Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

and the capital of the

Autonomous Republic of Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...

, located on the coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. Much of Batumi's economy revolves around tourism and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

(it is nicknamed "The Las Vegas of the Black Sea"), but the city is also an important seaport and includes industries like

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roo ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

and

light manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...

. Since 2010, Batumi has been transformed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings, as well as the restoration of classical 19th-century edifices lining its historic Old Town.

History

Early history

Batumi is located on the site of the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

colony in

Colchis In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...

called "''Bathus"'' or "''Bathys"'', derived from ( grc-gre, βαθύς λιμεν, ; or , ; lit. the 'deep harbour'). Under

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman '' municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispan ...

(), it was converted into a fortified

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

port and later deserted for the fortress of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

founded in the time of

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

(). Garrisoned by the Roman-

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

forces, it was formally a possession of the kingdom of

Lazica Lazica ( ka, ეგრისი, ; lzz, ლაზიკა, ; grc-gre, Λαζική, ; fa, لازستان, ; hy, Եգեր, ) was the Latin name given to the territory of Colchis during the Roman/Byzantine period, from about the 1st centur ...

until being occupied briefly by the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, who did not hold it; In 780 Lazica fell to

kingdom of Abkhazia The Kingdom of Abkhazia ( ka, აფხაზთა სამეფო, tr; lit. "Kingdom of the Abkhazians"), also known as Abasgia or Egrisi-Abkhazia, was a medieval feudal state in the Caucasus which was established in the 780s. Through dyna ...

via a dynastic union, the later led the

unification of the Georgian monarchy The unification of the Georgian realm ( ka, ქართული სახელმწიფოს გაერთიანება, tr) was the 10th-century political movement that resulted in the consolidation of various Georgian Crowns into ...

in the 11th century. From 1010, it was governed by the (, viceroy) of the king of Georgia. In the late 15th century, after the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom, Batumi passed to the princes (, ) of

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region ('' mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital. Geograph ...

, a western Georgian principality under the sovereignty of the

kings of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Im ...

A curious incident occurred in 1444 when a

Burgundian Burgundian can refer to any of the following: *Someone or something from Burgundy. *Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (F ...

flotilla, after a failed crusade against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, penetrated the Black Sea and engaged in piracy along its eastern coastline until the Burgundians under the knight Geoffroy de Thoisy were ambushed while landing to raid Vaty, as Europeans then knew Batumi. De Thoisy was taken captive and released through the mediation of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...

John IV of Trebizond.

Ottoman rule

In the 15th century in the reign of the prince Kakhaber Gurieli, the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

conquered the town and its district but did not hold them. They returned to it in force a century later and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Georgian armies at Sokhoista. Batumi was recaptured by the Georgians several times, first in 1564 by prince

Rostom Gurieli Rostom Gurieli ( ka, როსტომ გურიელი; died 1564), of the House of Gurieli, was Prince of Guria from 1534 until his death in 1564. Alongside his royal suzerain, Bagrat III of Imereti, Rostom fought against the expanding Ottom ...

, who lost it soon afterwards, and again in 1609 by

Mamia II Gurieli Mamia II Gurieli (-1625/ 1627) is a 17th-century Georgian prince that ruled over the Principality of Guria in Western Georgia. Son of Prince George II, he succeeded his father in 1600 after spending a decade as head of Gurian troops. As Prince, ...

. In 1703, Batumi again became part of the Ottoman Empire. In the one-and-a-half century of Ottoman rule it grew into a provincial port serving the Empire's hinterlands on the eastern fringes of the Black Sea. After the Turkish conquest

Islamisation Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...

of the hitherto Christian region began but this was terminated and to a great degree reversed, after the area was re-annexed to Russian Imperial Georgia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.

Imperial Russian rule

It was the last Black Sea port annexed by Russia during the Russian conquest of that area of the Caucasus. In 1878, Batumi was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

in accordance with the

Treaty of San Stefano The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano (russian: Сан-Стефанский мир; Peace of San-Stefano, ; Peace treaty of San-Stefano, or ) was a treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-18 ...

between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (ratified on 23 March). Occupied by the Russians on 28 August 1878, the town was declared a

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...

until 1886. It functioned as the center of a special military district until being incorporated in the

Kutaisi Governorate The Kutaisi or Kutais Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of western Georgia throughout most of its existence, and most of the Artvin Province (except th ...

on 12 June 1883. Finally, on 1 June 1903, with the Artvin Okrug, the

Batum Okrug The Batumi okrug was a district ('' okrug'') of the Batum Oblast of the Russian Empire existing between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Batum (present-day Batumi), now part of Adjara w ...

was established as the

Batum Oblast Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's ...

and placed under the direct administration of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. The expansion of Batumi began with the construction of the Batumi–

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

– Baku

Transcaucasus Railway The Transcaucus Railway (russian: Закавка́зская желе́зная доро́га) was the first railway in South Caucasus.Большая Советская Энциклопедия. Гл. ред. Б. А. Введенский, 2-е � ...

