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

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, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

. Much of Batumi's economy revolves around tourism and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

(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 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 roots to befor ...

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. 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 peri ...

colony in Colchis 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 Hispania B ...

(), 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 letter ...

port and later deserted for the fortress of

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

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 Constantinopl ...

forces, it was formally a possession of the kingdom of Lazica until being occupied briefly by the

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

, 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 Middle Ages, medieval feudalism, feudal state in the Caucasus which was established i ...

via a dynastic union, the later led the unification of the Georgian monarchy 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. Geography ...

, 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 Triarchy and collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, diss ...

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 The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

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 Geoffroy de Thoisy, ''chevalier seigneur de Mimeure'', was a Burgundian naval commander and Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece involved in Philip the Good’s Crusade endeavors in the 1440s. Biography He commanded a Burgundian flotilla o ...

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 sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

John IV of Trebizond John IV Megas Komnenos ( el, Ιωάννης Μέγας Κομνηνός, ''Iōannēs Megas Komnēnos'') (died April 1460) was Emperor of Trebizond from 1429 until his death. He was a son of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene ...

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, 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, he ...

. 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 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 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 the Great Northern War. ...

in accordance with the Treaty of San Stefano 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 until 1886. It functioned as the center of a special military district until being incorporated in the Kutaisi Governorate on 12 June 1883. Finally, on 1 June 1903, with the Artvin Okrug, the Batum Okrug was established as the

Batum Oblast Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

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 pe ...

–

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Transcaucasus Railway (completed in 1883), and the

–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 memb ...

's Caspian and Black Sea Oil Company. In the late 1880s and after, more than 7,400 Doukhobor 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 Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, 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 t ...

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 moment ...

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 transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, 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, separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russian SFSR, Russia and the Central Powers (German Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of ...

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. As result of the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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 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'' ...

autonomy. In 1921

Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to: ;People * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey * Kemal (name), a common Turkish name ;Places * Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey * Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey ;See also ...

ceded The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

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 vi ...

and South Ossetia 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 The 89th Infantry Rifle Division (russian: 89-я стрелковая дивизия; ), or the Tamanyan Division, was a distinguished division in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. The division was primarily remembered for its second ...

. Following the Rose Revolution, 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 A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''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 Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

of the nearby hills and mountains, resulting in significant rainfall throughout most of the year, making Batumi the wettest city in both Georgia 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 in Batumi includes: * Sheraton Hotel, designed in the style of the Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt * Alphabetic Tower ( high), celebrating Georgian script and writing * Batumi Piazza, 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 NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Sites of interest

Main sights

Attractions include * Adjara State Museum *

Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

Batumi Botanical Garden The Batumi Botanical Garden ( ka, ბათუმის ბოტანიკური ბაღი) is a 108 hectare area of land 9 km north of the city of Batumi, capital of Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Georgia. Located at the place called ...

*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 *

s * Cafe Fantasy * Dancing Fountains, Batumi * Dolphinarium * Piazza Square * Panoramic Wheel * Astronomical clock * Argo Cable Car * 6 May Park * Europe Square * Alphabetic Tower * Batumi Sea Port * Miracle Park * Chacha Clock Tower (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 Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 Church *

Church of the Holy Spirit *Saint Nicholas Church *

Batumi Mosque The Batumi Mosque ( ka, ბათუმის მეჩეთი, ''batumis mecheti'', ''orta jame'') is a mosque in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia, which is a home to a sizable Muslim community. It was commissioned by the family of Aslan Beg (the equiv ...

* Batumi Synagogue

Culture

Batumi has 18 various museums, including State Art Museum of Adjara.

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club

Batumi RC Batumi RC is a Georgian semi-professional rugby club from Batumi, who plays in the Didi 10 The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a semi-professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia. It is the top tier of rugby competitions in the country. ...

competes in the Pan-european

Rugby Europe Super Cup The Rugby Europe Super Cup is an annual men's rugby union club tournament organised by the continental governing body, Rugby Europe. Featuring clubs outside the traditional Six Nations strongholds of the sport, it effectively forms a third tier ...

and the Georgian

Didi 10 The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a semi-professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia. It is the top tier of rugby competitions in the country. Current Table 2018–19 Didi 10 season: List of Champions Teams 2019-20 Didi 10 ( ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 (1 ...

play at the Batumi stadium.

