{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = New Athos |native_name = ახალი ათონი, Афон Ҿыц, Новый Афон, Νέος Άθως |other_name = Akhali Atoni, Afon Ch'yts, Novy Afon, Neos Athos |nickname = |settlement_type = town<!--For Town or Village (Leave blank for the default City)--> |motto = |image_skyline = New Athos Monastery.JPG |imagesize = |image_caption = New Athos Monastery |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |city_logo = |citylogo_size = |image_map = Nový Atos.svg |mapsize = |map_caption = Location of New Athos in Abkhazia |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |pushpin_map = Georgia#Georgia Abkhazia |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_map_caption = |pushpin_mapsize = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{Flag|Georgia}} |subdivision_type1 = Partially recognized <br/>independent country <!--Country--> |subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Abkhazia}}{{efn|name="Abk"}} |subdivision_type2 = District |subdivision_name2 = Gudauta |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = |subdivision_type4 = |subdivision_name4 = |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = Mayor |leader_name = Feliks Dautia |leader_title1 = <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager --> |leader_name1 = |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |leader_title3 = |leader_name3 = |leader_title4 = |leader_name4 = |established_title = <!-- Settled --> |established_date = 6th century BC |established_title2 = <!-- Incorporated (town) --> |established_date2 = |established_title3 = <!-- Incorporated (city) --> |established_date3 = |area_magnitude = |unit_pref = <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired--> |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion--> |area_land_km2 = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion--> |area_water_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_urban_sq_mi = |area_metro_km2 = |area_metro_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 2011 |population_footnotes = |population_note = |population_total = 1,518 |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_density_metro_sq_mi = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = |population_density_urban_sq_mi = |population_blank1_title = |population_blank1 = |population_density_blank1_km2 = |population_density_blank1_sq_mi = |timezone = MSK |utc_offset = +3 |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = +4 |coordinates = {{coord|43|05|3.3|N|40|49|2.64|E|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags--> |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = |postal_code_type = <!-- enter ZIP code, Postcode, Post code, Postal code... --> |postal_code = |area_code = |blank_name = |blank_info = |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |website = |footnotes = }} <!-- Infobox ends --> '''New Athos''' or '''Akhali Atoni'''{{efn|{{bulleted list|{{lang-ka|ახალი ათონი|Akhali Atoni}}|{{langx|ab|Афон Ҿыц|Afon Ch'yts}}|{{langx|ru|Новый Афон|Novy Afon}}|{{langx|el|Νέος Άθως|Neos Athos}}}}}} is a town in the Gudauta Municipality of Abkhazia{{efn|name="Abk"|{{Abkhazia-note}}}} situated some {{convert|22|km|0|abbr=on}} from Sokhumi by the shores of the Black Sea. The town was previously known under the greek names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, and later Psyrtskha.

New Athos Cave is one of Abkhazia's tourist attractions.

==History== {{stack|thumb|Anakopia fortress}} The excavations at the Anakopia Fortress which is located at the edge of the town showed that it functioned in the 5–12 centuries CE,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Амичба |first1=Г. А. |title=Новый Афон и его окрестности |date=1988 |publisher=Алашара |location=Сухуми |page=4|lang=ru}}</ref> though some archeologists date the construction of the defences to 7th century. Anakopia is associated with the fortress of Tracheia mentioned by Prokopius.<ref name = braund>{{cite book |last1=David |first1=Braund |title=Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562 |date=1994 |publisher=Calendon Press |isbn=0198144733 |page=301}}</ref> Anakopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Abkhazian Kingdom after the archon Leon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved to Kutaisi.

Anakopia was ceded to Byzantine Empire by Demetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgia gained as a result of the Empire's defeat at Manzikert at the hands of Seljuks.

According to a tradition Simon the Zealot died in Abkhazia having come there on a missionary trip and was buried in Nicopsis. His remains were transferred to Anakopia in the 14–15 centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDowell |first1=Sean |title=The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317031895 |page=247}}</ref>

==Geography== Located between the Black Sea and the Iverian Mountain, New Athos is 17&nbsp;km far from Gudauta, 22 from Sukhumi and 84 from the Russian borders at Vesyoloye, a village near the city of Sochi.

==Administration== Vitali Smyr was reappointed as Mayor on 10 May 2001 following the March 2001 local elections.<ref name="press2001-92">{{cite news|title=Выпуск № 92|url=http://abkhazia.narod.ru/gb/1579|access-date=24 April 2016|agency=Apsnypress|date=10 May 2001}}</ref>

On 8 May 2003, Smyr was appointed Minister for Agriculture and released as Mayor of New Athos.<ref name=apress030508>{{cite news|script-title=ru:Выпуск № 088|url=http://www.apsnypress.narod.ru/2003/05_may-03/AP05-08-03.htm|access-date=18 April 2011|newspaper=Apsnypress|date=8 May 2003|language=ru}}</ref> On 19 May, Feliks Dautia was appointed his successor.<ref name=apress030519>{{cite news|title=Выпуск № 095|url=http://apsnypress.narod.ru/2003/05_may-03/AP05-19-03.htm|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=Apsnypress|date=19 May 2003}}</ref>

