Oni, Georgia

Oni (Georgian ონი ) is a city in the Georgian region of Racha - Letschchumi and Niederswanetien. It is the administrative seat of the homonymous municipality Oni and has about 3,000 inhabitants ( 2009).

Location

The place is located in the north-central part of Georgia approximately 150 line kilometers northwest of the capital Tbilisi and 25 kilometers east of the regional capital Ambrolauri on the left bank of the Rioni above the confluence of the left tributary Dschedschora. About 30 kilometers northeast of the city runs the main ridge of the Greater Caucasus to the Russian border. In the vicinity of Oni, the mountains rise to over 2000 m above sea level.

History

The territory of the present-day town Oni was inhabited by archaeological finds from the Bronze Age; come from later periods there coins found that were associated with the kolchisen culture of the 6th to 3rd century BC. The exact founding year of the place is unknown. First written references date back to the 15th century. In consequence was Oni capital of the Principality of Racha, a vassal state of the Kingdom of Imereti. 1810 Oni came with this to the Russian Empire and received 1846 ( Russian ) city rights as the administrative headquarters of the governorate Ujesds Ratscha Kutais.

In the Soviet period, several surrounding villages were incorporated, and the city administrative center of a Rajons. In recent decades, Oni was pulled several times by earthquakes and avalanches affected. On 29 April 1991, the city from the worst in this part of the Caucasus ever recorded earthquake ( 7.0 on the Richter scale; MSK IX) was badly damaged.

Oni has long been one of the most important centers of the Georgian Jews. Due to the wave of emigration after 1990 are only a few Jewish families remained; Nevertheless, the Jewish community Oni the third largest of Georgia is Tbilisi and Kutaisi.

Interior of the synagogue

Coat of arms of Oni from the time of the Russian Empire (19th century)

Note: 1897-2002 census data, in 2009 calculation

Culture and sights

In Oni ruins of old fortification equipment from the time of the Principality of Racha and several Georgian Orthodox churches have been preserved, as are the synagogue from the 1880s to 1890s, which was created by a Polish architect and built by Greek Jews from Thessaloniki. Since 1952 there is a local history museum, now called Racha Regional Museum, with an extensive collection of archaeological, ethnographic, numismatic, natural history and other exhibits.

Economy and infrastructure

In Oni, there are enterprises of the light and food industry ( wine, dairy products).

Through the town the Ossetian Military Highway, which the Rioni goes downhill from Russia via the 2,820 m high Mamisson Pass of the Great Caucasus coming over Ambrolauri to Kutaisi runs. In Oni a road branches off to the Dschedschora extending upwardly in the eastern part of the municipality for 20 kilometers town Kwaissi and has continued following the Transcaucasian highway over Tskhinvali to Tbilisi and represents the shortest route to Central Georgia. Kwaissi and the surrounding area are, however, on the independent of the de facto Republic of South Ossetia claimed and controlled territory, so this route is closed, especially since the Caucasus war in 2008, because the transitions to South Ossetia are closed.

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Gerzel Baasowi (1904-1938), Jewish- Georgian poet and playwright
  • Mikheil Mrewlischwili (1904-1980), Georgian writer and playwright

Twinning

  • Israel Be'er Sheva, Israel
  • United States Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States
Administrative divisions of Georgia (country) Rioni River Colchis Uyezd Guberniya Raion Fitchburg (Massachusetts)
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