Dzau or Dzhava (Ossetian Dzau, Georgian ჯავა – Dzhava) is an urban-type settlement (since 1961) in the Transcaucasus.
According to the administrative-territorial division of partially recognized South Ossetia, which controls the village, it is the administrative center of the Dzau district of South Ossetia; according to the administrative-territorial division of Georgia – the center of the Java municipality of the Shida Kartli region of Georgia.

Geography
Located 22 km north of the former Tskhinvali railway station and 133 km northwest of Tbilisi; in the valley of the Bolshaya Liakhvi River (left tributary of the Kura), on the slopes of the Greater Caucasus (at an altitude of up to 1120 m), covered with mixed forests (oak, beech, fir, spruce, pine).

Climate
The climate is subtropical humid. Winter is mild, snowy; average temperature in January -4 °C; stable snow cover lasts from mid-December to mid-March. Summer is warm; the average temperature in July-August is 18 °C. Precipitation is 950 mm per year, more than half of it falls on April-October. The average annual relative humidity is 72%. Number of hours of sunshine approx. 2200 per year.

History
From 1846 to the 1920s, the village was in the Dzhavsky rural administration of the Gori district, Tiflis province of the Russian Empire.
The village was destroyed several times by the Georgian nationalists Mensheviks, and rebuilt again, thousands of refugees passed through Dzau on foot to the North Caucasus, to the city of Vladikavkaz, part of the people from the village, and in general from South Ossetia, settled in the modern village of Nogir, north of Vladikavkaz.
By the decision of the Regional authorities, the South Administrative District of Dzau was transformed into a regional center, and in 1960 received the status of an urban-type settlement.
During the Soviet era, it also actually had the role of the second significant settlement in South Ossetia, was a resort and health center of the region.

On April 29, 1991, among many settlements of South Ossetia, Dzau was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, there were no casualties among the villagers, since the Dzauts during the earthquake were at a rally against the Gamsakhurdia regime.
In September 2007, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of building a military base in Java, but did not confirm his accusations in any way.
During the armed conflict in 2008, the Georgian Air Force was dropped on the village a five-hundred-kilogram bomb, which was subsequently blown up by Russian sappers. After Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia in 2008, it is possible that, subject to the conclusion of an appropriate agreement, a Russian motorized rifle brigade will be stationed in Dzau.
On February 1, 2009, on the basis of the 693rd and 135th motorized rifle regiments of the 19th motorized rifle division in Dzhava, the 4th Guards military base of the Russian army was founded. On April 7, 2010, the Ministers of Defense of Russia Anatoly Serdyukov and South Ossetia Yuri Tanaev signed an agreement on a joint Russian military base in South Ossetia.

Resort
Along with the mild climate, the resort resources of Java are mineral waters, which have been known to the local population for a long time. However, they began to be used for medicinal purposes only from 1927, when a boarding house for 50 people was built here (since 1937 – a sanatorium for 200 people). Hydrogeological work in the Dzhava region was carried out in 1928-32 by an expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; in 1935-36, employees of the Georgian Scientific Research Institute of Balneology and Physiotherapy studied the composition and medicinal properties of Java mines. water. According to the chemical composition, they belong to carbonic hydrocarbonate-chloride sodium; contain bromine (up to 8 mg/l) and iodine (up to 2 mg/l), their mineralization is 5-7 g/l. The daily flow rate of two wells is 20 thousand liters. Mineral water has medicinal properties and is used for drinking treatment and bottling (at a plant in the village of Java, called “Dzau-Suar”).
There is a trade union sanatorium “Java” (200 seats), a camp site. In summer, in the vicinity of the resort there is a children’s health camp.