Elizbar Eristavi

Public and Military Figure - Elizbar Eristavi studied artillery work in St. Petersburg. He served as lieutenant-general of the Russian army during 1823-30, and then in the 1850s, he participated in the Crimean War. By the end of his military career, he headed Gori district (Mazra). Decades beforehand, in 1832, Eristavi actively opposed Russian rule as part of the Georgian nobility, for which he was tried and imprisoned. In 1842, he returned from prison and together with his brother Dimitri, started the construction of a glass factory in the village of Gvarebi. In 1872, he died and was buried in the "Soboro" Cathedral in Gori.