Today Georgia marks the 84th birthday of the country’s first president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. 

Scientist-philologist, writer, translator, politician, dissident, doctor of philology, one of the leaders of the national liberation movement of Georgia (1973-1990), the first president of Georgia between 1991-1992 was born on March 31, 1939 in the family of writer, academician Konstantine Gamsakhurdia and Miranda Palavandishvili.

Together with Merab Kostava, Gamsakhurdia was the spirit-bearer and flag bearer of the national liberation movement in Georgia in the 1970s-80s.

He was elected by 86% of the population of Georgia as the president on May 26, 1991. His name is associated with the introduction of presidential rule in the country.

The first president of Georgia held a referendum on March 31, 1991. to the question, "Do you agree to restore the state independence of Georgia based on the act of May 26, 1918?" 98% of the population of Georgia with the right to vote gave a positive answer, as a result of which on April 9, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia announced the restoration of state independence. Gamsakhurdia ruled the country for only a few months. After the military coup on January 6, 1992, Gamsakhurdia and members of his government escaped from the besieged building and left Georgia.

Gamsakhurdia  spent some time in exile and returned to Georgia on September 24, 1993. On December 31, 1993, the President of Georgia was killed in the village of Khibula, Khobi district. The children of Zviad Gamsakhurdia are still demanding an investigation into the death of the first president. In February 1994, his body was transferred to Grozny.

A few years later, in 2007, Gamsakhurdia's body was brought to Georgia and buried on April 1 in the Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures of Mtatsminda. Thousands of people escorted the remains of the first president from Mtskheta to Mtatsminda.

On September 26, 2013, the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, awarded the title of national hero of Georgia to Gamsakhurdia.