Tskhinvali

Coordinates: 42°13′30″N 43°58′12″E / 42.22500°N 43.97000°E / 42.22500; 43.97000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tskhinvali
ცხინვალი (Georgian)
Цхинвал, Чъреба (Ossetian)
From the top, View over Tskhinvali, Parliament Building, St. Astvatsatsin Church
Moscow time)
ClimateDfb
Map

Tskhinvali (

Great Liakhvi River approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi
.

Name

The name of Tskhinvali is derived from the Old Georgian Krtskhinvali (Georgian: ქრცხინვალი), from earlier Krtskhilvani (Georgian: ქრცხილვანი), literally meaning "the land of hornbeams",[4][5] which is the historical name of the city.[6] See ცხინვალი for more.

From 1934 to 1961, the city was named Staliniri (Georgian: სტალინირი, Ossetian: Сталинир), which was compilation of Joseph Stalin's surname with Ossetian word "Ir" which means Ossetia. Modern Ossetians call the city Tskhinval (leaving off the final "i", which is a nominative case ending in Georgian); the other Ossetian name of the city is Chreba (Ossetian: Чъреба) which is only spread as a colloquial word.[7] The name Chreba comes from the Georgian Ḳreba (Georgian: კრება), literally meaning "gathering" due to the city historically serving as a trading point.[8]

History

The area around the present-day Tskhinvali was first populated back in the

Sarmatian
elements.

A vintage photo of Tskhinvali by D. Rudnev, 1886.

Tskhinvali was first chronicled by Georgian sources in 1398 as a village in

Georgian Jews, 34.4% Georgians, 17.7% Armenians and 8.8% Ossetians.[9]

The town saw

Soviet census
(in 1989), Tskhinvali had a population of 42,934, and according to the census of Republic of South Ossetia in 2015, the population was 30,432 people.

During the acute phase of the

Georgian-Ossetian conflict, Tskhinvali was a scene of ethnic tensions and ensuing armed confrontation between Georgian and Ossetian forces. The 1992 Sochi ceasefire accord left Tskhinvali in the hands of Ossetians
.

Russo-Georgian War

Main article: Battle of Tskhinvali
The monument to the victims of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict near the Armenian church in Tskhinvali

A considerable part of the population of South Ossetia (at least, 30,000 out of 70,000) fled into

1991–1992 South Ossetia War.[13] However, Mark Ames, who was covering the last war for The Nation, stated that Tskhinvali's main residential district, nicknamed Shanghai because of its population density (it's where most of the city's high-rise apartment blocks are located), and the old Jewish Quarter, were completely destroyed.[14]

Geography

Climate

Located in the Caucasus, at 860 metres (2,820 ft) above sea level, Tskhinvali has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), with an average annual precipitation of 805 millimetres (31.7 in). Summers are mild and winters are cold, with snowfalls.

Climate data for Tskhinvali
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 1.9
(35.4) 		3.3
(37.9) 		7.8
(46.0) 		14.2
(57.6) 		19.5
(67.1) 		22.8
(73.0) 		25.2
(77.4) 		25.4
(77.7) 		21.2
(70.2) 		15.8
(60.4) 		8.7
(47.7) 		4.0
(39.2) 		14.2
(57.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) −2.6
(27.3) 		−1.4
(29.5) 		2.8
(37.0) 		8.1
(46.6) 		13.3
(55.9) 		16.6
(61.9) 		19.1
(66.4) 		19.2
(66.6) 		14.9
(58.8) 		9.9
(49.8) 		4.1
(39.4) 		−0.4
(31.3) 		8.6
(47.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −7.1
(19.2) 		−6.0
(21.2) 		−2.2
(28.0) 		2.0
(35.6) 		7.2
(45.0) 		10.4
(50.7) 		13.1
(55.6) 		13.0
(55.4) 		8.6
(47.5) 		4.1
(39.4) 		0.5
(32.9) 		−4.7
(23.5) 		3.2
(37.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 46
(1.8) 		46
(1.8) 		52
(2.0) 		74
(2.9) 		97
(3.8) 		97
(3.8) 		75
(3.0) 		66
(2.6) 		60
(2.4) 		68
(2.7) 		65
(2.6) 		59
(2.3) 		805
(31.7)
Source: Climate-data.org[15]

