Today, Batumi, with a population of 180 thousand people of various faiths such as Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, and Apostolic Armenians, also hosts a rich cultural mosaic consisting of Georgians, Azeris, Armenians, Russians, Adjarians and other ethnic groups 🙂 Batumi Travel Guide Day 2 Let’s go after other spots to discover in Batumi 🙂
To access general information about Batumi, visit the Batumi page. To reach the places to visit on the first day in Batumi, you can visit the Batumi Travel Guide Day 1 article:)
BATUMIS BOTANIKURI BAGI (BATUMI BOTANICAL GARDEN)
Batumi Botanical Garden, the 2nd largest botanical garden in the world, covers an area of 7 hectares, 9 km north of Batumi. There are more than 5 thousand plant species in the park, including 2 thousand trees. With the map you will receive at the entrance, you can easily find sections where semi-tropical plants native to the Caucasus, as well as plants from Far Asia, New Zealand, North and South America, the Himalayas, Australia, and the Mediterranean, are exhibited.
The establishment of the Botanical Garden, the fountain of the world in Adjara, was started in the 1880s by the French nobleman Michael D’Alfons, who was greatly influenced by the climate of the region by bringing plants, especially from southern France.
Bonus: Michael D’Alfons, who was appointed as the main gardener of Batumi Boulevard between 1885 and 1889, managed to transform the boulevard, a place that no one in Batumi frequented, into a magnificent recreation area. With this success, he was named the genius on the Batumi coast. D’Alfons was a gardener who foresaw the potential of the Batumi coast and managed to use the land efficiently and sufficiently.
Following the work carried out by Russian Botanist Andrey Nikolayevich Krasnov, who took over the flag, the official opening of the Batumi Botanical Garden was held on November 3, 1912.
Krasnov contributed so much to the Batumi Botanical Garden. When he died in 1914, he was buried in the botanical garden, which is far away from St. Petersburg, where he was born.
In 1998, Batumi Botanical Garden became a member of the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) association, which works on mutual cooperation, sharing of scientific information, and a common strategy of the Botanical Gardens.
No matter what date you go to Batumi Botanical Park, it will offer you a unique view. If you come in spring, you can photograph Japan’s famous Sakura trees; If you come in summer, you can swim where Batumi Botanical Garden meets the sea.
In addition to providing guidance services to garden visitors, it also offers camping, picnics, outdoor shooting, and decorative plant sales services. A Batumi travel guide is incomplete without the Botanical Garden. For detailed information, you can visit the Batumi Botanical Garden website.
NOBEL BROTHERS BATUMI TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM
In the late 19th century, the development of the oil industry in the Caucasus region became the focus of Europe’s leading industrial and banking families, including the Rothchilds and Nobels. There is only one critical thing: how will the logistics of the extracted oil be ensured?
With the construction of the Batumi-Tbilisi-Baku railway in 1883, the oil extracted on the shores of the Caspian Sea began to be transported to the Black Sea coast in Batumi.Batumi, which was in Russian hands at that time, began to develop thanks to the railway line. With the laying of the Baku-Batumi oil pipeline in 1900, it became Russia’s most important oil port in the Black Sea.
Opened in 2007, the museum has exhibitions showing the development of the oil industry, the tea industry and the tea drinking culture. The works of Russian Prokudin Gorski, the pioneer of color photography, are also featured, and I think this is the most interesting part of the museum.
Bonus: He reached every part of the Empire with special permission in a darkroom car given by Tsar Nicholas II (Poor Romanov) and took photos of the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915. After the Russian Revolution, he left his country and continued his studies in England, Germany, and France. His photographs belonged to a lost world. He worked on medieval churches, old Russian monasteries, train stations, factories, and the differences among the Russian people.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH
Holy Spirit Church is the only Catholic church in Batumi. Considering that nearly 90% of the population is Orthodox, this is very normal 🙂
It was built in the late 1990s by Georgian architects Oleg Pataridze and Giorgi Baghoshvili and was consecrated in 2000 by Archbishop Giuseppe Pazotto, ruler of Transcaucasia. The church was often visited by the Vatican’s ambassador to Georgia and services were held here. It was empty when I went 🙂
ARGO CABLE CAR
The first cable car project work in Batumi started in 2010 and continued until August 2013. You can go up to Anuria Mountain, which is 250 meters above sea level, by cable car. The journey takes approximately 15 minutes.
The cable car was designed and produced by Doppelmayr, an Austrian-Swiss partnership company. The company in question has installed 14,800 cable cars in 90 countries to date. You can ride with peace of mind 🙂
Binanın tarihi önemi var. Bina, Altın Post hikayesinde Argos gemisini yapan ustanın adını almış ve binanın tasarımına yelken sembolleri eklenmiştir.