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 th ...

(*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 som ...

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 Agricult ...

, Reich

Minister of Food The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. In the Great War the Ministry sponsored a network of canteens known as ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Ioseb Bardanashvili Ioseb Bardanashvili ( ka, იოსებ (სოსო) ბარდანაშვილი; he, יוסף ברדנשווילי; born 23 November 1948 in Batumi, Georgia) is an Israeli and Georgian composer. His works span classical to contemp ...

(*1948), composer * Khatia Buniatishvili (*1987), a concert pianist *

Odysseas Dimitriadis Odysseas Dimitriadis (7 July 1908 – 28 April 2005) was a Georgia (country), Georgian of Greek descent and Soviet Union, Soviet classical music conductor. During his 70-year career, Odysseas had conducted a number of the world's leading orchestras, ...

(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 Sopho Khalvashi ( ka, სოფო ხალვაში ; born 31 May 1986 in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia), also sometimes known as simply Sopho, is a Georgian musician of Laz heritage. Biography She claimed third prize at the commercial song co ...

(*1986), first Georgian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 *

Mindia Khitarishvili Mindia Khitarishvili ( ka, მინდია ხითარიშვილი; Batumi, born January 1, 1973) is an Israeli and Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Ge ...

(*1973), composer *

Konstantin Meladze Konstantin Shotayevich Meladze (russian: Константин Шотаевич Меладзе, ka, კონსტანტინე მელაძე) (born 11 May 1963 in Batumi) is a Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer. He is the older b ...

(*1963), composer and producer * Valery Meladze (*1965), singer *

Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...

, singer * Lado Seidishvili (1931–2010), Georgian painter and poet *

(1878–1953),

General secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

* Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1925–1991 ; 1933–2012), science fiction authors *

William Horwood Stuart William Horwood Stuart (1857 – May 20, 1906) was a British diplomat. He was murdered in Batumi, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, while serving as a United States vice-consul there. Family Stuart was born in Harrow, London, in 1857 to W ...

(1857–1906), British diplomat who was murdered there in 1906 *

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...

(1895–1925), Russian lyrical poet * Fyodor Yurchikhin (*1959), astronaut

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The city is served by

Batumi Airport Alexander Kartveli Batumi International Airport is an airport located south of Batumi, a city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. The airport is northeast of Hopa, Turkey, and serves as ...

, one of three international airports in the country. A

bike-sharing A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include b ...

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 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 twinned with: *

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, Italy (1987) *

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, United States (1992) *

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

, Turkey (2000) * Vanadzor, Armenia (2006) * Volos, Greece (2007) *

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...

, Ukraine (2008) * Burgas, Bulgaria (2009) * Marbella, Spain (2010) *

Kuşadası Kuşadası () is a large resort town on Turkey's Aegean Sea, Aegean coast, and the center of the seaside district of the same name within Aydın Province. Kuşadası is south of İzmir, and about from Aydın. The municipality's primary industry ...

, Turkey (2010) * Ordu, Turkey (2011) *

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

, Ukraine (2011) *

Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...

, Israel (2011) *

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, United States (2012) * Yalova, Turkey (2012) * Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan (2012) *

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...

, Latvia (2012) *

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

, Ukraine (2013) *

Prague 1 Prague 1, formally the Prague 1 Municipal District (), is a second-tier municipality in Prague. It is co-extensive with the national administrative district (''správní obvod'') of the same name. Prague 1 includes most of the medieval heart of ...

, Czech Republic (2013) * Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt (2014) *

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

, China (2015) *

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

, Belarus (2015) *

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

, Cyprus (2016) *

Nysa Nysa may refer to: Greek Mythology * Nysa (mythology) or Nyseion, the mountainous region or mount (various traditional locations), where nymphs raised the young god Dionysus * Nysiads, nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant ...

, Poland (2017) *

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

, Belarus (2017) *

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel (2018) *

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, Poland (2019) *

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

, 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 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)