Shekvetili შეკვეთილი | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Shekvetili Park | |
  Shekvetili Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia Shekvetili Shekvetili (Guria) Show map of Guria | |
| Coordinates:41°55′40″N41°46′05″E / 41.92778°N 41.76806°E /41.92778; 41.76806 | |
| Country |  Georgia |
| Region | Guria |
| Municipality | Ozurgeti |
| Elevation | 2 m (7 ft) |
| Population (2014) | |
• Total | 175 |
| Time zone | UTC+4 (Georgian Time) |
Shekvetili (Georgian:შეკვეთილი) is a village andsea resort inOzurgeti Municipality,Guria,Georgia, located on the easternBlack Sea coast, at the mouth of the Natanebi river. Shekvetili is home to the popular amusement park Tsitsinatela, large indoor venueBlack Sea Arena, the Miniature Park, an open-air exhibition of scale models of Georgia's architectural landmarks,[1] and a dendrological park.[2] Thearboretum has been created by the Georgian politician andbusiness oligarchBidzina Ivanishvili, but has met with protests from environmentalists.[3]
Shekvetili is a 5 km seaside strip dominated by theforest of pine trees, at 2 m abovesea level. It is located midway between the sea resorts ofUreki andKobuleti, 21 km west ofOzurgeti, the main town of Guria. The resort is traversed by theS2 highway and is also served by the Natanebirailway station.[4]
Shekvetili served as an important trading locale within the southwestern GeorgianPrincipality of Guria in the 18th century. It was occupied by anOttoman garrison in 1723 and passed intoRussian possession in theTreaty of Bucharest in 1812. The Turks referred to it as Shefketil, while to the Russians it came to be known as the Fort of St. Nicholas. According to a contemporary account, "the stores for Fort St. Nicholas are landed upon an adjoining tongue of land, and transported thither on men's shoulders."[5]
As afrontier fortress, Shekvetili was a scene of military confrontations between the Russian and Ottoman forces in the course of theRusso-Turkish wars. During the1828–29 conflict, the Fort of St. Nicholas was one of the bases for Russian operations into "Turkish Guria" (Adjara). On 5 March 1829, Major-General Karl Hesse at the head of a force of 1,200 Russian regulars and some 1,500 Gurian militiamen stormed and destroyed a large fortified Ottoman camp at Limani, close to Shekvetili.[6]
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During theCrimean War, on the night of 15–16 October 1853, a superior Ottoman force of three or five battalions, includingbashi-bazouks, led by Hasan and Ali Beys and Dede Ağa, natives ofÇürüksu, stormed Shekvetili, held by two companies of Russian infantry and a local Georgian militia under Captain Shcherbakov, and captured the post after hours of a pitched battle. Atrocities committed by thebashi-bazouks in and around Shekvetili alienated local Muslim Georgians, who had initially welcomed the Ottoman advance. The Russian casualties amounted to nearly 1,000 killed, including Captain Shcherbakov and Georgian militia commander Prince Giorgi Gurieli, and 80 captured, while the Turks lost 32 dead and 59 wounded. The battle opened the Caucasus front of the Crimean War.[7][8]
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