When I visited Abkhazia this spring, I was assuming I would encounter a
substantial degree of hostility toward me as an American. In fact, I
encountered nothing of the sort. I also encountered substantially less
Sovok
than I had expected. One of the more pleasant experiences of my time
in Sukhumi was visiting the national library and talking with the
librarians and archivists there. These professionals offered me more
research assistance than I would have expected to receive (having
arrived unintroduced and unaccredited) in Moscow or Washington at
similar establishments - granted, researchers aren't exactly beating
down their doors, but still...
As it turned out, I happened to visit the researchers late on Wednesday
afternoon, told them briefly the topic I was interested in and promised
to return on Friday morning. The unfortunate thing about Friday
morning was that I had to be across the border to Russia by early
afternoon to make my flight home. But even though my time there on
that Friday was a bit rushed, I still got the chance to look at a bunch
of relevant newspapers and other articles thanks to the the library
staff.
At one point, I asked whether it was OK for me to take pictures inside
the library and was referred to the director. Little did I know that
this was the same guy who had been responsible for restoring the place
after it was practically burned out during the '92-'93 war.
Here are some more pictures
from those tragic days. All of this lends a bit of flavor to the
recent allegations by Georgians that the Ossetians in Tskhinvali, "like fascists," engaged in book-burning. Anyway, below are my pictures from the Abkhazian national library, taken in May of this year:
IMG_2411, originally uploaded by lyndonk2.
"The feats of Heroes won't be forgotten for centuries"
IMG_2405, originally uploaded by lyndonk2.
Shrine to former president Vladislav Ardzinba
- "A person born in the name of the salvation of his people and
Fatherland" (who is apparently living out hisdays in a diminished
capacity a la Ronald Reagan)
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