Bertha von Suttner Part 2 Georgia

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Tbilisi 1837, painting by the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov

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Part 2
Georgia
Escape? Honeymoon? Exile?

Odessa

Galati

Poti

Batumi

The 33-year-old Bertha Baroness von Suttner, née Kinsky, and her 26-year-old husband Arthur Gundaccar Baron von Suttner traveled to Georgia in 1876.

First by ship on the Danube from Vienna to Galati in Romania. Then we went by carriage to Odessa and finally by ship again across the Black Sea to Poti, the port city in Mingrelia.

Bertha had already met Princess Ekaterina Dadiani of Mingrelia in 1864 when she was 20 in the health resort of Bad Homburg and was amazed by her education and beauty.

Painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter:
Princess Ekaterina Dadiani of Mingrelia, 1850s

You are very welcome in Mingrelia.

4. Zugdidi, the Capital of Mingrelia

3. Gordi

Mingrelia - a small, South Caucasian principality

1. Arrival in Poti

2. Kutais (Kutaissi)

Places where the Suttners lived in Mingrelia and Georgia.

5. Tibilisi, Capital of Georgia

Bertha and her husband stayed in Mingrelia and neighboring Georgia for nine years. They also moved several times during this adventurous time.

Nikoloz "Niko" Dadiani was the last prince of Mingrelia. In 1867 he handed over his lands to Russia. He lived mainly in St. Petersburg and was an officer in the Russian army. He only spent a few weeks in the summer with his mother in Gordi.

Bertha and Arthur hoped that he would give them a high position in the Tsar's court. But nothing came of it.

The Suttners were disappointed to find that their friends were unwilling or unable to help them.

You can't expect anything from me.

Portrait of Niko Dadiani in a Russian officer's uniform at the end of the 19th century. He is the son of Princess Ekaterina.

Bertha and Arthur moved to Kutais, where they had to earn money. Bertha taught music and French, Arthur gave German lessons.

Kutais around 1870. Photo by Vladimir Barkanov.