Nino was raised in the
Tsinandali palace, eastern
Georgia, where her father was writing his historical novels and poetry. When Nino turned sixteen, she met Russian poet and novelist
Alexander Griboyedov during one of her father's parties in
Tiflis. Griboyedov proposed to her soon after the meeting and they married at
Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral on August 22, 1828. Later in the same year, she accompanied her husband on his fatal mission to
Persia, but Nino became ill and Griboyedov chose to leave her in
Tabriz. After hearing of her husband’s death in
Teheran (January 30, 1829), Nino gave birth to a premature child, who died soon after. Pursuant to Griboyedov's will, Nino reburied him to
Mount Mtatsminda,
Tbilisi, and ordered a grave stone with the inscription in Russian: "Your spirit and achievements will be remembered for ever. Why still does my love outlive you?" This epitaph also figures in the novel
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said when the couple visits the gravesite in Tbilisi. She never remarried, rejecting her numerous suitors (including the prominent Georgian poet and military commander,
Grigol Orbeliani, who, inspired with hopeless passion towards Nino for thirty years, also never married) and winning universal admiration for her fidelity to his memory. She spent most of her unhappy life in the Tsinandali residence, frequently visiting Tiflis and her sister,
Ekaterine, in
Mingrelia. Nino died in 1857, and was buried next to Griboyedov. On the burial stone of Alexandr Griboyedov at the
Mtatsminda Pantheon in Tbilisi, the statue of Nino is depicted weeping over the death of her beloved husband. == See also ==