NEPTUNE FOUNTAIN
The Poseidon (Neptune) statue in front of Batumi Theater was erected in 2010.
The statue and its fountain are a copy of the Neptune Fountain in Piazza del Nettuno in Bologna, Italy (Georgian Neptune is a bit puny, but that’s okay:). The original statue was completed by Flemish sculptor Giambologna in 1567.
6 MAY PARK
May 6 Park is one of the oldest public parks in Georgia. It includes Lake Nurigele, children’s activities, a dolphinarium, and a zoo.
The construction of the park began in 1881, during the time of the Prussian gardener Resler. In 1888, Russian Emperor Alexander III (who became the father of the last Tsar Nicholas II) planted magnolias during his visit to the park. To honor this visit, the park was named Alexander Garden.
In the 1930s, Greek-style columns were added to the entrance of the park and later built during World War II. A statue was added to honor Fadiko Gogitidze, the first Ajarian female pilot who died heroically in World War II at the age of 24.
The name of the park was changed to 6 May Park in 2006 and new additions were made.
In the center of the park is an oval-shaped lake. The name “Nuri Geli” is connected with a tragic story. According to legend, a baby boy named Nuri fell into the lake and drowned. Since the baby’s body was never found, his mother visited the lake every day and called her baby Nuri Geli (Nuri, I’m waiting for you):(
KHARITON AKHVLEDIANI ADJARA STATE MUSEUM
Adjara State Museum, where you can get acquainted with the flora and fauna of Adjara, is a museum where you can see rare artifacts from history to ethnography and is Georgia’s oldest scientific educational institution. I discovered it by chance; where it is located is a bit hidden.
The museum’s collection is quite rich; It serves its visitors with 180 thousand works from ancient times to today’s history of the region. The museum has more than 2 thousand rare manuscripts in Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and other languages, and 63 thousand books in different languages. It is said that among them there are many rare bibliographic books.
In the museum, unique archaeological materials from the 11th and 12th centuries BC (Ancient Greek amphora and vases, bronze statues, and Gonio castle treasures) and rare natural structures from centuries ago (including a fossilized 25 million-year-old tree), ethnographic and folk patterns, and applied and visual art examples are on display.
The most unique work of the museum (in my opinion) is the vase from the Hellenistic period, similar to which can be found in the British Museum.
BATUMI PUPPET AND YOUTH STATE THEATRE
The puppet theater in Batumi dates back to the 1930s. Professional theater was re-established due to the popularity of the old amateur puppet show.
The building where the Puppet and Youth Theater Company is located is one of the oldest and most unique architectural works of Batumi and Georgia. The building is legally recognized as a national cultural monument.
BATUMI SYNAGOGUE
Between 1900 and 1904, the demands of the Jewish population living in Batumi and the demands of Tsar II. It was built with the personal permission of Nicholas. Architect Simon Volkovich was inspired by the synagogues of Amsterdam and The Hague.
Batumi synagogue was used by Ashkenazi Jews in the city until 1923. It hosted many sports organizations during the Soviet period. It started to be used as a synagogue again in 1998.
I tried to get into it every time I went, but it was always locked. I could only photograph the outside.
BATUMI ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
Opened in 1994, Batumi Archaeological Museum introduces visitors to the ancient history and culture of the Adjara region. More than 28,000 items from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages are exhibited in the museum.
The main collection of the museum consists of artifacts unearthed from the excavation in Pichvnari as a result of the joint archaeological studies of the Batumi Archaeological Museum and the Oxford University Ashmolean Museum.
Pichvnari is located on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. B.C. The 5th century settlement means “place of pine trees” in Georgian 🙂 After reading the book Sapiens, I went to see the Denisova skull.
For the first time, I saw a section on fishing in an archaeological museum or even a museum.
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
Batumi Holy Trinity Cathedral is located on Adjara Mountain, approximately 8 kilometers from Batumi.
In the 1930s of the 20th century, services were stopped by the Soviet government, and the cathedral began to be used as a warehouse. II. After the end of World War II, members of Orthodox churches collected signatures for the reopening of Catedral, and the cathedral was opened in 1947.
The cathedral was first burned and then completely demolished in 1976. The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church asked Bishop David of Batumi to build a new cathedral to replace the burned one.
The construction of the cathedral started in 1979. The restoration, which took years, was completed with the donation of Georgian businessman Shalva Breus. In return for his contributions, Shalva was sent to St. Petersburg by Ilia II. He was awarded the George Mason Order.
You can enjoy the view of Batumi (in my opinion, the most beautiful 🙂 from the courtyard of the cathedral 🙂
Batumi Travel Guide Day 2 ends here. For other Georgian cities, you can visit the Georgia page.