Sochi

Sochi (Russian: Сочи; IPA: [ˈsotɕɪ]) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia,^{[notes 1]} on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for 145 kilometers (90 mi) along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a permanent population of 343,285;^[4] up from 328,809 recorded in the 2002 Census,^[5] making it Russia's largest resort city.

Sochi will host the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in 2014, as well as the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020.^[8][9] It is also one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate^[10][11]-Mediterranean-type, with mild winters (average +11 °C (52 °F) during the day and +4 °C (39 °F) at night in the period from December to March) and comfortable summers (average +24 °C (75 °F) during the day and +16 °C (61 °F) at night period from May to October).

History

The Zygii people lived in the area in antiquity. From the 6th to the 11th centuries, the area successively belonged to the kingdoms of Lazica and Abkhazia who built a dozen churches within the city boundaries. From the 11th to the middle of the 15th century it was a part of the Georgian Kingdom. The Christian settlements along the coast were destroyed by the invading Gokturks, Khazars, and other nomadic empires whose control of the region was slight. The northern wall of an 11th-century Byzantinesque basilica still stands in the Loo Microdistrict.

In the 14th-17th centuries, the region was dominated by the Abkhaz, Ubykh and Adyghe tribes, the current location of the city of Sochi known as Ubykhia was part of historical Circassia, and was controlled by the native people of the local mountaineer clans of the north-west Caucasus, nominally under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, which was their principal trading partner in the Muslim world. The coastline was ceded to Russia in 1829 as a result of a Caucasian War and Russo-Turkish War, 1828–1829; however, the Circassians did not admit the Russian control over Circassia and kept resisting the Russian newly established outposts along the Circassians coast (Adyghe: Адыгэ хы аушу ); .^[2][12] Provision of weapons and ammunition from abroad to the Circassians caused a diplomatic conflict between the Russian Empire and Great Britain that occurred in 1836 and was named the Mission of Vixen.^[13]

The Russians had no detailed knowledge of the area until Baron Feodor Tornau investigated the coastal route from Gelendzhik to Gagra, and across the mountains to Kabarda, in the 1830s. In 1838, the fort of Alexandria, renamed Navaginsky a year later, was founded at the mouth of the Sochi River as part of the Black Sea coastal line, a chain of 17 fortifications set up to protect the area from recurring Circassian resistance. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, the garrison was evacuated from Navaginsky in order to prevent its capture by the Turks, who effected a landing on Cape Adler soon after.

The last battle of the Caucasian War took place at the Godlikh river on 18 March 1864 O.S., where the ubykhs were defeated by the Dakhovsky regiment of the Russian Army. On 25 March 1864 the Dakhovsky fort was established on the site of the Navaginsky fort. The end of Caucasian War was proclaimed at Kbaade tract (modern Krasnaya Polyana) on 2 June 1864 (21 May O.S.) 1864, by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander II of Russia read aloud by Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia.^[2]

After the end of Caucasian War (during the period of 1864–1870) almost all Ubykhs and a major part of the Shapsugs, who lived on the territory of modern Sochi, were either killed in the Circassian Genocide or expelled to the Ottoman Empire (see Muhajir). Starting in 1866 the coast was actively colonized by Russians, Armenians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Greeks, Estonians, Germans, Moldavians, Georgians and other people from inner Russia.^[2][12]

In 1874–1891, the first Russian Orthodox church, St. Michael's Church, was constructed, and the Dakhovsky settlement was renamed Dakhovsky Posad on 13 April 1874 (O.S.). In February 1890, the Sochi Lighthouse was constructed. In 1896, the Dakhovsky Posad was renamed Sochi Posad (after the name of local river) and incorporated into the newly formed Black Sea Governorate. In 1900–1910 Sochi burgeoned into a sea resort. The first resort, "Kavkazskaya Riviera", opened on 14 June 1909 (O.S.). Sochi was granted municipal rights in 1917.^[2]

