the basis of his professional attitude to his life's dedication – music – had developed there, too. All his life Zacharia had retained his youthful love for the relics of Georgia's magnificence, the ruins of the Church of Bagrat (built by Georgia's King Bagrat III in 1003, ruined and plundered by the Turks in 1631), Gelati (1106–1125), one of the most important centres of education, philosophy and literature in medieval Georgia and the extraordinary beauty of his home town. Subsequently, Paliashvili recalled Kutaisi many times, permeated, he said, with a "truly Georgian spirit". Upon leaving the two-year parish school, brothers Ivan and Zacharia began to play the piano under tutorship of Felix Mizandari, an organist and pianist. Mizandari did not charge the family for the lessons for he was aware that Paliashvili family was of very modest means. Shortly afterwards, people in the town learned of the two talented and exceptionally persevering young musicians. The news reached father Alfonso Khitarishvili, dean of Tbilisi Georgian Catholic Church of the assumption. With the parents' consent Khitarishvili took Ivan and Zacharia Paliashvili to Tbilisi. This was in the spring of 1887. The elder brother was appointed to the post of the organist and Zacharia was made his brother's assistant and a choirboy. A short time after, the entire family of Petre Paliashvili moved to Tbilisi. Move to Tiflis and period in Moscow The work at the Catholic Church in Tbilisi, besides providing a small but badly needed salary also gave Zacharia Paliashvili the opportunity to broaden his musical knowledge by getting acquainted with the composers of Palestrina, Lassus, Bach, Handel, Mozart and other great composers of the past. The first performance of a Georgian Ethnographic choir, established of the initiative and with the material support of Lado Agniashvili, a well-known public personality, took place in Tbilisi in 1886. Later the concerts of this choir were conducted by Joseph Ratil (Navratil), who though Czech by birth had forever associated his life with Georgia. The concerts of Agniashvili's choir evoked favourable comments from the patriotically minded Georgian public. Vano and Paliashvili sang in this choir in 1887–1889 and this fact was of importance for the future composer. In 1889 Vano left for Russia where he was engaged as an opera conductor. His post of church organist was taken over by Zacharia who now had to support the entire family; as a result, he had no