Lighthouses of Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a country on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. The country has a complicated history and a disputed status. The Abkhaz people resisted incorporation into the Russian Empire, which did not subdue the region until the 1840s. Under the Soviet Union Abkhazia was recognized as an autonomous republic, initially under direct control from Moscow. In 1931 Stalin attached Abkhazia to the Soviet Republic of Georgia but again as an autonomous republic. At the time of the Soviet Union's collapse native Georgians and Abkhazians disagreed over how the country should be governed. After Georgia gained its independence in 1991 the Abkhazians revolted against Georgian rule. A bitter struggle in 1992-93 led to Abkhazia becoming a breakaway region controlled by Abkhazians and guarded by Russian troops. Additional fighting in 2008 brought more Russian troops into Abkhazia. The independence of Abkhazia is recognized only by Russia and a few other countries; Georgia and most United Nations members regard it as a Russian-occupied territory.

Please note that the Lighthouse Directory takes no position and has no comment on this or any international territorial dispute. Our only task is to describe lighthouses. Since reunion of Abkhazia with Georgia does not seem likely in the near future the Directory lists the lighthouses of Abkhazia on this separate page.

The capital Sukhumi is also Abkhazia's major port. Presumably aids to navigation in Abkhazia are to be maintained by the port authority of Sukhumi but it is not clear which of them, if any, are active.

Special thanks to Radek Literski, who toured the Abkhazian coast in 2014 searching for the listed lights. His online report is an invaluable guide.

The Abkhaz language is written in a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The Abkhaz word for a lighthouse is caymzarkyra (цәымзаркыра).

ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume N of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113. Note: since Abkhazia's independence is not recognized, the international light lists continue to list Abkhazian lighthouses under Georgia.

General Sources
Latarnie Abchazji
Photos taken in 2014 by Radek Literski. Text in Polish.
Lighthouses in Georgia
Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia (includes Abkhazia).
World of Lighthouses - Abkhazia
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
Online List of Lights - Georgia
Photos by various photographers posted by Alexander Trabas (includes Abkhazia).
Lighthouses of the USSR - Azov and Black Seas
Nothing here yet, but hopefully this webmaster will be adding information on the lighthouses.
Russische Leuchttürme auf historischen Postkarten
Historic postcard images posted by Klaus Huelse; Abkhazian lighthouses are in the Georgian section near the bottom of the page.
Navionics Charts
Navigation chart for Abkhazia.

Pitsunda Light
Pitsunda Light, April 2008
ex-Panoramio Creative Common photo by Eugene Pertsev

Ochamchire District Lighthouses
Ochamchire (Ochamchira, Ochamchirskiy) (?)
Date unknown. Probably inactive; focal plane 20 m (66 ft); white flash every 3 s. 18 m (59 ft) white skeletal tower. No photo available and the tower is not seen in Google's satellite view. Located about 5 km (3 mi) south of Ochamchira, a small port in eastern Abkhazia. Site status unknown. Admiralty N5742; NGA 19236.
Ochamchire (Ochamchira) Point Range Rear
Date unknown. Active(?); focal plane 20 m (66 ft); white light, 1.5 s on, 1.5 s off. 15 m (49 ft) white skeletal tower. No photo available but Google has an indistinct satellite view. Ochamchira has an artificially dredged port serving a harbor that receives shipments of coal. The front light is on an 8 m (26 ft) tower. Located about 200 m (220 yd) north of the port area. Site status unknown. Admiralty N5738.1; NGA 19234.1.

Gulripshi District Lighthouse
Mys Kodori (2?)
Date unknown (station established 1899). Probably inactive; focal plane 23 m (75 ft); red flash every 5 s. Square skeletal tower carrying a rectangular daymark painted white with a black vertical stripe. No photo available, the tower has not been found in Bing's satellite view of the listed location, and Literski was blocked from reaching this area. Located on a headland near Gulripsh, about 20 km (13 mi) southeast of Sukhumi. Site closed. Admiralty N5734; NGA 19228.

