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After Photographing Nearly 500 Abandoned Locations, I Came Across Stunning Abkhazia
Georgia had been on my travel bucket list for a couple of years, waiting for a perfect opportunity for me to sit down and do the proper planning. Mind you, it took 3 months before I was able to embark on my urban exploration quest.
When I started preparing for the journey, I had already been photographing abandoned places for nearly four years. Having captured many places to see all over Europe - Poland, Germany, and Portugal among them - I felt an urge to aim for something unique, something that would ignite a spark of adventure back into my traveler's life.
Winter was drawing to a close by the time we had arrived in Georgia. By the time the first five days of the trip were over, we had traveled high and wide across Georgia searching for tourist attractions and historical places, albeit not quite blessed with the gentlest weather. Oftentimes, it would impede our efforts to take shots of the stunning scenery.
The last couple of days were busy with us photographing former Sanatoriums. Some of them, for the past 25 years, had sheltered refugees in Western Georgia who escaped the war in Abkhazia, which, incidentally, came to be our next destination a few days later. Personally, I found the war to be still very much present in people's minds, creating a fragile, somewhat corrupt, and lawless land.
Driving through the small villages to our first photography destination, I was silent. I stared through the window trying to make sense of the surroundings, as the traveling itself was rather surreal. We drove past abandoned buildings that once were grandeur homes, factories, warehouses, and cars mixed in with beautiful rolling mountains and green vegetation.
On a few occasions, I had to remind myself that this journey was about the overall series, a body of work and not just the singular shots - not that Abkhazia had no portfolio shots to offer - yet, in my mind, the historical buildings were meant to complement each other this time around.
And as I stood atop these marvelous landmarks I was constantly reminded of all the history that had happened there, photographing the architecture designs in their prime.
You see, the thing about this land and about this journey, too, was that every turn and corner were a surprise. Abkhazia was raw, and it was also beautiful with its charming residents but most of all - the de-facto state just screamed photogenic.
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A Stunning Former Train Station
A Grand Train Station Wing
A Disused Park Restaurant
A Small Wooden Bridge Near Gagra
A Disused Rail Bridge In The Mountains
An Abandoned Sanatorium/Hotel
An Abandoned Sanatorium/Hotel
Inside The Former Government Building
An Abandoned Theater/Cinema
Beautiful Staircase Inside An Abandoned Hotel
A Park Entrance
Small Decaying Train Station
Former Restaurant On The Coast
Grand Station In The Rain
Black And Red Shell Of A Former Train Station In Sukhumi
don't trust wikipedia in everything, it's Sokhumi, only russians are pronouncing with "u". doesn't really matters that much, just saying. you are doing great job and photos are so beautiful, sad, nostalgic, with soul. thank you.
The Small Villages In The Mountains Left A Lasting Impression
A Lonely Piano Resides In A Former School
The Upstairs Of A Derelict Theater
Former Parliament Building
A Soviet Bus Stop Is Passed By A Soviet Car
An Electric Sub Station Lacking A Roof
It's not lacking a roof, the roof just happens to be on the floor.
Out of curiosity, it would be interesting if these had some time-related context. How long have they been abandoned? A few years... several decades?
Its actually illegal, land is under control of russia and lead by separatist government. No contract is legal with illegal, unrecognized officials. So only only russians are buying property there.
Load More Replies...Before the Cold War and before the CCCP Georgia was a very rich country with a 2500 year history. The people of Georgia first settled there at the same time Alexander the Great was touring Persia (Iran).
Tank you for this much positive words, for being interested in our country. Actually it was much earlier, that time we already had two big Georgian states, and its time when Colchis (one of the oldest Georgian state known from Argonauts for most of people) was part of bigger and stronger state Lazika next to eastern state named Iberia. So we are here for surprisingly long time actually :)
Load More Replies...Well, not really surprising - the whole place was the theatre of a rather nasty war, with lots of genocide and ethnic cleansing. And while the war theoretically ended in 2008, Abkhazia was then under a sea blockade by Georgia for a while which didn't do wonders for it's economy. Add to that political turmoil, endemic corruption and the looming threat of yet another conflict with Georgia and you'll see why nobody has the money or will to restore these buildings.
This was very interesting and I bet was exciting for James. Thank you for sharing. First thought that came to mind is I see this type of abandonment all the time here in the states too. All one has to do is go to where the money is no more.
No thank you for taking the time to read Michael.
Load More Replies...1. Everything pictured in the photo was built by USSR. 2. 30 years ago the russian left Abkhazia. 3. The result is visible))
No Sergey you are totally wrong! 25 years ago russians occupied part of Georgia and left 300,000 Georgians homeless. Genocide and ethnical cleaning is what russians did.
Load More Replies...Really cool. I agree - wish there was some time frame information. Also, the best part of all of this decaying beauty - not a single mark of graffitti.
I am sorry to report that I took graffiti out of some of the shots, especially the theatre.
Load More Replies...Out of curiosity, it would be interesting if these had some time-related context. How long have they been abandoned? A few years... several decades?
Its actually illegal, land is under control of russia and lead by separatist government. No contract is legal with illegal, unrecognized officials. So only only russians are buying property there.
Load More Replies...Before the Cold War and before the CCCP Georgia was a very rich country with a 2500 year history. The people of Georgia first settled there at the same time Alexander the Great was touring Persia (Iran).
Tank you for this much positive words, for being interested in our country. Actually it was much earlier, that time we already had two big Georgian states, and its time when Colchis (one of the oldest Georgian state known from Argonauts for most of people) was part of bigger and stronger state Lazika next to eastern state named Iberia. So we are here for surprisingly long time actually :)
Load More Replies...Well, not really surprising - the whole place was the theatre of a rather nasty war, with lots of genocide and ethnic cleansing. And while the war theoretically ended in 2008, Abkhazia was then under a sea blockade by Georgia for a while which didn't do wonders for it's economy. Add to that political turmoil, endemic corruption and the looming threat of yet another conflict with Georgia and you'll see why nobody has the money or will to restore these buildings.
This was very interesting and I bet was exciting for James. Thank you for sharing. First thought that came to mind is I see this type of abandonment all the time here in the states too. All one has to do is go to where the money is no more.
No thank you for taking the time to read Michael.
Load More Replies...1. Everything pictured in the photo was built by USSR. 2. 30 years ago the russian left Abkhazia. 3. The result is visible))
No Sergey you are totally wrong! 25 years ago russians occupied part of Georgia and left 300,000 Georgians homeless. Genocide and ethnical cleaning is what russians did.
Load More Replies...Really cool. I agree - wish there was some time frame information. Also, the best part of all of this decaying beauty - not a single mark of graffitti.
I am sorry to report that I took graffiti out of some of the shots, especially the theatre.
Load More Replies...