(completed in 1883), and the Baku–Batumi pipeline which opened in 1907. Henceforth, Batumi became the chief Russian oil port in the Black Sea. The population increased rapidly doubling within 20 years: from 8,671 inhabitants in 1882 to 12,000 in 1889. By 1902 the population had reached 16,000, with 1,000 working in the refinery for

Baron Rothschild Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish mem ...

's Caspian and Black Sea Oil Company. In the late 1880s and after, more than 7,400

Doukhobor The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia a ...

emigrants sailed for Canada from Batumi, after the government agreed to let them emigrate. Quakers and Tolstoyans aided in collecting funds for the relocation of the religious minority, which had come into conflict with the Imperial government over its refusal to serve in the military and other positions. Canada settled them in

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

Russian Civil War, Soviet Union, and 1991 independence

During 1901, sixteen years prior to the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

, the future leader of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, lived in the city organizing strikes. On 3 March 1918, the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

gave the city back to the Ottoman Empire, confirmed in the

Treaty of Batum The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batum on 4 June 1918, between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It was the first ...

of June 1918 between the Ottoman Empire and the new

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to ...

. As result of the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the British took control over Batumi from December 1918, who stayed until July 1920 when the city and province was transferred to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which gave Adjara autonomy. In 1921

Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to: ;People * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental ...

ceded the northern part of Adjara, including Batumi, to the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s who reconquered the

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

republics, on the condition that it be granted autonomy for the sake of the Muslims among Batumi's mixed population. When Georgia regained its independence from the

in 1991,

Aslan Abashidze Aslan Abashidze ( ka, ასლან აბაშიძე; born July 20, 1938) is the former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia. He served in this capacity from 18 August 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pres ...

was appointed head of Adjara's governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. While

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which v ...

and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated popula ...

areas attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Adjara remained an integral part of the republic. Instead, Abashidze turned Adjara into his personal fiefdom. In May 2004, he fled to Russia after mass protests in Batumi, which concluded the

2004 Adjara crisis The Adjara crisis was a political crisis in Georgia's Adjaran Autonomous Republic, then led by Aslan Abashidze, who refused to obey the central authorities after President Eduard Shevardnadze's ouster during the Rose Revolution of November 2003 ...

Post-1991

Batumi today is one of the main port cities of Georgia. It has the capacity for 80,000-ton tankers to take materials such as oil that are shipped through Georgia from Central Asia. Additionally, the city exports regional agricultural products. Since 1995 the freight conversion of the port has constantly risen, with an approximate 8 million tons in 2001. The annual revenue from the port is estimated at between $200 million and $300 million. Changing skyline of Batumi, Georgia

Since the change of power in Adjara, Batumi has attracted international investors, and the prices of real estate in the city have trebled since 2001. In July 2007, the seat of the Constitutional Court of Georgia was moved from Tbilisi to Batumi to stimulate regional development. Several new hotels opened after 2009, first the Sheraton in 2010 and the

Radisson Blu Radisson Blu is an international chain of hotels operated by Radisson Hotels. With roots dating back to the 1960s, the Radisson Blu brand name came into existence in 2009 with a rebranding from Radisson SAS. Its hotels are found in major cities, ...

in 2011. The city features several casinos that attract tourists from Turkey, where gambling is illegal. Batumi was host to the Russian 12th Military Base. Following the

Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...

, the central government pushed for the removal of these forces and reached an agreement in 2005 with Moscow. According to the agreement, the process of withdrawal was planned to be completed in 2008, but the Russians completed the transfer of the Batumi base to Georgia on 13 November 2007, ahead of schedule.

Geography

Climate

Batumi has a humid subtropical climate (''Cfa'') according to Köppen's classification. The city's climate is heavily influenced by the onshore flow from the Black Sea and is subject to the orographic effect of the nearby hills and mountains, resulting in significant rainfall throughout most of the year, making Batumi the wettest city in both

and the entire

Region. The average annual temperature in Batumi is approximately . January is the coldest month with an average temperature of . August is the hottest month, with an average temperature of . The absolute minimum recorded temperature is , and the absolute maximum is . The number of days with daily temperatures above is 239. The city receives 1958 hours of sunshine per year. Batumi's average annual precipitation is . November is the wettest month with an average of of precipitation, while May is the driest, averaging . Batumi generally does not receive significant amounts of snow (accumulating snowfall of more than ), and the number of days with snow cover for the year is 12. The average level of relative humidity ranges from 70 to 80%.

