The Sukhumi Military Road is the new name for the Klukhor Pass. He received this name in the XIX century. It starts from the Black Sea highway near Sukhumi. It passes along the shores of Machara and Kodor. On its way, the Military Sukhumi Road crosses several villages: Merheul, Tsabal, Latu, Azharu, Amtkel, Gentsvish, Chkhalt.
Still interesting
She connected among themselves the peoples who lived on the slopes of the Caucasus Range. Thanks to her, cultural and economic ties developed. Also, the Military-Sukhumi road from Abkhazia was used by enemies to attack the country. Walking on it is very entertaining. Sights of the Military Sukhumi road are numerous and diverse.
Original building
An interesting temple is located on the southeastern edge of Merheul. Unlike others located in Abkhazia, it does not have an altar semicircle. It consists of one hall and two aisles. The hall has a narrowing on the east side. It is illuminated by the sun's rays penetrating through two narrow windows, one of which is located in the altar, and the second in the western wall of the building. The temple is faced with limestone. Built in the XIII-XIV centuries.
So we used to live
On the 10th kilometer of the Sukhumi Military Road, ruins of a feudal estate are found. From it remained walls made of stone, with window and doorways. However, the building also had a second wooden floor that has not survived to our time. To the west of the castle, on a hilltop, are the remains of a fortress. If you go up to them, you can see the tower and the courtyard. Sometimes fragments of ceramic and glassware come across.
Protection needed
The Sukhumi military road often presents surprises in the form of ruined fortresses. At its 11th kilometer, a part of the Kelasur wall with towers is found. If you move 2 kilometers to the east, you can see the ruins of the largest defensive structure of Abkhazia - Herzeul fortress. The walls and the gate tower, the fortress yard, in which the remains of the temple and the cellar are preserved. The fortress was built in the VIII century.
Remnants of antiquity
The ruins of the Patskhir fortress can be seen on the fifteenth kilometer of the Sukhumi Military Road in Machara Gorge. You can go to it along the 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 made from untreated limestone. They say that an ancient tribe of Corax lived in this fortress. The fortress itself has been over 2 thousand years old. Having reached this place, it is worth to rise higher and east to visit the top of the Hat. 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. There are gentle hills nearby. Their slopes once served as the burial place of several thousand people. Archaeologists have discovered 5,000 graves and explored several hundred of them. Excavations began in this place since 1960. It is noteworthy that not only the bodies of the dead were lowered into the graves, but also household items, weapons, and jewelry. Archaeologists discovered axes, swords, as well as shields, spears, earrings, necklaces, rings, plates, pitchers.
The origins of the revolution
The Sukhumi Military Road, the photo of which is presented in this article, allows you to see many historical monuments to those who travel along it. One of them is the Voronovskaya estate, located on the 17th kilometer. Voronov was a major scientist, publisher of the Kavkaz newspaper, a like-minded person of Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Ogarev. From 1903 to 1918, a connection between the Transcaucasian and Petrograd revolutionaries was carried out through his house. Currently, only one house from the end of the 19th century is left from the estate. Inside it are a library and furniture of the time. In the old days, the estate consisted of several buildings, and among them, in addition to the master's house, there was a dining room, a kitchen, and a pantry. The estate was surrounded by a magnificent garden with fruit trees, as well as alleys of poplars and plane trees.
Fortress on two cliffs
Leaving the village of Olginskoye, in which the Voronovskaya estate is located, you need to move forward. The Sukhumi military 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-viewed from the spacious clearing onto which the road leads. Also preserved are the 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. There is also a small room in the tower, a warehouse was located here earlier. Only two parallel walls remained from the second square tower. The fortress stands on two calcareous cliffs. On one of them the ruins of the church, operating in the XIV-XVII centuries, are preserved. The local population still reveres what remains of the temple. Gifts are brought to the altar - candles, ribbons, eggs, roosters, matter.
Many more interesting things can be seen when traveling along the Military Sukhumi road. This is a cave in which ancient people lived 10 thousand years ago, dolmens near Lake Amtkel, an iron bridge that spans across Jampal, the ruins of medieval buildings, and other ancient monuments. Along the way, natural beauties, rivers, mountains, waterfalls, boxwood thickets open.
But the Military-Sukhumi road, the restoration of which is in the plans of our country, has several problems. It is partially littered with boulders, washed out by showers. However, the funds spent on clearing and asphalting should pay off. After all, this route to the Black Sea coast is 300 km shorter than the existing ones.