International Summer School "Abkhazia: from the Ancient Times to the Present (Historical-Culturological Aspects)". Collection of School Materials

The “International Seasonal (Spring) School: “Abkhazia from the Ancient Times to the Present (Historical-Culturological Aspects)” is the project of the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts. It is implemented in partnership with the Sokhumi State University. The project is financially supported by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia.
The aim of the School is to to create the space where application of up-todate knowledge and methodology for understanding the autonomous republic of Abkhazia – an inalienable part of Georgia – its history from the middle ages to the present is alive and functioning, In line with modern standards the project envisages enhancing background for bringing together and conveying the knowledge accumulated in this branch of study; against the background of overwhelming falsification and politicization tendencies it moreover acquires central importance to develop a standing mandate for setting competency and thorough application of up-to-date methodology as a working mode of the School procedure so that the School participants have access to information that stems from reliable sources and this way they can
improve their topical knowledge as well as raise their awareness of the subject matter in general.
Further, as it sets forth the topical questions within the field of historical and culturological research of subject it defines prospective research criteria for it and forms partnerships, this way it promotes integration of Georgian scholars within the international academic research milieu.
The academic program of the School in synthesis with various other activities (round table and panel discussions, interactive simulation) covers the lecture course.
For the sake of illustrating history of the region of Abkhazia the School lecture thematic included most of branches of the discipline of history: political history (ancient period, middle ages, modern and contemporary periods), church history, historical geography, history of culture (architectural, fresco and miniature arts, analysis of the literary culture) the ethno-linguistic studies and research in the source study (narrative, documentary, epigraphic).
The material herein was subdivided within the following 5 learning modules:
1. Terms “Abkhazian” and “Abkhazia”
2. Abkhazia from the Ancient Times to The Middle Ages.
3. From the “Kingdom of Abkhazia” to the Occupied Territory
4. Ecclesiastical processes in Abkhazia
5. Abkhazia: Cultural Heritage
6. Abkhazia in the collections of the National Centre of Manuscripts
The collection herein represents annotations of each lecture. Each topic has its bibliography with sources and monographs.
The leading scholars/ of the National Centre of Manuscripts share their research results as well as methodology to the School participants.
The School is an environment that functions as a platform for bringing together representatives from different institutions (educational and scientific centers) of Georgia, including Abkhaz researchers as well as foreign researchers. Their biographic directory/reference/tehe directory of their biographies is a second part of this collection.