Interesting route: Military-Sukhum road

The military-Sukhum road is the new name of the Klukhor Pass. This name he received in the XIX century. It starts from the Black Sea highway near Sukhumi. It passes along the banks of Machara and Kodor. On its way the Military-Sukhumi road crosses several villages: Merheul, Tsabal, Latu, Azhara, Amtkel, Gentsvish, Chkhaltu.

It is still interesting

It connected among themselves the peoples living on the slopes of the Caucasian ridge. Thanks to her, cultural and economic ties developed. The Military-Sukhum road from Abkhazia was also used by the enemy to attack the country. Moving along it is very entertaining. Sights of the Military-Sukhumi road are numerous and varied.

Original construction

On the south-eastern outskirts of Merheula is an interesting temple. Unlike the others located in Abkhazia, it does not have an altar semicircle. It consists of one hall and two chapels. The hall has a narrowing on the east side. It is illuminated by the sunlight penetrating through two narrow windows, one of which is located in the altar, and the second - in the western wall of the building. The church is lined with limestone. Built in the XIII-XIV centuries.

So used to live

On the 10th kilometer of the Military-Sukhum road there are ruins of a feudal estate. From it remained the walls, made of stone, with window and door apertures. However, in the building there was also a second, not preserved till our time wooden floor. To the west of the castle, on top of the hill, are the remains of the fortress. If you go up to them, you can see the tower and the fortress. Sometimes there are fragments of ceramic and glassware.

Required protection

Military-Sukhumi road often presents surprises in the form of destroyed fortresses. On the 11th of its kilometer there is a part of the Kelasur Wall with towers. If you move 2 kilometers to the east, you can see the ruins of the largest defensive structure of Abkhazia - the Gerzeul Fortress. The walls and the gate tower, the fortress yard, in which the remains of the temple and cellar are located, are preserved. The fortress was built in the VIII century.

Remains of antiquity

The ruins of the Patzkhir fortress can be seen on the fifteenth kilometer of the Military-Sukhumi road in the Machara Gorge. You can go to it along a path overgrown with boxwood. On the way there will be the ruins of a mill. The walls of the fortress are very thick. They were laid out of untreated limestone. They say that this ancient fortress was inhabited by an ancient tribe of Korax. The fortress itself is more than 2 thousand years old. Having reached this place, it is worthwhile to climb higher and east to visit the top of the cap. The road to it goes along the place where the dwellings of the Apsils once stood. This people lived in the Kodori Gorge in the I-VIII century.

To the present day

On the way, you can see the ruins of several towers built here in time immemorial. Nearby are the gentle hills. Their slopes once served as a burial place for several thousand people. Archaeologists found 5000 graves and explored several hundred of them. Excavations began in this place since 1960. It is noteworthy that not only the bodies of the deceased were dropped into the graves, but also objects of everyday life, weapons, ornaments. Archaeologists have discovered axes, swords, as well as shields, spears, earrings, necklaces, rings, plates, jugs.

Origins of the Revolution

The military-Sukhum road, the photo of which is presented in this article, allows you to see a lot of historical monuments to those who travel on it. One of them - located at the 17th kilometer Voronovskaya manor. Voronov was a prominent scientist, publisher of the newspaper Kavkaz, a co-thinker of Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Ogaryov. From 1903 to 1918, a connection was made through his house between the Transcaucasian and Petrograd revolutionaries. At present, only one house built at the end of the 19th century remained from the estate. Inside it there is a library and furniture of that time. In the old days the estate was a few buildings, and among them, besides the master's house, there were a dining room, a kitchen, and a pantry. The manor was surrounded by a magnificent garden with fruit trees, as well as alleys of poplars and plane trees.

Fortress on two cliffs

After leaving the village of Olginskoye, where the Voronovskaya estate is located, we must move forward. The military-Sukhum road will lead to the ruins of the next fortress - Tsibilium. This fortress is located on the edge of the Kodori Gorge. Well preserved walls, well-seen from the spacious clearing, which leads the road. Also preserved and towers. One of them has a height of 16 meters and is composed of large limestone blocks. Inside there is a stone staircase that leads to the watch tower. Even in the tower there is a small room, there used to be a warehouse. From the second square tower there were only two parallel walls. The fortress stands on two calcareous cliffs. On one of them the ruins of the church, which operated in the 14th-17th centuries, were preserved. The local population still reveres what is left of the temple. To the altar bring gifts - candles, ribbons, eggs, cocks, matter.

A lot more interesting can be seen when traveling on the Military-Sukhumi road. This is a cave in which ancient people lived 10 thousand years ago, dolmens at Lake Amtkel, an iron bridge, thrown through Jampal, ruins of medieval buildings, other monuments of antiquity. On the way, natural beauty, rivers, mountains, waterfalls, boxwood are opened.

But the Military-Sukhum road, the restoration of which is in the plans of our country, has several problems. Partly it is filled up with boulders, washed away by downpours. However, the funds spent on clearing and asphalting work should be paid off. After all, this route to the coast of the Black Sea is 300 km shorter than the existing one.