Gagra ( ka, გაგრა;

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and ) is a town in

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 ...

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 ...

, sprawling for 5 km on the northeast coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

, at the foot of the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

. Its subtropical climate made Gagra a popular health

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

in Imperial Russian and Soviet times. It had a population of 26,636 in 1989, but this has declined considerably as a result of

ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia The ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia, also known in Georgia as the genocide of Georgians in Abkhazia ( ka, ქართველთა გენოციდი აფხაზეთში, tr), was the ethnic cleansing, massacres, and fo ...

and other demographic shifts during and after the

War in Abkhazia (1992–93) War in Abkhazia may refer to: * War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) * War in Abkhazia (1998) {{disambig ...

. Gagra is the center of the district of the same name. It is located in the western part of the region of Abkhazia, and the Psou River serves as the border with the

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

of Russia.

Etymology

According to a number of Georgian scholars, ''Gagra'' is derived from ''Gakra'' meaning "walnut" in the

Svan language Svan ( ''lušnu nin''; ka, სვანური ენა, tr) is a Kartvelian languages, Kartvelian language spoken in the western Georgia (country), Georgian region of Svaneti primarily by the Svans, Svan people. With its speakers variously ...

, while ''Gakari/Kakari'' means "a place with walnut trees", which is in accordance to toponym used in old maps. The name of the city is claimed by Z. Danelia to originate from the Gagaa family, who, according to Danelia, once lived there. However, the historicity of the Gagaa family and its connection to the city is disputed due to lack of evidence. According to V. Kvarchia, the name ''Gagra'' is derived from a combination of two Abkhaz words: ''a-ga'' ("coast") and ''a-kra'' ("to close"), that is, "a place where the shore is closed". According to Z. Anchabadze, etymology of the city is derived from "Gagrifshi." The term "Gak" or "Kak" is considered a personal name, while the affix "-ri" denotes possession. Additionally, the affix "-fsh-" is interpreted as indicating "the importance of the place."

History

The town was established as a

Greek colony Greek colonisation refers to the expansion of Archaic Greeks, particularly during the 8th–6th centuries BC, across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The Archaic expansion differed from the Iron Age migrations of the Greek Dark Ages ...

in the kingdom of

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

, called Triglite (), inhabited by Greeks and Colchians. Colchis came under the control of the

kingdom of Pontus Pontus ( ) was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus in modern-day Turkey, and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin, which may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty. ...

in the 1st century BC before being absorbed by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, which renamed the town as ''Nitica''. Its geographical position led the Romans to fortify the town, which was repeatedly attacked by

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

and other invaders. The town and the whole region of

remained part of

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. It became a major trading settlement in which Genoese and Venetian merchants were prominent, trading in the town's main exports – wood, honey, wax and slaves. The name "Gagra" appeared for the first time on a map in 1308, on a map of the Caucasus made by the Italian Pietro Visconti, which is now in the Library of Saint Mark in Venice.

Gagra within the Russian Empire

In the 16th century, Gagra and the rest of western Georgia were conquered by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The western merchants were expelled and the town entered a prolonged period of decline, with much of the local population fleeing into the mountains. By the 18th century, the town had been reduced to little more than a village surrounded by forests and disease-ridden swamps. Its fortunes were restored in the 19th century when the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

expanded into the region, annexing the whole of Georgia. The swamps were drained and the town was rebuilt around a new military hospital. Its population, however, was still small; in 1866, a census recorded that 336 men and 280 women, mostly local families or army officers and their dependents, lived in Gagra. The town suffered badly in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878, when Turkish troops invaded, destroyed the town and expelled the local population. Russia won the war, however, and rebuilt Gagra again. Gagry

In 1904 the town was discovered by

Duke Alexander of Oldenburg Duke Alexander Frederick Constantin of Oldenburg (; , Alexander Petrovich Oldenburgsky; – 6 September 1932) was the second son of Duke Peter of Oldenburg and Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg. Though he had a German title and ancestry, Alexan ...

, a member of the Russian royalty. He saw the potential of the region's sub-tropical climate and decided to build a high-class resort there. Having raised a large sum of money from the government, he built a palace there for himself and constructed a number of other buildings in an eclectic variety of architectural styles from around Europe. A park was laid out with tropical trees, and parrots and monkeys were imported to give it an exotic feel. Despite the expensive work, the resort was not initially a success, although it did later attract a growing number of foreign tourists visiting on cruises of the Black Sea. Following the founding of the resort, the area was ceded from Sukhum Okrug to

Black Sea Governorate The Black Sea Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, established in 1896 on the territory of the of the Kuban Oblast. The administrative center of the governorate w ...

in 1904.

