October 24, the museum of Josef Ratil was opened in the town of Dobsice near Prague, Czech Republic.

The Czech musician Josef Ratil was a great contributor to the development of the Georgian folklore. He was a conductor of the first Georgian folklore troupe and the first musician to write down more than 30 Georgian folk songs, today famous among the wide audience. Ratil was actively involved in the work of the Committee of the Restoration of the Georgian Chanting.

The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, together with the National Archive of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia worked on the materials regarding Ratil, and developed a comprehensive bibliography. The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia thanks General Director of the National Archive of the Ministry of Justice and its staff for the archival materials and their digital versions delivered to the National Library. Special thanks to Ms. Maia Mikaberidze, Head of the Department of the Fund of Printed and Digital Publications at the National Library, for searching and processing the materials. The copies of the materials were presented to the Museum of Josef Ratil. We are very thankful to the Georgian Embassy in the Czech Republic as well as to the Czech Embassy in Georgia. Our special thanks to Ms. Eva Jastrabova for her help.

The opening of the Museum of Josef Ratil is an important step in the development of the Georgian-Czech Relations.

The Georgian troupe under the leadership of Josef Ratil, 1895