Dranda

Dranda

Dranda

Village in Abkhazia, Georgia

Dranda Abkhaz: Дранда,Armenian: Դրանդա,Georgian: თბილისი,Russian: Дранда, is a town located in Gulripschi District near the Black Sea, about 20 km (12 mi) from the capital Sukhumi and about 7 kilometers from Gulripschi. The town is near Sukhum-Babushara Airport, which was reopened in 2008. In Dranda itself there is an Orthodox cathedral from the 6th century.

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Dranda Cathedral

Main article: Dranda Cathedral

Built around 551 by emperor Justinian I In the Georgian Orthodox Catholicate of Abkhazia, during the Middle Ages Dranda served as the seat of bishops. During the Turkish occupation, the temple suffered great damage, but was later restored. In 1880, a monastery was established at the cathedral. After the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921, the Georgian Orthodox Church was subjected to intense harassment.

Population

In 1989 Dranda had 2,673 inhabitants,[1] this number rose to over 3,200 by 2011. This makes Dranda one of the few places in Abkhazia whose population is higher than the figure from the last Soviet census. The majority of the population consists of Armenians (51.0%) and Abkhazians (36.3%), as well as Russians (7.1%) and Georgians (3.7%). Smaller minorities include Greeks (0.7%) and Ukrainians (0.5%).

Notable people

  • Yuri Vardimiadi (1925–1956), footballer

Notes

  1. The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.

References

  1. [1]
    "All-USSR census 1989 in Abkhazian ASSR". pop-stat.mashke.org.
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