New Athos ახალი ათონი, Афон Ҿыц, Новый Афон, Νέος Άθως Akhali Atoni, Afon Ch'yts, Novy Afon, Neos Athos | |
|---|---|
town | |
 New Athos Monastery | |
 Location of New Athos in Abkhazia | |
  New Athos  New Athos | |
| Coordinates:43°05′3.3″N40°49′2.64″E / 43.084250°N 40.8174000°E /43.084250; 40.8174000 | |
| Country |  Georgia |
| Partially recognized independent country |  Abkhazia[a] |
| District | Gudauta |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Feliks Dautia |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 1,518 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (MSK) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+4 |
New Athos orAkhali Atoni[b] is a town in theGudauta Municipality ofAbkhazia[a] situated some 22 km (14 mi) fromSokhumi by the shores of theBlack Sea. The town was previously known under the names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, and Psyrtskha.
New Athos Cave is one of Abkhazia's tourist attractions.
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The excavations at theAnakopia Fortress which is located at the edge of the town showed that it functioned in the 5–12 centuries CE,[1] though some archeologists date the construction of the defences to 7th century. Anakopia is associated with the fortress of Tracheia mentioned byProkopius.[2] Anakopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of theByzantine Empire and then of theAbkhazian Kingdom after thearchonLeon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved toKutaisi.
Anakopia was ceded toByzantine Empire byDemetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgia gained as a result of the Empire'sdefeat at Manzikert at the hands ofSeljuks.
According to a traditionSimon the Zealot died in Abkhazia having come there on a missionary trip and was buried inNicopsis. His remains were transferred to Anakopia in the 14–15 centuries.[3]
Located between theBlack Sea and theIverian Mountain, New Athos is 17 km far fromGudauta, 22 fromSukhumi and 84 from theRussian borders atVesyoloye, a village near the city ofSochi.
Vitali Smyr was reappointed as Mayor on 10 May 2001 following the March 2001 local elections.[4]
On 8 May 2003, Smyr was appointed Minister for Agriculture and released as Mayor of New Athos.[5] On 19 May, Feliks Dautia was appointed his successor.[6]
| # | Name | Entered office | Left office | President | Comments | ||
| Heads of the Town Administration: | |||||||
| Vitali Smyr | 1995 | [7] | 8 May 2003 | [5] | Vladislav Ardzinba | ||
| Feliks Dautia | 19 May 2003 | [6] | 12 February 2005 | ||||
| 12 February 2005 | 29 May 2011 | Sergei Bagapsh | |||||
| 29 May 2011 | Present | Alexander Ankvab | |||||
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In 1874 Russian monks from the overcrowdedRossikon Monastery onMount Athos arrived to theCaucasus in order to find a place for possible resettlement. They feared that theOttoman Empire would oust the Russians from Athos after the outbreak of theimpending Russo-Turkish War. They selected Psyrtskha, and theNeo-ByzantineNew Athos Monastery, dedicated toSt. Simon the Canaanite, was constructed there in the 1880s with funds provided byTsarAlexander III of Russia. Eventually Russian monks were permitted to stay in the "old" Athos, and the New Athos monastery had much less occupancy than anticipated.
In 1924, during the Soviet persecution of religion, the monastery was closed. It was later used as a storage facility, tourist base, hospital and museum. Its return to the Orthodox Church began in 1994, after the end of thewar in Abkhazia.
The scenic setting of the New Athos monastery by the sea has made it a popular destination with Russian tourists visiting Abkhazia.[8] Anolder church of St. Simon the Canaanite, dated to the 9th-10th century and reconstructed in the 1880s, is located near the town, on the Psyrtskha stream.
New Athos has a small hydroelectric power station and artificial lake on the Psyrtskha river, close to the oldChurch of St. Simon the Canaanite. The station was built by the monks of the monastery between 1892 and 1903 and repaired in 1922. It remained broken for over forty years before being repaired again – it was re-opened on 4 June 2012. It produces an estimated 100 kW "per hour [sic]" for the monastery which still owns it.[9][10]
New Athos cave is akarstcave in theIverian Mountain, few km far from the town.[11] Since 1975 it is served by theNew Athos Cave Railway.[12]
New Athos is twinned with:
Sergiyev Posad, RussiaSarov, RussiaRyazan, Russia
Media related toNew Athos at Wikimedia Commons
New Athos travel guide from Wikivoyage| Districts | |
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