Georgia's Sanatorium Refugees

Tskaltubo, Georgia · Photographs by Taylor Weidman

In the Soviet era, the spa town of Tskaltubo drew tens of thousands of visitors each year to its grand sanatoriums and radon-rich baths. When war broke out in Abkhazia in the early 1990s, families fleeing the fighting were given temporary shelter in the town's empty sanatoriums. Nearly three decades later, many are still there. Thousands of internally displaced people live in the crumbling buildings, with no heating and few jobs, cutting wood each summer to survive the winter. The government has begun moving some families into new apartments, while developers eye the ruins for hotels. For many of the children raised in the decaying ballrooms and hallways, these sanatoriums are the only home they have ever known.

A couple on a date stand atop Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. This beautiful columned sanatorium remains popular with couples on dates and wedding parties taking photos.

Roman Masivani (yellow shirt) and Tristan Gigusiani (white) cut wood in a hallway at Sanatorium Tskaltubo in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. The sanatoriums are not heated, so residents collect wood during the summer and stockpile it for the cold winter months.

Nodari Kometiani, 80, sits outside his room at Sanatorium Imereti in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Kometiani was promised that by this autumn, he would be able to move into a new apartment, but he doesn't believe it will happen.

Lamze Giorgadze, 78, sits on an upstairs landing at Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Giorgadze has Parkinson's and needs to use a walker to move around.

Young men relax by a pool at Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. The pool is popular among residents and young people from various sanatoriums meet here to swim.

A view of the abandoned lobby at Sanatorium Iveria in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. The Iveria is empty and there are plans to reopen it as a modern hotel.

Barbare Metreveli (8) plays in a former restaurant across from the rooms at Sanatorium Samgurali in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Metrveli's mother and grandmother had to flee their home in Abkhazia and make a difficult trek through the Caucasus Mountains to escape.

Nargize Chkhubadze watches as her children, Mariam and Oto, play at Sanatorium Imereti in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Chkhubadze worries about the safety of her children in the crumbling ruins of the sanatorium.

A young boy rides a tricycle down a hallway at Sanatorium Tskaltubo in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. For many of the younger residents, these old sanatoriums are the only home they have ever known.

Mabana Kopaliani is photographed outside her room at Sanatorium Gelati in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. Kopaliani is a devoutly Georgian Orthodox and keeps religious pictures and items in her apartment.

After showering, a man walks up the stairs in the lobby at Sanatorium Metallurgi in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. Sanatoriums were given nicknames depending on which types of Soviet workers were sent there.

IDP children play outside an abandoned Sanatorium in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Skateboarding is a popular pastime.

Men chat in a courtyard at Sanatorium Tbilisi in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. Aside from a few tourism jobs, very little employment is available to the thousands of IDP's in the town.

Residents from nearby towns have their wedding photos taken at the ruins of Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Medea is an incredibly photogenic sanatorium, and during the summer months, it's common for multiple wedding photo shoots to take place each day.

Jana Managadze, 42, carries a bicycle up stairs at Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. 10 families of IDP's still live in this sanatorium.

Jana Managadze, 42, sits with her two children outside Sanatorium Medea in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. Managadze has been moved into a new apartment by the government, but has returned to visit family.

Murtazi Vekua, 52, and Khatuna Meshveliani, 45, sit outside and talk with their neighbor, Lamara Kirtadze at Sanatorium Rkinigza in Tskatulbo, Georgia on… — Murtazi Vekua, 52, and Khatuna Meshveliani, 45, sit outside and talk with their neighbor, Lamara Kirtadze at Sanatorium Rkinigza in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 15, 2019. With little to do, residents can be found relaxing and talking outside the sanatoriums most evenings.

Residents play at Sanatorium Merani in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. There are many children living in the sanatoriums, and parents worry about flooding, fire, collapses, and falls.

Laundry hangs at Sanatorium Metallurgi in Tskatulbo, Georgia on June 16, 2019. There is more than enough room in the sanatoriums hallways and ballrooms to hang laundry indoors.