy in Tehran, resulting in the death of almost all the employees of the mission and the Russian ambassador. Griboyedov, the ambassador, was also killed in the attack. His body was mutilated beyond recognition and was identified only by a scar on his arm, left after a duel he had fought in the past.
When Nina, Griboyedov's wife, learned of his death, she experienced a "hysterical fit" and gave birth to a premature baby the next day.

The poet's body was transported to Tiflis nearly six months after his passing. On July 17th, 1899, the funeral service for Griboyedov was held at the Zion Cathedral in Tiflis, where he and Nina had gotten married 11 months prior. According to Nina's wishes, his remains were interred near the St. David Church on Mtatsminda Hill (translated from Georgian as "Holy Mountain").

Nina Alexandrovna installed a monument at her husband's gravesite, depicting a woman kneeling and weeping before a crucifix. The inscription on the monument reads: "Your thoughts and actions are immortal in the Russian memory; yet, why did my love outlive you?"

The marriage of Alexander Griboyedov and Nina lasted only five months and eight days, according to the book Russian Figures in Portraits Engraved by Academician Lavrenty Seryakov. They were separated for one month and 25 days during this time. The 16-year-old Nina remained faithful to her husband's memory and devoted her life to their children and friends. She was engaged in charity work and was called "the black rose of Tiflis" for her beauty and irrepressible grief.

In 1857, during the cholera epidemic, Nina refused to leave the city to protect her sick relatives. As a result, she became infected and died. Nina Alexandrovna is buried next to Alexander on the Holy Mountain. Her figure in bronze forever freezes the image of a grieving woman.