During the Russian Civil War, the littoral area saw sporadic armed clashes involving the Red Army, White movement forces, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. In 1923 Sochi acquired one of its most distinctive features, a railway which runs from Tuapse to Abkhazia within a kilometre or two of the coastline. Although this branch of the Northern Caucasus Railway may appear somewhat incongruous in the setting of beaches and sanatoriums, it is still operational and vital to the region's transportation infrastructure.^[2]

Sochi was established as a fashionable resort area under Joseph Stalin, who had his favourite dacha built in the city; Stalin's study, complete with a wax statue of the leader, is now open to the public.^[14] During Stalin's reign the coast became dotted with imposing Neoclassical buildings, exemplified by the opulent Rodina and Ordzhonikidze sanatoriums. The centrepiece of this early period is Shchusev's Constructivist Institute of Rheumatology (1927–31). The area was continuously developed until the demise of the Soviet Union.^[2]

Following Russia's loss of the traditionally popular resorts of the Crimean peninsula (transferred away from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954 by Nikita Khrushchev), Sochi emerged as the unofficial summer capital of the country. During Vladimir Putin's term in office, the city witnessed a significant increase in investment, although many Russian holidaymakers still flock to the cheaper resorts of neighbouring Abkhazia, Ukraine, or to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Additionally, Sochi has also served as the location for the signing of many treaties, especially those between the Georgian, Abkhazian, and South Ossetian governing authorities.

Population

Religion

Before 1864 Sochi was a Muslim town dominated by the native people of the local mountaineer of Ubykhia clans and the north of Sochi was dominated by the Shapsugs who are a part of the Adyghe nation. Currently, Sochi is a predominantly Christian city, though there are thought to be around 20,000 Muslims living there (the majority are from Adyghe) plus other eastern caucasians, Turks, Tatars, and other smaller Muslim groups.

Despite this fact, there is no mosque in the city of Sochi, the nearest being around 60 km (37 miles) away in the north from the city center^[17][18] in the Adyghe village of T'hagapsh (Adyghe: Тхьагъапшъ Къоджэ, Tkhag’apsh’ K’odzhe; Russian: Тхагапш, Tkhagapsh). In 2009, President Medvedev promised that a permanent mosque would be built in the city but so far permission has not been given.^[18]

Geography

At 145 kilometers (90 mi), Greater Sochi claims to be the longest city in Europe.^[19] Other sources using the Caucasus Mountains as the Europe-Asia divide place Sochi in Southwest Asia as it falls on the southern (Asian) side of the Greater Caucasus. ^{[20] [21]}

Climate

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa)^[10] – Mediterranean-type, at the lower elevations. Its average annual temperature is 14 °C (57 °F): 18.2 °C (64.8 °F) during the day and 10.8 °C (51.4 °F) at night. In the coldest month – January – the average temperature is about 9 °C (48 °F) during the day, the average sea temperature is about 9 °C (48 °F). In the warmest months – July and August – the temperature typically ranges from 25 to 29 °C (77 to 84 °F) during the day, about 20 °C (68 °F) at night and the average sea temperature is about 23–24 °C (73–75 °F). Yearly sunshine hours are about 2,200. Generally, the summer season lasts 6 months (from May to October). December, January, February and March are the coldest months, with average temperature (of these four months) 10.6 °C (51.1 °F) during the day and 4.1 °C (39.4 °F) at night. Average annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm.^[3][11][22] Sochi lies at 8b/9a hardiness zone, so the city supports different types of palm trees. Sochi is situated on the same latitude as Nice but strong cold winds from Asia makes winter less warm. In fact, temperatures drop below zero every winter for one or two days.

Layout and landmarks

Sochi is almost unique among larger Russian cities as having some aspects of a subtropical resort. Apart from the scenic Caucasus Mountains, pebble and sand beaches, the city attracts vacation-goers with its subtropical vegetation, numerous parks, monuments, and extravagant Stalinist architecture. About two million people visit Greater Sochi each summer,^[25] when the city is home to the annual film festival "Kinotavr" and a getaway for Russia's elite.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 2,957 square kilometres (731,000 acres) Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, lies just north from the city.^[26] Sochi also has Europe's most northerly tea plantations. It is served by the Adler-Sochi International Airport. The Sochi Light Metro is under construction, projected to be complete by 2014.

