Ekvtime Takaishvili

Ekvtime Takaishvili NHG
ექვთიმე თაყაიშვილი
Member of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia
In office 1919–1921
Personal details
Born	January 5, 1862 Likhauri, Imereti, Russian Empire
Died	February 21, 1953 (1953-02-22) (aged 91) Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Mtatsminda Pantheon
Nationality	Georgian
Education	Saint Petersburg State University
Occupation	Archeologist, Professor, Historian and public figure
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Ekvtime Takaishvili (also spelled Taqaishvili, Georgian: ექვთიმე თაყაიშვილი; January 5, 1862 – February 21, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor.

Born in the village of Likhauri in the western Georgian province of Guria to a local nobleman Svimon Takaishvili, he graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1887. From 1887 to 1917, he lectured on the history of Georgia at various prestigious schools in Tbilisi, including the Tbilisi Gymnasium for Nobility. During these years, he was actively involved in extensive scholarly activities and chaired, from 1907 to 1921, the Society of History and Ethnography of Georgia. Between 1907 and 1910, he organized a series of archaeological expeditions to the historic Georgian region of Tao-Klarjeti (now part of Turkey).

After the February Revolution, he engaged also in politics, taking part in the establishment of the National Democratic Party of Georgia in 1917 and being elected to a post of Deputy Chairman in the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1919 to 1921.