Sukhumi District Lighthouses
* Sukhumi Passenger Pier (Middle Pier) Range Front (2?)
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 14 m (46 ft); continuous green light. Post light and a pentagonal daymark mounted on the roof of a 2-story pierhead building. Literski has a closeup photo (3/4 the way down the page), Maxim Bityutsky has a closeup street view, and Google has a satellite view. Ruslan Bondarenko has a street view of the rear light, a mast at the bend in the pier 120 m (395 ft) north of the front light; Literski has a closeup photo (2/3 the way down the page). The pierhead building appears to include a restaurant. Located at the end of the middle pier in downtown Sukhumi. Accessible by walking the pier. Site open and building open. Admiralty N5727; NGA 19214.
* Sukhumi (Mys Sukhumskiy)
1864. Reactivated (inactive 2000-2008); focal plane 37 m (121 ft); white light, 3 s on, 3 s off, 3 s on, 6 s off. 34 m (111 ft) round cast iron tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. The modern light is mounted on the front of the historic lantern. A 2022 photo is at right, Literski has several photos (halfway down the page), Katya Borisova has a 2017 photo, Anton Opolsky has a closeup, Nikita Linkov has a 2019 photo, Wikimedia has a 2008 photo, Huelse has a historic postcard view, and Google has a satellite view. Obviously endangered. This lighthouse was prefabricated in France by the firm of Ernest Couin. The Russian article says the lighthouse has resumed operation, apparently with a small light mounted in front of the historic lantern. A page posted by the local tourist agency (no longer online) says that the original Fresnel lens was seized by Turkish troops in 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War; a replacement lens was mounted after the war. Located on the point of Mys (Cape) Sukhumi, about 4 km (2.4 mi) southwest of the center of the city. Literski had difficulty finding the lighthouse, so local guidance may be needed. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS GEO-003; Admiralty N5726; NGA 19212.
Eshera (?)
Date unknown. Probably inactive; focal plane 33 m (108 ft); white light, 2 s on, 4 s off. Light mounted atop a 27 m (89 ft) building. Google's satellite view shows a high-rise former Soviet sports center, now in ruins, that was probably the location of the light. Litersky has a photo (#6 on his page), but he found no evidence of an active light here. Eshera is the site of a principal base for the Russian peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia. Located about 8 km (5 mi) west of Sukhumi. Site status unknown. Admiralty N5725; NGA 19209.

Sukhumi Light, Sukhumi, May 2022
Google Maps photo by позитив негативный

Gudauta District Lighthouses
* Psyrtskha (Novy Afon)
Date unknown. Probably inactive; focal plane 33 m (108 ft); white light, 4 s on, 2 s off. Light mounted atop a 22 m (72 ft) building. Litersky has a photo (#5 on his page), Sergey Vasechkin has a 2017 photo, Vadim Yangunaev has a street view, and Google has a satellite view. Novy Afon (New Athos) is a historic Orthodox monastery, now a branch of the Abkhazian state museum. Located near the Akhali Atoni beach in Psyrtskha, about 22 km (14 mi) west of Sukhumi. Site status unknown, probably open. Admiralty N5724.5; NGA 19206.
* Souksu (Bambora, Gudauta) (?)
Date unknown (station established 1886). Probably inactive; focal plane 38 m (125 ft); white flash every 3 s. Lantern mounted atop a 35 m (115 ft) building. No photo available but Google's satellite view shows tall buildings at the listed location. Litersky was not able to locate this light, if it exists. The light marks Mys (Cape) Souksu, about 3 km (2 mi) west of Gudauta, near a military airfield. Site status unknown. Admiralty N5721; NGA 19200.

Gagra District Lighthouses
* Pitsunda (2)
1902 (station established 1891). Inactive. 31 m (101 ft) square pyramidal cast iron skeletal tower with lantern, gallery, and central cylinder. Entire lighthouse painted white. Pitsunda, in western Abkhazia, has become a popular beach resort and Eugene Pertsev's photo at the top of this page shows how the lighthouse is now dwarfed by two high-rise hotels. Vyacheslav Argenberg's photo is at right, a closeup and a 2013 photo are available, another photo taken from the 15th floor of one of the hotels shows heavy rust on the lantern, Huelse has a historic postcard view, and Google has a fuzzy satellite view. Obviously endangered. Located on the point of Mys (Cape) Pitsunda. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS GEO-002.
* Pitsunda (3)
Date unknown. Active; focal plane about 50 m (164 ft); two white flashes every 10.2 s. Octagonal lantern mounted at the south end of a 15-story building; a clamshell Fresnel lens is in use. Vyacheslav Argenberg's photo is at right, a 2015 closeup is available, Lightphotos.net has a closeup of the lantern, and Google has a fuzzy satellite view. Located on the west side of the historic lighthouse. Site open, tower closed. Admiralty N5718; NGA 19192.
* Gagrinskiy
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 87 m (285 ft); two white flashes every 5 s. 21 m (69 ft) building topped by a square lantern room. Litersky has a distant view (first photo on the page) and Google has a satellite view. The building appears to be a resort hotel; Gagra has been a resort town since the 1880s. Located about 25 km (15 mi) east of the Russian border. Site open, tower closed. Admiralty N5706; NGA 19172.
Pitsunda Lights
New (left) and old Pitsunda Lights, 2004
Flickr Creative Common photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg
#Gyachripsh (Leselidze)
Date unknown. Apparently demolished. 24 m (79 ft) "lantern on white chimney with ladder and platform," according to NGA; the Admiralty describes the light as being on a "white metal pole with external staircase." Litersky was told that the light does not exist any more and a hotel has been built on its former location. Gyachripsh is a resort town just east of the Russian border. The town was renamed Leselidze in 1944 in honor of a Soviet general; it resumed its historic name in 1992. Site status unknown. Admiralty N5700; NGA 19168.

Information available on lost lighthouses:

Notable faux lighthouses:

Adjoining pages: East: Georgia | West: Russia Eastern Black Sea

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Posted May 2, 2008. Checked and revised August 23, 2023. Lighthouses: 12. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.