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When I first saw pictures of the beautiful old buildings in the region of Abkhazia in 2014, I was immediately enchanted. The architecture design and the beautiful nature surrounding the ancient ruins were an aesthetic dream for me.
At that time, I did not know what my visit in 2019 would trigger in me.
After my entry over the Enguri river, it was easy to see that the wounds of the war were still wide agape. Beautiful houses were everywhere and their remains were slowly recaptured by nature.
Although I already know such scenarios from my visits to Croatia and Bosnia, it is still moving, as each abandoned building changed human history forever.
But like all my travels, I wanted to maintain my objectivity and enjoy my time here as I have done in Georgia before.
The Abkhazians were very hospitable people even though we were very often seen suspiciously. Anyway, I was either taking pictures or eating.
The feeling in the amazing buildings and abandoned places was often very difficult for me to classify. On the one hand, my passion is the decay and the architecture, and many of the places were very impressive. On the other hand, it made me sad because this region is a real pearl, whose gloss fades.
The more it is important to me to record all this in this project because even if the shine fades, a beautiful woman remains a beautiful woman.
As a stranger like me who does not know all the exact historical background of the conflict, it is even harder for me to really understand everything after my visit. I have heard many opinions and experienced a high level of hospitality and friendliness on both sides.
I really hope that both sides will find a good solution for both sides one day. Although you can build a physical boundary, each one can open the boundaries in the hearts.
In any case, my trip has ensured that the Georgians and Abkhazians have a big place in my heart. I hope that my pictures, even if the motives show destruction, will take the viewer on a journey through a good past.
What has happened can no longer be changed, only the way to the future is what counts. And how we shape it is up to us.
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#1
Delay Ii
An incredibly beautiful old train station in the mountain region.
Final score:
115points
Maria Ivanilova 6 years ago
This is Tsar era, not sovet. This was build before the revolution and closed and abandoned in the sovet period.
RELATED:
#2
The Storm Is Over
View from a balcony of an abandoned sanatorium.
Final score:
101points
#3
The Black Sea Dreams
The jaw-dropping view from the huge balcony of a former sanatorium.
Final score:
100points
#4
Administration
The area was once famous for its excellent tea. Now the factories are abandoned. This is the administration building of one of them.
Final score:
76points
Daniela-Iulia Balaciu 6 years ago
might look like an town-hall building. they were a very healthy nation, but with a grandoar embedded in their blood
#5
Delay I
One of many beautiful abandoned train stations in Abkhazia.
Final score:
75points
#6
The Choice
The impressive staircase of an abandoned house of culture which was built for the train workers of the town.
Final score:
72points
#7
Palms And Ruins
An abandoned pulmonary sanatorium which was built by a landlord for his wife. It has 365 rooms. One for every day.
Final score:
65points
#8
Royal
This old sanatorium was really built with attention to detail.
Final score:
63points
sharron lynn parsons 6 years ago
it is said, to restore is not worth the cost, therefore most incredible buildings are destroyed, sad !!!
#9
Jungle Palace
A palace in town which was transformed into a small Angor wat now.
Final score:
61points
#10
Intense
The ceiling in the old theater of Gagra shows what beautiful architecture was present in the region.
Final score:
59points
sharron lynn parsons 6 years ago
They loved color and made a lovely difference, as well as the gorgeous ceilings !!!
#11
Delay Iv
Another station in Gagra, which nature is slowly recapturing.
Final score:
58points
#12
Escape
This was the entrance hall of a former sanatorium on a hill near the black sea coast.
Final score:
53points
#13
Delay Iii
The abandoned central station of Sukhumi.
Final score:
53points
#14
Colors Of Decay
I found this room especially beautiful because of its architecture and the colors of the decay.
Final score:
52points
sharron lynn parsons 6 years ago
I especially love arches. doorways, and windows, these days you seldom see any, too many square designs !!!
#15
Pre Chai Latte
An abandoned café with truly unique architecture near the beach promenade.
Final score:
50points
Cheryl Wilcox 6 years ago
I just love the composition of this and of all these photos. Really nice.
#16
Shine On
The huge staircase in the old pulmonary sanatorium of Prince Smetsky (built 1913).
Final score:
49points
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago (edited)
With the world running out of antibiotics, tuberculosis, which was the number one killer up until the 1940s, is once again gaining ground. The BCG vaccine was first used on humans in 1921 in France, but it was not until after World War II that BCG received widespread acceptance. Streptomycin, isolated in 1944, was the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis. To any anti-vaxxers reading this: I would not be writing this unless I had wilfully let doctors poison me. It almost killed me, and that is how come I am still here. Make fewer children, but take proper care of the ones you have!
#17
Shades
The former ministry building is now totally fallen to ruin and full of injection needles and trash.
Final score:
48points
#18
Exile
The plane of former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze at the former airport of Sukhumi.
Final score:
46points
#19
I'm Alone
A former mountain town that used to be populated by miners and their families. After the war, the mines were closed and abandoned. A few isolated people still live there.
Final score:
43points
#20
Hakan
Abandoned Turkish freighter in an Abkhazian harbor.
Final score:
41points
#21
Brutalism
The huge abandoned Hotel of a former sports complex.
