Kolkheti National Park
national park
Kolkheti National Park (Georgian: კოლხეთის ეროვნული პარკი), is a national park located in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Guria in the historical region of Colchis in western Georgia. The wetlands of Central Kolkheti are a Wetland of International Importance, a Ramsar Site. It lies on a coastal plain on the Black Sea, between the mouths of the Tikori and Supsa and spanning the districts of Zugdidi, Khobi, Lanchkhuti, Senaki and Abasha. The park was established during 1998 and 1999 as part of Georgia's Integrated Coastal Management Project, which was backed financially by the World Bank (WB) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Kolkheti National Park covers an area of 28,940 hectares and with protected wetlands protected area spans to 33710 hectares, incorporating the land of the former 500-hectare Kolkheti State Nature Reserve, which had been established in 1947, and its surrounding wetlands, including the lake Paliastomi. Because of its unique forests and wetlands, and high numbers of threatened species, the park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands site in 2021.
History
Ancient history of Kolkheti
Kolkheti National Park was once part of the tropical and partly subtropical zone of the Tertiary period that stretched over the continent of Eurasia. Around 2000 BC, the first Georgian state, Kolkheti, better known as "Colchis", was created here and was the place in which the first Georgian coinage, "Kolkhuri Tetri", was minted. Colchis features in Greek mythology as the rim of the world, and has been mentioned in historical chronicles across western Asia and eastern Europe since ancient times. Colchis appears in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and his pursuit of the Golden Fleece.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kolkheti National Park” as national park. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as national park. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1444561. Authority coordinates are 42.111, 41.696. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 1999, 1947 and 2021.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kolkheti National Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kolkheti National Park primary sources, Kolkheti National Park archive and Kolkheti research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kolkheti National Park”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kolkheti National Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.