The State of Georgian Cultural Heritage in Tskhinvali – Research

The Georgian Committee of the Blue Shield (working on the protection of cultural heritage) has published a report on the state of the Georgian cultural heritage in the occupied Tskhinvali region.

The report contains data on the state of 737 monuments, including churches, fortresses, museums, palaces and other buildings.

The authors of the study assessed the condition of the monuments by category using open sources and Google Earth images.

324 monuments could not be identified on the map. In the case of 25 sites, the resulting images were of such poor quality that their categorization failed.

Of the 324 monuments identified on the map, 35 are in “good” condition, 72 are in “average” condition, and 139 are in “bad” condition. » the fate of 25 monuments.

The study also gives the causes of damage.

• During the fighting, 23 monuments were damaged or destroyed, including 12 churches, 5 museums, 2 palaces and 4 other types of buildings;
• In the course of work since 2008, 26 monuments have been damaged or destroyed, including 21 churches, 1 museum, 1 palace and 3 fortresses;
• Due to the lack of attention to them, 95 monuments were damaged or destroyed, including 49 churches, 34 fortresses, 3 museums and 9 other types of buildings;
• There are 45 monuments near the military facilities, including 25 churches, 16 fortresses and 4 other types of buildings;
• One museum and one church were damaged by looting and pogroms.

According to the authors of the study, part of the cultural heritage sites were located in villages that were completely destroyed during the 2008 war. Later, Russian military installations or housing were located in their place. One such village is Tamarasheni north of Tskhinvali.

Blue Shield also created online mapwhere you can look at the monuments of cultural heritage in the occupied territories.