Sochi proper

Tsentralny City District, or Sochi proper, covers an area of 32 square kilometers (12 sq mi) and, as per the preliminary results of the 2010 Census has a population of 137,607.^[4] The highlights include:

• Michael Archangel Cathedral, a diminutive church built in 1873–1891 to Kaminsky's designs in order to commemorate the victorious conclusion of the Caucasian War.
• The red-granite Archangel Column, erected in 2006 in memory of the Russian soldiers fallen in Sochi during the Caucasian War. It is capped by a 7-metre bronze statue of Sochi's patron saint, Michael the Archangel.
• Sochi Art Museum occupies a large building with a four-columned portico, completed in 1939. The Neoclassical design is by Ivan Zholtovsky.
• Arboretum, a large botanical garden with tropical trees from many countries and the Mayors Alley — the line of palm-trees planted by the mayors of different cities of the world.
• The Winter Theater (1934–1937) is another rigorously Neoclassical edifice, surrounded by 88 Corinthian columns, with a pediment bearing the statues of Terpsichore, Melpomene and Thalia, all three cast by Vera Mukhina.
• Hall of Organ and Chamber Music. Located centrally in the city of Sochi it conducts organ, symphony, chamber-ensemble, choral, vocal music concerts. All year round local actors of the city art groups, famous Russian and international performers, International Contests Winners and Laureates give concerts here.
• The Maritime Passenger Terminal (1955) is notable for its distinctive 71-meter-high steepled tower and four statues symbolizing the cardinal points.
• The Railway Station (1952) is one of the most remarkable buildings of Sochi.
• The Riviera Park was established by Vasily Alexeyevich Khludov in 1883 in the part of the city which later became known as Khludovskaya. The park is popular with tourists and local residents alike. It has a variety of attractions, including an outcrop of funny statues and a "glade of friendship" where magnolia trees were planted by every Soviet cosmonaut, among other notables.
• The Tree of Friendship is a lemon tree planted by Otto Schmidt in 1934. Multiple cultivars from foreign countries were grafted onto this tree as a token of friendship. The associated museum boasts a collection of 20,000 presents from all over the world.

Lazarevsky City District

Lazarevsky City District lies to the northwest from the city center; the preliminary results of the 2010 Census showed the population of 63,914 people.^[4] It is the largest city district by area, covering some 1,744 square kilometers (673 sq mi) and comprising several microdistricts:

• Lazarevskoye, 59 km from the downtown core, contains a delphinarium, an old church (1903), and a new church (1999). The settlement was founded as a Russian military outpost in 1839 and was named after Admiral Mikhail Lazarev.
• Loo, 18 km from the city center, was once owned by Princes Loov, a noble Abkhazian family claiming patrilineal descent from King Anos, whose royal title was sanctioned by Emperor Heraclius in 623 AD. The district contains the ruins of a medieval church, founded in the 8th century, rebuilt in the 11th century, and converted into a fortress in the Late Middle Ages.
• Dagomys, 18 km from the city center, has been noted for its botanical garden, established by order of Nicholas II, as well as tea plantations and factories. A sprawling hotel complex was opened there in 1982. Dagomys adjoins Bocharov Ruchey, a dacha built for Kliment Voroshilov in the 1950s, but later upgraded into a country residence of the President of Russia, where he normally spends his vacations and often confers with leaders of other states.^[27]
• Golovinka is a historic location at the mouth of the Shakhe River. Formerly marking the border between the Ubykhs and the Shapsugs, the settlement was noted by Italian travelers of the 17th century as Abbasa. On 3 May 1838, it was the site of the Subashi landing of the Russians, who proceeded to construct Fort Golovinsky where many convicted Decembrists used to serve. The fort was intentionally destroyed by Russian forces at the beginning of the Crimean War, so as to avoid its capture by the enemy.
• Fort Godlik, of which little remains, had a turbulent history. It was built at the mouth of the Godlik River in the Byzantine period (5th to 8th centuries), was destroyed by the Khazars and revived by the Genoese in the High Middle Ages.

