Fire in the National Art Gallery Foundation

Fire in the collections of the National Art Gallery, January 21, 2024 which irretrievably
destroyed almost 4,000 copies of works by Alexander Shervashidze-Chachba, Varvara
Bubnova, Boris Petrov, Vladimir Kontarev, Vitaly Lakrba, Valery Gamgia, Vitaly
Dzheniya, Amiran Adleyb, Olga Brendel and of many other authors is not just an
emergency, it is a cultural catastrophe of our country - our people. It is difficult to put
into right words that can describe the bitterness of the blow that was dealt to the
foundation of the cultural heritage of Abkhazia. The situation cannot be compared with
similar incidents in different countries of the world, in terms of the severity of the
consequences for an individual nation and state. In connection with the disaster, a
number of difficult questions arise and require clear answers which we do hope, will be
able to get from the competent authorities and government representatives soon.