David Sarajishvili

David Zacharias dze Sarajishvili (; (born October 28, 1848, Tiflis, Russian Empire-June 20, 1911, Tiflis, Russian Empire) was a Georgian scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Founder of several brandy plants in the Russian Empire, including the Tbilisi and Kizlyar Brandy Factory.

Biography Sarajishvili was born on October 28, 1848, in Tiflis. Father - merchant Zakhari Davidovich Sarajishvili (1810-1880). Mother - Elizabeth Savaneli. Sisters - Catherine and Maria. Their parents lived in a house on Sergievskaya Street (now - Machabeli), where David spent his childhood.

In 1866, he graduated with honors from the First Classical Gymnasium of Tiflis. After that, he entered the Faculty of Natural History of St. Petersburg University, but a year later he continued his studies in Germany at the University of Heidelberg. He graduated from the university in 1871, receiving a doctorate in chemical and philosophical sciences. Also in 1885 in Tiflis on Olginskaya Street (now - Merab Kostavy Street), Sarajishvili built a distillation plant for the distillation of fruit and grape vodka. In 1887, he opened a distillery in Tiflis. The enterprises of Sarajishvili occupied an almost monopoly position in the Russian Empire. The total production in 1890 was almost 218 thousand bottles, and in 1910 it was 600 thousand bottles. In 1902, Sarajishvili destroyed his parents' house on Sergievskaya Street and temporarily moved to the house number 3 on Freylenskaya Street (now Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Street). The architect of the new building project, the construction of which was completed in 1905, was the German architect Karl Zaar. Sponsored archaeological excavations led by Ekvtime Takaishvili. Sarajishvili was also the patron of the construction of the building of the noble school (now - Tbilisi State University).

He assisted Georgian social democrats, in particular in 1910, according to the police department, allocated a monthly stipend of 150 rubles to Noe Zhordania policy. In 2005, in the year of the 120th anniversary of the Kizlyar Brandy Factory, a monument to the founder of the company, David Sarajishvili, was erected on its territory. In 2012, David Sarajishvili's manor in the village of Bakurtsikhe of the Gurdjaan district received the status of cultural heritage. In 2015, in honor of David Sarajishvili, the Kizlyar Brandy Factory, to its 130th anniversary, produced the Sarajev collection of cognac brand.