50 Apsars The Dormition Cathedral of Lykhny

Lykhny holds an unusual place in Abkhazian political memory: the village square adjacent to the Dormition Cathedral was the site of the 1989 Lykhny Assembly, where tens of thousands gathered to demand the restoration of Abkhazia's 1978 status as a Union Republic, separate from the Georgian SSR. That meeting is widely considered a foundational moment in the chain of events leading to the 1992–1993 war and eventual de facto independence.

The Bank of Abkhazia issues coins recognized by almost no sovereign outside Russia and Nicaragua — the apsars themselves have never functioned as everyday circulating currency.