===List of mayors=== {| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |- style="background:#e9e9e9; font-weight:bold; text-align:left;" | # | width=240|Name | width=200|Entered office | | width=200|Left office | | width=200|President | width=200|Comments |- |colspan=8 align=center|'''Heads of the Town Administration:''' |- | |Vitali Smyr |1995 |<ref name=regnum117248>{{cite news|last=Kazenin|first=Konstantin|title=Первый месяц "окопного" правительства: Абхазия в СМИ 1-18 мая 2003|url=http://www.regnum.ru/news/117248.html|access-date=14 March 2013|newspaper=REGNUM News Agency|date=19 May 2003}}</ref> |8 May 2003 |<ref name=apress030508/> |rowspan=2|Vladislav Ardzinba | |- |rowspan=3| |rowspan=3|Feliks Dautia |19 May 2003 | <ref name=apress030519/> |12 February 2005 | | |- |12 February 2005 | |29 May 2011 | |Sergei Bagapsh | |- |29 May 2011 | |Present | |Alexander Ankvab | |}

==Main sights== ===Monastery=== [[File:New Athos temple.JPG|thumb|right|St. Simon the Canaanite church in the New Athos (VI–VIII cc.)]] thumb|right|''Psyrtskha'' railway station thumb|right|New Athos Cave In 1874 Russian monks from the overcrowded Rossikon Monastery on Mount Athos arrived to the Caucasus in order to find a place for possible resettlement. They feared that the Ottoman Empire would oust the Russians from Athos after the outbreak of the impending Russo-Turkish War. They selected Psyrtskha, and the Neo-Byzantine New Athos Monastery, dedicated to St. Simon the Canaanite, was constructed there in the 1880s with funds provided by Tsar Alexander III of Russia. Eventually Russian monks were permitted to stay in the "old" Athos, and the New Athos monastery had much less occupancy than anticipated.

In 1924, during the Soviet persecution of religion, the monastery was closed. It was later used as a storage facility, tourist base, hospital and museum. Its return to the Orthodox Church began in 1994, after the end of the war in Abkhazia.

The scenic setting of the New Athos monastery by the sea has made it a popular destination with Russian tourists visiting Abkhazia.<ref>International Crisis Group, [http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/caucasus/georgia/202-abkhazia-deepening-dependence.aspx Abkhazia: Deepening Dependence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427182317/http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/caucasus/georgia/202-abkhazia-deepening-dependence.aspx |date=27 April 2010 }}, p. 6</ref> An older church of St. Simon the Canaanite, dated to the 9th-10th century and reconstructed in the 1880s, is located near the town, on the Psyrtskha stream.

===Hydroelectric power station=== New Athos has a small hydroelectric power station and artificial lake on the Psyrtskha river, close to the old Church of St. Simon the Canaanite. The station was built by the monks of the monastery between 1892 and 1903 and repaired in 1922. It remained broken for over forty years before being repaired again – it was re-opened on 4 June 2012. It produces an estimated 100&nbsp;kW "per hour {{sic}}" for the monastery which still owns it.<ref name=apress6391>{{cite news|title=4 июня в Новом Афоне торжественно откроют ГЭС на реке Псырцха.|url=http://apsnypress.info/news/6391.html|access-date=31 May 2012|newspaper=Apsnypress|date=29 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109113252/http://apsnypress.info/news/6391.html|archive-date=9 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=apress6429>{{cite news|title=В Новом Афоне ввели в эксплуатацию малую ГЭС на реке Псырцха.|url=http://apsnypress.info/news/6429.html|access-date=6 June 2012|newspaper=Apsnypress|date=4 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811141719/http://apsnypress.info/news/6429.html|archive-date=11 August 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Cave=== {{Main|New Athos Cave}} New Athos cave is a karst cave in the Iverian Mountain, few km far from the town.<ref>[http://www.showcaves.com/english/misc/showcaves/NovyAfon.html New Athos Cave at showcaves.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203164039/http://www.showcaves.com/english/misc/showcaves/NovyAfon.html |date=3 December 2008 }}</ref> Since 1975 it is served by the New Athos Cave Railway.<ref>[http://metro-novyafon.narod.ru/sys-e.htm New Athos Cave Railway at metro-novyafon.narod.ru]</ref>

==Twin towns – sister cities== {{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Georgia (country)}}

New Athos is twinned with: *{{flagicon|RUS}} Sergiyev Posad, Russia *{{flagicon|RUS}} Sarov, Russia *{{flagicon|RUS}} Ryazan, Russia

==See also== *Mount Athos

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|New Athos|'''New Athos'''}} *{{Wikivoyage-inline|New Athos}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDpjbL7tJSc Hydroturbine Pelton on Mount Athos 100 kw Athos Greece] (video)

{{Cities and towns in Georgia (country)}} {{Administrative divisions of Abkhazia}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Gudauta District Category:Sukhumi okrug Category:Georgian Black Sea coast