Batumi

Batumi’s story stretches back over two millennia to when ancient Greek colonists established trading posts along the Colchian coast—the legendary land of the Golden Fleece. The city’s name derives from the Bat River, and its deep natural harbor has made it a strategic prize throughout history. The Romans built the mighty fortress at Gonio to guard this gateway between East and West. Byzantines, Genoese merchants, and Ottoman rulers each left their mark before the Russian Empire acquired the city in 1878 under the Treaty of San Stefano.

The late 19th century transformed Batumi into a sophisticated European-style port city. As the terminus of the Baku-Batumi oil pipeline, it became one of the world’s most important petroleum shipping points. Grand neoclassical buildings rose along its streets, designed by Italian and German architects. The famous boulevard took shape in 1884 under French landscape designer Michel D’Alfons, earning him the title ‘kind genius of the Batumi coast.’ Today, with a population of around 187,000, Batumi blends this rich heritage with bold contemporary architecture, creating a city unlike any other on the Black Sea coast.