Author: Sulkhan Saladze

In the beginning of the 1880s, Batumi suddenly changed its appearance and became amazingly colourful and diverse.

Since 1878, everyone started travelling to Batumi one way or another. Europeans mostly chose to travel by boat, while others travelled by train and some by hoarse.

One could see so many people in Batumi: Georgian Catholics from Meskheti, Georgian Muslims wearing balaclava hats from upper and lower Ajara, Gurulis, Imerelis, influential and rich Armenians, Russians, Turks, Jews from Tbilisi and Artvini. Europe was also represented in Batumi – the French, the English and the German... In the words of Sergey Meskhi, after Batumi was declared „Porto-Franco“, „A lot of people started to arrive here... All of them are merchants. Everyone expects business here. They are running around, yelling, whispering, moving from one place to another, from morning till evening, renting places for a store, for a hotel, buying places, looking for „business““.

Beginning from April 1888, Batumi had the status of a self-governing city. Railways and trains had been introduced there a long time ago and there were many boats, big or small in the port of Batumi.

World-renown merchants, the Nobel Brothers and Alphonse Rothschild were exporting Baku oil through Batumi. Mantashev, Palashkovski, Sideridis and Richner followed the Nobel Brothers and Rothschild. In one part of the city, alongside the harbour, ordinarily one could hear conversations in Georgian as well as in Russian, Armenian, Turkish, Greek, English, German or French languages. In another part of the city, other things were important – German Resller and French D’Alphonse were building Batumi Boulevard.

As early as in 1885, French orientalist Jean Mourier underlined the European appearance of Batumi. According to him, as of 1885, consulates of the following nine countries were operating in Batumi: France, England, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Italy and the U.S. Soon the list was extended to include Greece, the Netherlands, Japan, Persia, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Number of shipping and exporting companies and their agencies were even more. As they say it, the city didn’t look like itself.

In business and influential circles of Europe, everyone knew about Batumi. Generally, it is very difficult to recall any other Georgian city that developed as fast as Batumi and at the same time, it was amazingly colourful from ethnic, religious or cultural perspective. It is likely that such colourfulness and diversity was one of the main reasons behind Batumi’s fast development. According to the population census of that time, Armenians, Russians, Jews and Greeks lived side by side with Georgians in Batumi. Their religious composition was also diverse – Orthodox and Catholic Christians, Muslims, Jews...

Against such background, there is nothing surprising about the visit of a Swiss botanist – Emil Levier and his companion Setphane Somier in Batumi. However, only a few of us know what the city was like through the eyes of Emil Levier.

In the evening of June 17, 1890, Emil Levier and Stephane Somier landed in Batumi following a 21-day travel that started in Florence, Italy. First impressions were unexpected. According to Levier, Batumi reminded him of the city of Turin in Italy, which also had rectangular buildings. However, unlike Turin, majority of buildings in Batumi were still under construction.

Even though we don’t know exactly in which hotel Mr. Levier and his companion were staying, it shouldn’t be difficult to guess. According to Levier’s records – „Here is a church of Orthodox Christians and a mosque of Tatars. Right in front of my windows, a mullah is standing, urging believers to come and pray“. Majority of first-class hotels of colourful Batumi were along the shoreline and Mikheil Street (currently, Zviad Gamsakhurdia Street). Via Mikheil Street you’d get to Azizie Mosque. Saint Nikoloz Greek Church was very close, while the closest first-class hotel between the church and the mosque was DE FRANCE. It is likely that the swiss botanist stayed at DE FRANCE. This print of Batumi from 1887 also illustrates the proximity between the European-style hotel and the mosque.

Let us go back to the Batumian adventures of Emil Levier. In his impressions about living in Batumi is the following entry: „When we observe locals we think we are in Europe“. There he also underlines the way Georgians dressed in Batumi. Long robe-like clothes pulled in the waist, with pockets on the chest. Everyone was wearing a dagger around their waist. Some of the women walking on the shoreline did not wear a chador and looked „Europeanized“, as they used to say. Others wore head-dresses with black ribbons. Such description of a Swiss is a clear picture of the diverse Batumi of that time, just like the city illuminated with kerosene and Batumi filled with oil reservoirs.

During his time in Batumi, the Swiss botanic met with Italian and English consuls, which was not an unexpected event. However, he was surprised that an employee of the Italian consulate spoke fluent Georgian. The Italian who lived in Batumi not only spoke Georgian but was also very familiar with the city and its suburbs. The employee of the Italian consulate showed Tamar Fortress and its surroundings to Levier and accompanied him during his travel in lower and upper Ajara.

On June 20, 1890, on the fourth day of his stay in Batumi, Emil Levier and Stephane Somier decided to travel to upper and lower Ajara, and so they did.

The Swiss botanist was not the only one who travelled in Batumi in late 19th century and saw the diversity of life in Batumi. Records of a number of other travellers include entries about uniqueness of the city. Today’s Batumi is a continuation of the old, amazingly colourful Batumi.

The document has been prepared with the support of I Choose Equality campaign, implemented within the Council of Europe project “Fight against discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech in Georgia”. Opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Council of Europe.