Gagra (Georgian: გაგრა; Abkhaz and Russian: Гагра) is a town in Abkhazia/Georgia,[note 2] sprawling for 5 km on the northeast coast of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains.

It is located in the western part of the Region of Abkhazia, and river Psou serves as a border with Krasnodar Krai of Russia.

Colchis came under the control of the kingdom of Pontus in the 1st century BC before being absorbed by the Roman Empire, which renamed the town as Nitica.

The western merchants were expelled and the town entered a prolonged period of decline, with much of the local population fleeing into the mountains.

Its population, however, was still small; in 1866, a census recorded that 336 men and 280 women, mostly local families or army officers and their dependents, lived in Gagra.

Having raised a large sum of money from the government, he built a palace there for himself and constructed a number of other buildings in an eclectic variety of architectural styles from around Europe.

Despite the expensive work, the resort was not initially a success, although it did later attract a growing number of foreign tourists visiting on cruises of the Black Sea.

[10] In the Russian Revolution of 1905, a local uprising produced a revolutionary government in the town, which founded a short-lived Republic of Gagra.

It became a popular holiday resort for Soviet citizens and during World War II gained a new role as a site for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.