Khostinsky City District

Khostinsky City District, sprawling to the southeast from the city center, occupies approximately 374 square kilometers (144 sq mi), with a population of 64,245 (2010 Census preliminary results).^[4] The district is traversed by many rivulets which give their names to the microdistricts of Matsesta ("flame-coloured river"), Kudepsta, and Khosta ("the river of boars"):

• Matsesta has been a spa since 1902. A 1,316-metre long tunnel, constructed between 1996 and 2000, connects it to Khosta and Sochi proper. The area does not retain many marks of antiquity, although the eponymous river was noted as Masaitica as early as 137 AD, in a letter from Arrian to Emperor Hadrian.
• Kudepsta is another seashore resort, notable for the Vorontsov Caves, stretching for some four kilometers away from the shore. There are fourteen entrances to the caves. The largest hall has a length of twenty meters.
• Khosta is an old village, attested in medieval documents as Casto and Khamysh. It contains the ruins of a medieval church, going back to the 14th century, and the comparatively modern Transfiguration Church, consecrated in 1914. Khosta has an array of tourist attractions:
  • Khosta Fortress, or rather the ruins thereof, perched on the top of a 100-meter high cliff within six kilometers from the sea coast.
  • The fortress stands on the grounds of an ancient grove of yews and boxwood, which may be up to 30 mya old. The largest yews attain a height of 50 meters; some are estimated to be 2,000 years old. The grove covers an area of 301 ha and has been affiliated with the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve since 1931.
  • The Akhun massif comprises Greater Akhun Mtn. (663 m), Lesser Akhun Mtn. (501 m), and Eagle Bluff (380 m). Greater Akhun is crowned by a Neo-Romanesque limestone tower (1936) that offers glimpses of Pitsunda and Gagra across the border in Abkhazia. There is also a chain of twenty karst caves in the massif.
  • The Sochi Arboretum, which goes back to 1889, possesses the most comprehensive collection of subtropical flora in Russia, including 76 species of pine, 80 species of oak, and 24 species of palm.
  • The Summer Theatre is a rather ordinary Neoclassical structure, erected in 1937 and extensively renovated in 2001.

Adlersky City District

Adlersky City District, with an area of 1,352 square kilometers (522 sq mi) and a population of 76,519 people (2010 Census preliminary results),^[4] is the southernmost district of the city, located just north of the border with Abkhazia. Until the establishment of Greater Sochi in 1961, it was administered as a separate town, which had its origin in an ancient Sadz village and a medieval Genoese trading post.

Among the natural wonders of the district is the Akhshtyr Gorge with a 160-meter-long cave that contains traces of human habitation from about 30,000 years ago. The upland part of the district includes a network of remote mountain villages (auls), the Estonian colony at Estosadok, and the ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana which will host the events (Alpine and Nordic) of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Also located here are the largest trout fishery in Russia (founded in 1964) and a breeding nursery for great apes.

Sports facilities

Sochi is also known for its sport facilities: a local tennis school spawned the careers of such notable players as Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Kafelnikov spent much of his childhood here, while Sharapova relocated to Florida at the age of 7). In late 2005, the Russian Football Union announced that it was planning to establish a year-round training centre for the country's national teams in Sochi. The city's warm climate was cited as one of the main incentives. And it's home of FC Zhemchuzhina who play in the Russian First Division.

