The first national university in the Caucasus was opened in Georgia in 1918, called Tfilisis Universiteti, laying the foundation for a European-type institution based on Georgian educational traditions.   The idea for the university first emerged in the early 19th century as the struggle for liberation from the Russian empire intensified. A new generation was, led by the great Georgian public figure Ilia Chavchavadze, who initiated a new stage of spiritual revival in the history of our country beginning in the 1860s. Real possibilities for establishing an institution of higher learning appeared when the Nobiliary Manorial Estate Bank was founded in Tbilisi. It was the only bank in the Russian empire, that contributed to promote the cultural, educational and economic interests of the nation.