National Library and Archives

Thursday evening I had dinner with Boris Cholaria and a cousin of his Yuri.  Boris is the director at the Abkhaz National Library and Archives, where Yuri assists.  I had a great time with both of them.  I heard a lot of interesting stories including that of a mutual relative who is said to have reached the age of 147 before his death in 1947.

The next day I met Boris and he and Yuri gave me a tour of the Library and Archives.  Before we entered the building Boris showed me the place where a Georgian tank had shot a hole in the wall.  I was also shown photographs of the pile of ash that resulted from the deliberate burning of irreplaceable books and documents by the Georgian Army during the 1992 -93 war.  Boris is directing the efforts at preserving and restoring the documents and books that remain.  It was difficult to see this sad consequence of the war and the opposition's efforts to forever destroy a nationality's cultural heritage.

The library is in need of funds to repair the building which was badly damaged by fire and water damage.  They are also fighting a battle against time to catalog, restore and preserve what remains.   This is a story that deserves attention in the west.  There are a lot of people working hard to rebuild Abkhazia and its future, but few are doing more important work than Boris and Yuri and in absolute anonymity.  They are doing this out of a love of books and their unique culture.