Final score:
38points
Mermaid Elle-Jaye 3 years ago (edited)
In Soviet architecture concrete is delicate beauty ~ strong like ox & grey: remind you not to be rainbow
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#22
War Remains
A depressing scene in an abandoned mining town.
Final score:
35points
#23
Free Seats
Another house of culture which has fallen into a ruin.
Final score:
33points
BasedWang 3 years ago
I dunno why but this looks like it could be called like "War in theatre" I know someone could come up with a better name, but the way the wall in the back is damaged, making it look somewhat outta focus looks screenish to me. As if you were sitting in this hall and the projection screen just decayed before your eyes and burned from the middle to the outside. As a metaphor for all the s**t that is just crashing and burning in the world right now.
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What do you think ?
Maria Ivanilova 6 years ago
Only 7 pictures are from soviet union. The rest are building build in 18 to early 20 century, before the revolution. The sovet building are the ones looking like square boxes in this collection.
Kenny Kulbiski 6 years ago
Thanks. I wondered about that. Some of them were to beautiful to have been built by a committee.
Load More Replies...
Chris Watson 6 years ago
Lovely selection. Such a waste however of so much effort to build, only to abandon.
Stannous Flouride 3 years ago
It would have been helpful to let us know where this is in the first paragraph instead of as an aside about Georgia in the 6th one. I am no slouch when it comes to geography but I had to look it up: Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a de facto state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which views the region as an autonomous republic. It lies on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, south of the Greater Caucasus mountains in northwestern Georgia.
Auntriarch 3 years ago
Ah, thank you Stannous. I will confess I first read it as Azkhaban
Load More Replies...
Katinka Min 6 years ago
Heartbreaking. So much beauty, so much craftsmanship and now it's all falling apart.
Joshua Russell 3 years ago
Architects should visit these to copy the designs so they can be recreated with modern internals. Present day orchestras play old music, these buildings should live again.
sharron lynn parsons 6 years ago
Interesting, sad to see the remnants whatever the cause, I admire the author, and his dedication !!!
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
Lovely photos. I always get the feeling that crumbling old buildings are a lot like old, dignified people. The stories they could tell! Here is another photographer of the same vein: https://www.jameskerwin.uk/photography-adventure-blog/tag/abkhazia
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
It's sad that we don't get buildings like that anymore. Today, its all cookie cutter boredom at best and an offense to the eyes and good mood at worst.
Lovin' Life 3 years ago
Beautiful photos , yet saddening. So many beautiful places built and left abandoned.
Beatrice Multhaupt 3 years ago
So is everything in Abkhazia broken? Sounds like a perfect anti-tourism ad.
AP 6 years ago
How sad progress is. We abandon places of such beauty for structures of stone and glass that are the same as every other structure. All straight lines and featureless....
ZAPanda 3 years ago
is it progress or is it poverty due to falling out of the soviet union's funding tranche?
Load More Replies...
ZAPanda 3 years ago
Tinfien, this is b******t and we are reporting you. Also, hamba usathane ngiyethemba uzokunika abantwana.
Load More Replies... Maria Ivanilova 6 years ago
Only 7 pictures are from soviet union. The rest are building build in 18 to early 20 century, before the revolution. The sovet building are the ones looking like square boxes in this collection.
Kenny Kulbiski 6 years ago
Thanks. I wondered about that. Some of them were to beautiful to have been built by a committee.
Load More Replies... Chris Watson 6 years ago
Lovely selection. Such a waste however of so much effort to build, only to abandon.
Stannous Flouride 3 years ago
It would have been helpful to let us know where this is in the first paragraph instead of as an aside about Georgia in the 6th one. I am no slouch when it comes to geography but I had to look it up: Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a de facto state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which views the region as an autonomous republic. It lies on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, south of the Greater Caucasus mountains in northwestern Georgia.
Auntriarch 3 years ago
Ah, thank you Stannous. I will confess I first read it as Azkhaban
Load More Replies... Katinka Min 6 years ago
Heartbreaking. So much beauty, so much craftsmanship and now it's all falling apart.
Joshua Russell 3 years ago
Architects should visit these to copy the designs so they can be recreated with modern internals. Present day orchestras play old music, these buildings should live again.
sharron lynn parsons 6 years ago
Interesting, sad to see the remnants whatever the cause, I admire the author, and his dedication !!!
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
Lovely photos. I always get the feeling that crumbling old buildings are a lot like old, dignified people. The stories they could tell! Here is another photographer of the same vein: https://www.jameskerwin.uk/photography-adventure-blog/tag/abkhazia
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
It's sad that we don't get buildings like that anymore. Today, its all cookie cutter boredom at best and an offense to the eyes and good mood at worst.
Lovin' Life 3 years ago
Beautiful photos , yet saddening. So many beautiful places built and left abandoned.
Beatrice Multhaupt 3 years ago
So is everything in Abkhazia broken? Sounds like a perfect anti-tourism ad.
AP 6 years ago
How sad progress is. We abandon places of such beauty for structures of stone and glass that are the same as every other structure. All straight lines and featureless....
ZAPanda 3 years ago
is it progress or is it poverty due to falling out of the soviet union's funding tranche?
Load More Replies... ZAPanda 3 years ago
Tinfien, this is b******t and we are reporting you. Also, hamba usathane ngiyethemba uzokunika abantwana.
Load More Replies...
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