Yana Vinetskaya exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
110 years ago, Prince Alexander Petrovich Oldenburg, charmed with the beauties and climate of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, presented the idea of making these places as popular among Russian aristocracy as France's Nice. Oldenburg princes belonged to Holstein-Gottorf line of Oldenburg House. They were direct successors of Georg Ludwig Holstein who was recruited by Peter III to the Russian service. They assimilated and were always thought to be strange people.
In the early 20th century, the establishment of the Caucasus Riviera was one of Oldenburg’s cranks. The center of the Caucasus Riviera had to be Gagra. Gagra is situated at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, on the bank of a wide emerald harbor. The town easily conquered travelers’ hearts with its beauty and majesty. But the main resort advantage of Gagra was its climate which was surprisingly mild for the Caucaus. High mountains covered with forests protected Gagra from cold winds. “An average annual temperature was +15 C here, like in Nice,” Grigory Moskvich’s guidebook noted. “Moreover, from September to January the weather in Gagra is much warmer than in Nice, while in summer temperatures are identical.”
Construction of the resort began in 1901. The prince got to work with full energy and enthusiasm. In two years the official opening ceremony of the Gagra Climate Station took place. Telegraph, telephone station, electricity, water supply line appeared in Gagra. The prince wanted to make the town be a high-society resort which could be a competitor to European resorts. He built a palace on the bank of the sea, water hospital, cottages, big summer houses, hotels, and restaurants; he constructed a road to the mountains, founded the wonderful Primorsky Park which impressed guests by rare exotic decorative plants. Palms from the Canary Islands, China, and South America, magnolias, Himalayan cedars, agaves, lime and orange trees grew there. An original system of park ponds was developed, and swans lived on them. The government paid exclusive attention to Gagra resorts. More than 5 million rubles were spent for it development.
Prince Oldenburg made a really significant argument in favor of establishing the Caucasus Riviera – Russian wealthy people wouldn’t spend money in Nice, but come to Gagra, so capitals would stay in Russia.
But Fazil Iskander opened another, secret plan of Prince Oldenburg: “The true goal of the prince was to create a cozy island of a perfect monarchy, the rule of order, justice, and full consolidation between a monarch and people. Palaces and cottages grew on the wild coast; the park, the port, the electricity station, a hospital, hotels, and finally the prince’s pride – a labor refectory with two rooms for Muslims and Christians – were opened in Gagra.”
However, the prince couldn’t be saved by the services of common people. When the First World War began, Russia forgot about resorts and the prince was sent to St. Petersburg for service in the top commandment. He didn’t come back to Gagra. In 1917 he left to Finland and then to France. His Caucasus Nice turned into a Soviet resort.
