Pyotr Gruzinsky

Petre Gruzinsky (Georgian: პეტრე გრუზინსკი) (28 March 1920 – 13 August 1984) was a Georgian poet and Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (1979). He was a son of Prince Pyotr Aleksandrovich Gruzinsky and a scion of King George XII of Georgia. Gruzinsky was a descendant of the Kakhetian branch (Gruzinsky) of the Bagrationi dynasty, a former royal house of Georgia. His grandfather Alexander Bagration-Gruzinsky was son of Prince Bagrat of Georgia, the fourth son of King George XII of Georgia. Petre's literary career began in 1933, under the penname of Tamarashvili. Gruzinsky gained popularity as an author of lyrics for the songs by Revaz Lagidze, Giorgi Tsabadze, and Giya Kancheli, including for Lagidze's Tbiliso (Song of Tbilisi), one of the best known Georgian songs, and for the cult Soviet comedy Mimino (1977).Gruzinsky was arrested and tried on charges of anti-Soviet activities and monarchist plot in 1945 and confined in a mental facility until released in 1948. Many of his literary works afterwards were published under the names of Gruzinsky's wife Liya Mgeladze and the journalist Irakli Gotsiridze. His first collection of poetry was published posthumously, in 2001. Gruzinsky died in 1984. He is buried at the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta.