Fire Destroys Major Art Gallery in Occupied Abkhazia

On January 21, a fire broke out in the exhibition hall of the “artists’ union” of the occupied Abkhazia, destroying the works of Abkhaz painters. According to local media, more than four thousand works were lost as a result of the fire and only up to 200 works could be saved. The gallery chief, Suram Sakania said the facility had suffered “irreparable damage”. The incident provoked an outcry and criticism of the de-facto authorities for their negligence, inappropriate, careless and irresponsible attitude towards the gallery, as well as criticism of the de-facto leader of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, who reportedly went to Stalin’s dacha with his team to celebrate the holidays shortly after the fire.

Sakania cited firefighters, according to whom the fire occurred on the roof of the building. “Apparently there was a short circuit in the electrical wiring,” Sakania added.

The so-called “President” of the occupied Abkhazia has ordered the so-called “prosecutor’s office” to investigate the causes of the fire.

The acting so-called ‘minister of culture’ of the occupied region Dinara Smyr called the fire in the exhibition hall ‘an irreplaceable loss for the national culture of Abkhazia’. According to her, the entire first floor was engulfed in smoke and there was no chance to save anything. Smyr claimed that no one contacted the authorities about the fact that the gallery building was in a fire emergency state, but her words were refuted by local scholars who stated that there had already been a fire in the gallery in 2014 and that after that the de-facto authorities in Sokhumi had been asked to look into the matter of improving the storage and safety conditions.

Olga Lyubimova, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, commented that the fire was a “real tragedy” and a “humanitarian disaster” for the occupied Abkhazia and that Russia is sending specialists to help with the restoration work.

President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili called the incident a “tragedy for us all.” She deplored it as a “direct consequence of the neglect of cultural identity” by the Russian occupiers and the de-facto authorities in Abkhazia.

“I call on the international community to revive its attention to the protection of our cultural heritage in the occupied territories,” President Zurabishvili added.

The gallery was established in 1963. The self-proclaimed “first president” of occupied Abkhazia provided the gallery with its current building.

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