Gagra under the Soviet Union

In the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, a local uprising produced a revolutionary government in the town, which founded a short-lived Republic of Gagra. This was soon defeated and the revolutionaries were arrested ''en masse''. The First World War a few years later was a disaster for Gagra, destroying the tourist trade on which it depended. The

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

shortly afterwards saw the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

take over the town; despite a brief French attempt to repel them during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, the town was firmly incorporated into the new Soviet Union within

n SSR. Bolshevik leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

issued a decree in 1919 establishing a "worker's resort" in Gagra, nationalising the resort that had been built by Oldenburg. It became a popular holiday resort for Soviet citizens and during World War II gained a new role as a site for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. After the war, various state-run

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

s were built there. The resort grew and was developed intensively as part of the " Soviet Riviera". A 1985 musical film '' Winter Evening in Gagra'' further popularized the resort.

Gagra in post-soviet Abkhazia

In the late 1980s, tensions grew between the Georgian and Abkhazian communities in the region. An all-out war erupted between 1992 and 1993 which ended in a defeat of the Georgian government's forces. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians were expelled from their homes in Abkhazia and thousands were massacred in an outbreak of mass

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

.Human Rights Watch Arms Project.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. March 1995 Vol. 7, No. 7
Georgia/Abkhazia: Violations of the Laws of War and Russia's Role in the Conflict
/ref> Gagra and the Abkhazian capital

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 ...

were at the centre of the fighting and suffered heavy damage. To this date ethnic Georgians have an IDP status and have not been able to return to their homes.

Monuments

The main sights of Gagra are: *Ruins of the Abaata Fortress (4th–5th AD) *A 6th-century Church of Gagra *Marlinsky defensive tower (1841) *19th-century palace of the Prince of Oldenburg

Gallery

File:Untitled - panoramio - Karim Jamal (21).jpg, House of Culture in Gagra File:Красотища - panoramio (3).jpg, Coastline of Gagra File:Гагра. Ресторан Гагрипш. - panoramio.jpg, Gagra Restaurant "Gagripsh" File:Nikanor Chernetsov. Gagra Fortress.jpg, ''Gagra Fortress (1879)'' painting by

Nikanor Chernetsov Nikanor Grigoryevich Chernetsov (Russian: Никанор Григорьевич Чернецов: 21 June 1805, Lukh ''–'' 11 January 1879, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian landscape painter. His elder brother Grigory Chernetsov was also a pain ...

File:Anacopia church.jpg, An early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the Protection of the Virgin File:Черное море Абхазия.jpg, View on the Black sea in Old Gagra File:2014 Gagra, Plaża (17).jpg, Beach in Gagra File:Gagra train tunnel.jpg, Gagra train tunnel File:Hammond Slides Russia 35.jpg, View from an aircraft in 1958. North side of Gagra, with the Abaata station and Zhoekvar river valley in the center. The city of Gagra itself is to the right. File:600 м над уровнем моря - panoramio.jpg, Apartment buildings of New Gagra File:Gagra300.jpg, New Gagra aerial view File:Gagra - panoramio.jpg, New Gagra in wintertime File:Kumaal16.jpg, Streets in Gagra File:- panoramio - Николай Семёнов (64).jpg, Avenue in Gagra File:Площадь им. Гагарина - panoramio.jpg, Nartaa square, Gagra File:Гагры Колонада.jpg, Colonnade in Primorsky Park File:A tribute to Romantism.jpg, Winter Theater File:Гагра. Замок принца Ольденбургского - panoramio.jpg, 19th-century palace of the Prince of Oldenburg (at restoration) File:Gagrypsh.jpg, View from the Black Sea on Gagra File:Gagra Station.JPG, The building of the Gagra railway station File:Monument in Gagra (1).jpg, Monument to the dead in

the Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a theatre of World War II fought between the European Axis powers and Al ...

Notes

References

External links

*
webcamera in Gagra
{{Authority control Populated places in Gagra District Populated coastal places in Georgia (country) Greek colonies in Colchis Georgian Black Sea coast