Akarmara (village)

Akarmara was founded in 1938 as an urban-type settlement , in which mainly miners who worked in the coal deposits of the Tkvarcheli district of the Georgian SSR lived. In 1942, Akarmara was administratively merged with the city of Tkvarcheli .

During the war in Abkhazia, most of the local residents left the village of Akarmara.

After the collapse of the USSR, military operations began in Abkhazia , lasting from 1992 to 1993. The Georgian-Abkhaz conflict arose as a result of the refusal to submit to the Georgian authorities. The siege of Akarmara lasted 413 days, artillery bombarded the city.

As a result of the blockade, the local population was starving, there were epidemics, and there were many dead among local residents. Many of those who fled from the war have not returned to their former habitat.

During the war, almost all industrial infrastructure was destroyed, many structures were destroyed by shelling, and roads were damaged by bombs.

Over time, dilapidated houses in the village were overgrown with subtropical vegetation.

Also, not far from Akarmara, there are other ghost towns : Dzhantuha , Polyana and others. ^[3]

At the end of the 1980s, the population of the village was 5 thousand people, mainly miners and their families. The well-being of the village, like many others, was disrupted by the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. The population, fleeing hostilities, was forced to leave Akarmara and settle in safer places. A significant part of the refugees did not return to the dilapidated village after the war.

As a result, at the moment, the population of the village is elderly people or those people who simply can not go anywhere.

Before the war of 1992-1993, Akarmara was a significant industrial village in Abkhazia. The industry was mainly focused on coal mining . In Akarmara there were radon baths that used mineral water from the sources of Tkvarcheli mineral water, located on the banks of the Galidzgi River, in the village of Soukwari , between the settlements of Akarmara and Kvezani . In Soviet times, the sources were landscaped, a sanatorium for 400 people worked. After the war, this sanatorium fell into decay, the roof collapsed and everything was overgrown with plants.

The now abandoned Akarmara was built after the Second World War by German prisoners - architects, builders, etc., hence the atypical "imperial" beauty and the accuracy of its buildings, it turned out that a completely new industrial city designed for coal mining and processing , was unlike the traditional mining cities of the Soviet Union. The houses in the new city were built in the Western European architectural style, close to the German builders, and became completely unique for this area. Akarmara was considered one of the elite areas of nearby Tkuarchal , and the lines for apartments here were several years long. During the hostilities, almost the entire industrial infrastructure was destroyed, many houses were destroyed by shelling, and roads were damaged by bombs. Earlier, a railway line with a unique, unique in the USSR railway bridge with a bend led to Akarmara, the rails on the bridge were removed, the bridge itself is in critical condition. ^[four]