Subdivisions

According to the March 31, 2008, decision of the Batumi City Council, Batumi is divided into seven boroughs, those of: *Old Batumi (ძველი ბათუმის უბანი) *Rustaveli (რუსთაველის უბანი) *Khimshiashvili (ხიმშიაშვილის უბანი) *Bagrationi (ბაგრატიონის უბანი) *Aghmashenebeli (აღმაშენებლის უბანი) *Javakhishvili (ჯავახიშვილის უბანი) *Tamar (თამარის უბანი) *Boni-Gorodok (ბონი-გოროდოკის უბანი) *Airport (აეროპორტის უბანი) *Gonio-Kvariati (გონიო-კვარიათის უბანი) *Kakhaberi (კახაბრის უბანი) *Batumi Industrial (ბათუმის სამრეწველო უბანი) *Green Cape (მწვანე კონცხის უბანი)

Cityscape

Contemporary architecture

Batumi's skyline has been transformed since 2007 with remarkable buildings and monuments of contemporary architecture, including: *Radisson Blu hotel *Public Service Hall *Hilton Batumi *Leogrand A large

Kempinski Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the ''Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft'', the group currently operates 78 five-star ho ...

hotel and casino is to open in 2013, a

Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

as well as a 47-storey Trump Tower is also planned.

Novelty architecture

Novelty architecture Novelty architecture, also called programmatic architecture or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings w ...

in Batumi includes: *

Sheraton Hotel Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Ce ...

, designed in the style of the Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt *

Alphabetic Tower The Alphabetic Tower ( ka, ანბანის კოშკი, tr) is a 130-meter-high structure in Batumi, Georgia. The tower symbolizes the uniqueness of the Georgian alphabet and people. The structure combines the design of DNA, in its fami ...

( high), celebrating Georgian script and writing *

Batumi Piazza The Batumi Piazza is an Italian-style open public area in the city of Batumi, Georgia. Various significant buildings surround the piazza which has open air cafes, hotels, and shopping. The piazza is one of the most visited and popular sights of ...

, a mixed-used development in the form of an Italian piazza *Buildings designed in the style of a lighthouse, the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

, and an upside-down

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

Sites of interest

Main sights

Attractions include *

Adjara State Museum Adjara State Museum ( ka, აჭარის სახელმწიფო მუზეუმი) is a museum in the city of Batumi in Adjara, Georgia. See also * List of museums in Georgia (country) Museums in Georgia listed by the principal s ...

* Aquarium * Batumi Botanical Garden *Circus *Former resort area along the Black Sea coast.

Tourist attractions

1071 - Kaukasus 2014 - Georgien - Batumi (16728246174)

* Batumi Boulevard * The statue of “Man and Woman“ AKA “Ali and Nino” by Georgian artist, Tamara Kvesitadze * Batumi Botanical Gardens * Cafe Fantasy * Dancing Fountains, Batumi * Dolphinarium * Piazza Square * Panoramic Wheel * Astronomical clock * Argo Cable Car * 6 May Park * Europe Square *

* Batumi Sea Port * Miracle Park *

Chacha Clock Tower Chacha Tower ( ka, ჭაჭის კოშკი) is a clock tower located in Batumi, Georgia. It was built in 2012 by the city council with a cost of one million Georgian laris. The tower is high and has four fountains. It is a replica of the ...

(defunct) * Fountain Of Neptun * Batumi Archeological Museum * Monument Of Ilia Chavchavadze

Demographics

Religion

Although there is no religious data available separately for Batumi, the majority of the region's inhabitants are

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

, and primarily adhere to the national

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

.National Statistics Office of Georgia
Population Census 2014: Population by Regions and Religion
, Retrieved: 6 May 2016 There are also Sunni Muslim,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Armenian Apostolic , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

, Jehovah's Witness, and Jewish communities. The main places of worship in the city are: *

Georgian Orthodox The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

Cathedral of the Mother of God, and

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in ...

Church *

Church of the Holy Spirit *Saint Nicholas Church * Batumi Mosque *

Batumi Synagogue The Batumi Synagogue ( ka, ბათუმის სინაგოგა, ''batumis sinagoga'') is a synagogue in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georg ...

Culture

Batumi has 18 various museums, including

State Art Museum of Adjara State Art Museum of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ხელოვნების სახელმწიფო მუზეუმი) is a museum in the city of Batumi in Adjara, Georgia. Museum collection The museum houses paintings of nat ...

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

club

Batumi RC Batumi RC is a Georgian semi-professional rugby club from Batumi, who plays in the Didi 10, the first division of Georgian rugby and from the 2022 season they will have a professional team in the Rugby Europe Super Cup The Rugby Europe Super ...

competes in the Pan-european Rugby Europe Super Cup and the Georgian

Didi 10 The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a semi-professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia (country), Georgia. It is the top tier of rugby competitions in the country. Current Table 2018–19 Didi 10 season: List of Champions Teams ...

