Day's Calendar – September 12
The 255th day of the year; 110 days remain until the New Year.
Church Calendar
Righteous Ilia (Chavchavadze, 1907); Saints: Alexander (340), John (595), and Paul the New (784), Patriarchs of Constantinople; Venerable Christopher the Roman (6th c.); Venerable Phantinus the Wonderworker of Thessaloniki (9th–10th c.); Hieromartyr Bishop Philonides (284–305); Pious Prince Alexander Nevsky (Uncovering of relics, 1724); Serbian Hierarchs: Archbishops Sava I (1237), Arsenius I (1266), Sava II (1269), Eustathius I (1285), Jacob (1292), Nicodemus (1325), and Daniel (1338); Patriarchs Joannicius II (1354), Ephraim II (1395), Spyridon (1388), Macarius (1574), and Gabriel I (1659); and Bishop Gregory.
Born:
1494 – Francis I, King of France of the House of Valois. 1818 – Pyotr Bagration, scientist, chemist, and engineer. Died in 1876.
1880 – Konstantine Potskhverashvili, composer and conductor. Author of the Georgian state anthem "Dideba" (Glory). Died in 1959.
1897 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, public figure, and Nobel Prize laureate.
1906 – Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer.
1925 – Teimuraz Ghibradze, physician-morphologist and professor.
1932 – Guram Tikanadze, mountaineer and photographer. Died in 1965.
1935 – Irakli Onoprishvili, cinematographer and Rustaveli Prize laureate.
1944 – Vladimir Spivakov, violinist and leader of the "Moscow Virtuosi" ensemble.
Died:
1733 – François Couperin, French composer.
1907 – Ilia Chavchavadze, Georgian writer and public figure.
1981 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet and Nobel Prize laureate. 2022 – Mikheil Gomiashvili, Georgian film and theater actor
Events:
1683 – In the Battle of Kahlenberg near Vienna, Austrian forces defeated the Turks, who had laid siege to the capital.
1722 – Russian troops under the command of Peter the Great captured Baku and Derbent.
1740 – Voltaire and Frederick the Great met in person after several years of correspondence.
1878 – Cleopatra's Needle was erected on the banks of the Thames in London.
1910 – The premiere of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 took place, featuring 1,028 musicians.
1934 – The Baltic states signed a treaty regarding cooperation against the USSR.
1949 – Theodor Heuss was elected President and Konrad Adenauer Chancellor of West Germany.
1961 – American pilot Joseph Walker reached an altitude of 34,840 meters in his X-15 aircraft. 1970 – The Soviet automatic probe Luna-16 returned lunar soil samples to Earth.
1970 – The first Concorde landed at Heathrow Airport.
1974 – Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a military coup.
1980 – General Kenan Evren led a military coup in Turkey.
1987 – A constitution was adopted in Ethiopia.
1989 – A new government took office in Poland, with representatives of the Solidarity trade union making up the majority.
1990 – The USA, the UK, France, the USSR, and East and West Germany signed the agreement on German reunification.
Commemorative Day:
Ethiopia – Revolution Day