2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics

In June 2006, the International Olympic Committee announced that Sochi had been selected as a finalist city to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics. On 4 July 2007, Sochi was announced as the host city of the 2014 Winter Games, edging out Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria.^[28]

This will be the Russian Federation's first time to host the Winter Olympic Games, and the first time to host the Paralympic Games. The site of a training centre for aspiring Olympic athletes, as of 2008, the city has no world-class level athletic facilities fit for international competition.^[29] To get the city ready for the Olympics, the Russian government has committed to a $12 billion investment package,^[30] shared 60-40 between the government and private sector.^[31] By some estimates, the investments necessary to bring the location up to Olympic standards may exceed that of any previous Olympic games.^[29]

Sochi Olympics 2014: controversies

Environmental impact

"Sadly, the Olympic bid is being used as a way for construction companies simply to get their hands on the most valuable land," Greenpeace Russia’s Mikhail Kreindlin said. "The last time the Russian government looked at this issue, which was in January, 2007 they made no mention of the Olympic bid. They simply said that the land could be used for social infrastructure, whereas it was patently obvious that it would be snapped up by elite resorts and golf clubs [with] nothing to do with the Olympics."^[27] Putin had apparently chided construction firms working round-the-clock to get Sochi up to ready, the St. Petersburg Times reported.^[32] "It would be a huge mistake not to take into account what the environmental organizations think", said Putin. "We are going to make sure that builders maintain contact with" environmentalists, who had voiced concerns about the work’s impact on the Sochi National Park, in Western Caucasus.

Greenpeace Russia had told the US-funded Radio Liberty^[33] on 12 September 2006 that it wanted to prevent construction work inside a national park, which it said would break Russia's environmental protection laws.

Gallery

Construction work

The state-controlled RAO UES announced in July 2007 that it might spend 30 billion roubles (about US$1.2billion) on upgrading the electrical power system in the Sochi area by 2014.^[34] The power generating companies Inter RAO UES and RusHydro would have to build or modernize four thermal power plants and four hydroelectric plants — and the federal grid company FGC UES has to replace the Central-Shepsi electricity transmission line, which reportedly often fails in bad weather. The new power line would run partly on power towers and partly across the bottom of the Black Sea. By 2011, the power supply of the resort area would increase by 1129 MW — of which 300 MW would be used for Olympic sports facilities “The cost of the work is estimated at 83.6 billion roubles (about US $3.26 billion), of which 50 billion roubles (about US$2 billion dollars) will go to investments in the electricity grid,” power company announced. They did not say how much of the bill the state would foot. In February 2007, when UES had planned to spend 48.8 billion roubles (about US$1.9 billion) on the Sochi area, the share the state had been ready to pay 38 billion roubles (about US$1.48 billion) of that.

The coming of 2014 Olympics also urges the construction of a medium capacity rapid transit system, the Sochi Light Metro. The current alignment would connect the Sochi Olympic Village, Sochi International Airport, two major railway stations of Northern Caucasus Railway, the downtown of Sochi, and the Alpine skiing area Krasnaya Polyana.

Other sports events

The Silk way Rally which is part of Dakkar series took place in Sochi in 2010 for the last stage between the capital of the Republic of Adygea Maykop to the city of Sochi through Pseshwap.^[35]

The Bandy World Championships 2014 will be held in the city at the same time as the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly reached a deal with Bernie Ecclestone for the city to host the Formula One Russian Grand Prix from 2014.^[36]

Sochi Olympic Stadium will also be used to host 2018 World Cup matches.

Notable people from Sochi

• Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk – physicist, one of the founders of holography
• Andre Geim – physicist, inventor of graphene and Nobel Prize winner (Physics, 2010) ^[37]
• Yevgeny Kafelnikov – tennis player
• Grigory Leps – singer-songwriter, musician
• Slava Metreveli – Soviet football player, Sochi's central stadium is named after him.
• Boris Nemtsov – former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
• Mordechai Spiegler – 1970s Russian-Israeli football player and manager.
• Vladimir Tkachenko – basketball player
• Alexey Voevoda – bobsledder and professional armwrestler

International relations

Sister cities

Sochi has been twinned with the following cities:

See also

• Gagra and Pitsunda, adjacent resorts in Abkhazia

References

• Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 – Bell, James Stanislaus (English)

External links

• Official site of administration of resort city Sochi
• site city Sochi