The Abkhaz State Archive (; ) is the main archive of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

, a disputed territory in the

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

and breakaway republic of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is located in

Sukhumi Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the Capital city, capital and largest city of Abkhazia, a partially recognised state that most countries consider a part of Georgia (country), Georgia. The ...

, the capital of Abkhazia.

History

The precursor of the Abkhaz State Archive was established in March 1929, when the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the

Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia The Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia), სსრ აფხაზეთი; ' , ССР Абхазия; ' was a short-lived republic within the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union that covered the territory of Abkhazia, and ex ...

adopted a resolution about the "Organization of archival Affairs". In October 1992, during the

War in Abkhazia War in Abkhazia may refer to: *War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government and paramilitary forces, and a coalition of Abkhaz separatist forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993 ...

, fire destroyed the archive building; on both sides of the conflict many believe that the archive was burned down intentionally by the Georgian forces. About 95% of the archived documents was destroyed. On the Georgian side, many people refute the idea that the archive was deliberately burned down.Patrik Salat: ''How Abkhazia is trying to restore its historic archive which burned down 27 years ago during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict'', jam-news.net 28 January 2020.
/ref> The same day as the Abkhaz State Archive burned down, the Abkhazian Scientific-Research Institute of Language, Literature and History (ABNII, founded in 1922 as the Abkhazian Scientific Society, Абхазское научное общество, АбНО/ABNO) burned down, too. In the course of the

Geneva International Discussions The Geneva International Discussions (GID) are international talks to address the consequences of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. They were launched in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2008 and are co-chaired by the Organization for Security and Co-ope ...

, the Georgian central government provided the de facto authorities of Abkhazia with important archival documents in 2015. Additionally, one year later a meeting of the head of the Abkhaz State Archive with the director of the

National Archives of Georgia , seal= , seal_size = , image = File:National Archives of Georgia Building.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption =National Archives of Georgia , coordinates = , jurisdiction = Ministry of Justice of Georgia , dissolved ...

was planned. 2019/2020 material has been preserved with the help of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

historians from the Czech National Archives.David X. Noack: ''Kriege und Geschichtspolitik – Das Abchasische Staatsarchiv'', portal-militaergeschichte.de 22 June 2020.
/ref>

References

External links

Homepage of the Abkhaz State Archive
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331190342/https://gaura.su/ , date=2022-03-31
National Bibliography of Abkhazia – Archives, library.illinois.edu (without date).

''A history erased – Abkhazia's archive: Fire of War, Ashes of History'', abkhazworld.com (without date).
Photos and a video from the old archive. Sukhumi Government agencies of Abkhazia