. Football club

FC Dinamo Batumi FC Dinamo Batumi is a Georgian football club based in Batumi, Adjara, and current vice-champion of Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football system. The club has won the league (2021), the Georgian Cup ( 1997-98) and Super Cup (1997 ...

play at the

Batumi stadium The Adjarabet Arena ( ka, ბათუმის სტადიონი, ''batumis st’adioni'') known as Batumi Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Batumi, Georgia, which was completed in July 2020. The main tenant of the ...

Notable people

Notable people who are from or have resided in Batumi: *

Irakli Alasania Irakli Alasania ( ka, ირაკლი ალასანია) (born 21 December 1973) is a Georgian politician, soldier and former diplomat who served as the Minister of Defense of Georgia from 2012 to 2014. He was Georgia's Ambassador to t ...

(*1973), Georgian politician,

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...

Herbert Backe Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe (1 May 1896 – 6 April 1947) was a German politician and SS Senior group leader (SS-''Obergruppenführer'') in Nazi Germany who served as State Secretary and Minister in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agricul ...

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word " realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (l ...

Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (Germany), Minister of Food in Nazi Germany * Ioseb Bardanashvili (*1948), composer * Khatia Buniatishvili (*1987), a concert pianist * Odysseas Dimitriadis (1908–2005) Greek-Soviet music conductor * Mary, Princess Eristavi (1888–1986), Georgian princess and model * , (1887–1978), writer * Devi Khajishvili (*1991), a Hollywood actor * Sopho Khalvashi (*1986), first Georgian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 * Mindia Khitarishvili (*1973), composer * Konstantin Meladze (*1963), composer and producer * Valery Meladze (*1965), singer * Katie Melua, singer * Lado Seidishvili (1931–2010), Georgian painter and poet *

(1878–1953), Secretary (title), General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union * Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1925–1991 ; 1933–2012), science fiction authors * William Horwood Stuart (1857–1906), British diplomat who was murdered there in 1906 * Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925), Russian lyrical poet * Fyodor Yurchikhin (*1959), astronaut

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The city is served by Batumi Airport, one of three international airports in the country. A bike-sharing scheme named ''BatumVelo'' allows you to rent a bicycle on the street with a smart card. The main types of public transport are buses, minibusses, and taxis. Batumi has modern electric buses. Using the service is possible by
BATUMICARD
', transit card, or debit/credit cards. Buses connect almost everywhere in the city. The Batumi Sea Port, port of Batumi is on one of the routes of China's proposed Eurasian Land Bridge (part of the "New Silk Road"), which would see an eastern freight link to China via Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea, and a western link by ferry to Ukraine and on to Europe.

Postage stamps

Twin towns – sister cities

Batumi is Sister city, twinned with: * Bari, Italy (1987) * Savannah, Georgia, Savannah, United States (1992) * Trabzon, Turkey (2000) * Vanadzor, Armenia (2006) * Volos, Greece (2007) * Yalta, Ukraine (2008) * Burgas, Bulgaria (2009) * Marbella, Spain (2010) * Kuşadası, Turkey (2010) * Ordu, Turkey (2011) * Ternopil, Ukraine (2011) * Ashdod, Israel (2011) * New Orleans, United States (2012) * Yalova, Turkey (2012) * Nakhchivan (city), Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan (2012) * Daugavpils, Latvia (2012) * Donetsk, Ukraine (2013) * Prague 1, Czech Republic (2013) * Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt (2014) * Ürümqi, China (2015) * Brest, Belarus, Brest, Belarus (2015) * Paphos, Cyprus (2016) * Gmina Nysa, Nysa, Poland (2017) * Mogilev, Belarus (2017) * Netanya, Israel (2018) * Wrocław, Poland (2019) * Constanța, Romania (2020)

References

*''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia.'' Georgian SSR (Supplementary Edition). 1981. pp. 16–18.

External links

Official websiteOfficial Visitor Guide to BatumiOfficial instagram of BatumiBatumi – History, Sights and PersonalitiesBatumi Photo Gallery
*Postcard from the Silk Road – Batumi...(Georgia), TRAVELS – ESPECIALLY FOR „ZNAD WILII”, Leonard Drożdżewicz, „Znad Wilii”, Viešoji įstaiga „Znad Wilii” kultūros plėtros draugija,ISSN 1392-9712 indeks 327956 nr 1 (57) z 2014 r., p. 87–98, (in Polish)http://www.znadwiliiwilno.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Znad-Wilii-57m.pdf

{{Authority control Batumi, Georgian Black Sea coast Cities and towns in Adjara Batum Oblast Kutaisi Governorate Pontus (region) Port cities in Asia Port cities of the Black Sea Greek colonies in Colchis Port cities in Europe Self-governing cities in Georgia (country)