Information AboutSukhumi |
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DESCRIPTION It is located on a wide bay of the Black Sea in Western Georgia and serves as a port, rail junction and a holiday resort. It is known for its beaches, sanatoriums, mineral-water spas and semitropical climate. Sukhumi is also an important air link for Abkhazia, as the Sukhumi Dranda Airport is located nearby the city. Sukhumi contains a number of hotels, as well as a lively artist scene. The city also maintains historic botanical gardens, established in 1840 . Until 1992 it remained a multi-cultural city, where nine different languages were spoken. The city contains a number of research institutes, the Abkhaz State University and the Sukhumi Branch of the Tbilisi I. Javakhishvili State University (currently functioning in Tbilisi). In Soviet times, it contained a renowned Ape breeding station. From 1945 to 1954 , the city's electron physics laboratory was involved in the Soviet program to develop nuclear weapons. HISTORY The Greek Colony of Dioscurias was founded here in the 6th Century BC . From the time of Pliny (N.H. 6.14-16) and Arrian (''Periplus ponti euxini'' 10.3) it was known as Sebastopolis; Aidan Liddle, in his translation of Arrian's ''Periplus'', notes that the towers of Dioscurias have been found beneath the surface of the Black Sea, and speculates that the encroaching sea forced the inhabitants to relocate to Sebastopolis. In the early Middle Ages, the city was known as Tskhum(i) (means the Hornbeam tree in Georgian) and functioned as a stronghold of the princedom of Apsilae, and later of the Abkhazian Kingdom which was united, through dynastic union, with the Georgian kingdom in the early 11th century. Following the collapse of this monarchy in the late 15th century, Sukhumi turned to a chief city-fortress of the Abkhazian principality. It was then the Turkish fortress of Suhum-Kale until 1810 , when the Imperial Russia n army took control of the city and the whole region. Sukhumi was the center of the war between Georgia and Abkhazia in the early 1990s . The conflict damaged much of the city, with several important buildings, such as the National Archives, being accidentally destroyed by the fire. During the Abkhaz siege of Sukhumi (1992-1993), the city and its environs suffered almost daily air attacks and artillery shellings, with heavy civilian casualties [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Georgia2.htm . Although much of the city has been rebuilt, the city is still suffering the after-effects of the war, and it has not regained its earlier ethnic diversity. MONUMENTS Probably the most popular tourist attraction in Sukhumi is the Beslet arcaded bridge of the 12th century with the Georgian inscriptions. There are also visible vestiges of the Roman walls, the 11th-century castle of king Bagrat, several towers of the Great Abkhazian Wall, the 14th-century Genoese fort, and the 18th-century Ottoman fortress. The neighbourhood of Sukhumi is rich in antique monuments. The most important is the Kaman Church (12 km from Sukhumi), erected over the tomb of Saint . Northward in the mountains is the Voronya Cave , the deepest in the world. |
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