The Knight in the Tiger Skin by the Georgian poet Shot?ha Rust?hveli is recognized as one of the greatest works to have been created by human genius. Eight centuries separate us from the author of this immortal epic, but even today its life-affirming passion, shining humanity and heroic spirit, the ideas of patriotism and internationalism that it embodies and the elevated human feelings and moral ideals it expresses link this great literary monument of the distant past with the spiritual world of all freedom loving people. Rust?haveli?s epic has become part of the heritage of all mankind. No less than the people for whom it was written, Europeans and Asians, Americans and Africans can gain from this work something more than a romantic, knightly tale brilliantly told in verse." Irakly Abashidze"Georgia was the land where the two cultural streams of East and West, rushing towards each other, met. The focal point of this meeting, a man endowed with a remarkable lyrical gift, intelligence and passion, was Rust?hveli." Nikolai Tikhonov"This is the best poem about love ever written in Europe, a rainbow of love, a fiery bridge linking heaven and earth." Konstantin Balmont