Recently returning from Tsebelda, I drove to "Yasochka" Voronov’s  family estate, located a mile from the road. Built in 1876, the estate is unique  because it is  the only surviving monument  of aristocratic landowners living in  the second half of the nineteenth century in Abkhazia. Despite its remoteness from Sukhum - in the nineteenth century thirty kilometers were a solid distance, once it was  full of life. If in the morning the ship brought to Sukhum correspondence and fashionable magazines from Paris, then in the afternoon at any time of the year on the horses  all was delivered to "Yasochka."

         Exiled to the Caucasus disgraced Russian aristocrats reproduced their habitual way of life, and floating in the majestic Kodor gorge eagles heard wafting from the bottom  the sounds of a concertina or the piano. Here come the guests, Low - dressed ladies talked at the light of kerosene porcelain lamps, here they read aloud literary novelties and illegal works, argued passionately about the fate of the motherland.


         Now there is desolation, which seems never to end. The last time I was here two years ago with  the company, whom  the widow of Yuri Voronov, Svetlana showed  the estate and  the surrounding area. This was also  sad but romantic - two deserted houses,  in the main one someone  living invisibly, without  permission of the mistress going through a black door and sleeping in the living room, in front of a fireplace. Perhaps they are hunters.  A huge yard with century-old trees and shrubs, with overgrown flower beds enchanted with the  atmosphere of a rich past, it seemed, we hear the voices and see the flickering among the trees figures in  dresses to the floor.

         Now this place is hard to recognize - cut boxwood, viburnum and other vegetation, yard unrecognizable. After returning home, I called Svetlana, who  with a killed voice said, yes, she was aware, the house a mess, too: if you had spent the night there, people tried not to leave rubbish behind, now on the table there are  food remains, everywhere butts,  the garden bench  was dragged into the living room? an old boiler was stolen. Svetlana even had to write a note asking to behave carefully. Last year, on the 70th anniversary of Yuri Voronov  the Cabinet of Ministers has allocated about 100 thousand rubles  to the Administration  of Gulripsch district for bringing order to the area around Voronov’s houses. Svetlana is now lost in conjectures - the administration  thus "cleaned up", cutting down too much, or anyone else tried?

         In Soviet times there was a branch of the local history museum, completely looted during the Georgian-Abkhaz war.  Codor Gorge gradually is becoming popular among tourists, it's time to think about expanding tour facilities. Why not the  Gulripsh District Administration   think about recovering "Yasochka"  since there is a position  of a  researcher with a salary of 6,000 rubles. It is located not far from the road, tourists will enjoy to buy cheap tickets for viewing the estate.

                                                                                         Nadezhda Venediktova