Present

21 August 2008. Valery Gergiev with Mariinsky Theatre opera in Tskhinvali.

Currently, Tskhinvali functions as the capital of South Ossetia. Before the 2008 war it had a population of approximately 30,000.[citation needed] The town remained significantly impoverished in the absence of a permanent political settlement between the two sides in the past two decades.

On August 21, 2008, a world-known[16] Russian conductor and director of the Mariinsky Theatre, of Ossetian origin, Valery Gergiev conducted a concert near the ruined building of South Ossetian parliament in memory of the Ossetian victims of the Russo-Georgian War.[17]

Transport

There was a railway service before 1991 at the Tskhinvali Railway station connecting the city with Gori.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Georgia

Twin towns and Sister cities

Tskhinvali is twinned with the following cities:

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. ^ South Ossetia's status is disputed. It considers itself to be an independent state, but this is recognised by only a few other countries. The Georgian government and most of the world's other states consider South Ossetia de jure a part of Georgia's territory.
  2. ^ Статистический сборник за январь-июнь 2019 г. Entry from September 4, 2019 on the website ugosstat.ru. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  3. ^ https://www.gov.ge/en/tskhinvali-region
  4. ^ (in Russian)Словарь географических названий.
  5. ^ Bedoshvili, Guram (2002). Etymological-Explanatory Dictionary of Georgian Toponyms. Tbilisi: Bakur Sulakauri Publishing. p. 479.
  6. Georgian Kingdom
    "), Вахушти Багратиони. Retrieved from vostlit.info on 24. August, 2008.
  7. UK) (2007) "Georgia: a toponymic note concerning South Ossetia"
    .
  8. ^ Натиев, Ф. (1873). "Цхинвали" (PDF). Кавказъ (in Russian) (36). Тифлисъ: 1f.
  9. ^ "Цхинвали. Электронная еврейская энциклопедия". 2006-07-04. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  10. ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR – UNHCR secures safe passage for Georgians fearing further fighting". UNHCR. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Мы полагаем, что мы в полной мере доказали состав преступления - Пресс-центр - Интерфакс". Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  12. ^ "Список погибших жителей Южной Осетии". Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  13. ^ Илларионов Андрей. "Эхо Москвы :: Разворот Ситуация в Южной Осетии и Грузии: Андрей Илларионов". Эхо Москвы. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  14. ^ "How To Screw Up A War Story: The New York Times At Work – By Mark Ames – The eXiled". Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Climate: Tskhinval". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  16. ^ "Life and tempo of a maestro". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 September 2006.
  17. ^ "South Ossetians enjoy requiem concert in shattered capital". The Guardian. August 21, 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  18. ^ Не школьные разговоры (Not school talk), Rossiyskaya Gazeta 22. December 2008.
  19. ^ Архангельская область восстанавливает югоосетинскую 5-ю школу (Arkhangelsk region is restoring the South Ossetian 5th school), Komsomolska Pravda 11 March 2009.
  20. ^ АРХАНГЕЛЬСК - ЦХИНВАЛ: ДРУЖБУ УКРЕПЛЯЕТ СПОРТ (ARKHANGELSK–TSKHINVAL: FRIENDSHIP IS STRENGTHENED BY SPORT), City of Arkhangelsk 27 June 2009.
  21. ^ Сообщение пресс-службы Министерства иностранных дел Республики Южная Осетия (Press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia), South Ossetian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 12 May 2021.

External links

Look up ცხინვალი in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tskhinvali.

Sites

Pictures

References

  • Tsotniahsvili, MM. (1986). History of Tskhinvali (in Georgian). Tskhinvali.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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