Hanging over the sea, a stunningly beautiful castle stands on the Aurora rock. This is the symbol of Crimea - the Swallow's Nest. There is an amazing architectural monument in the village of Gaspra, twenty kilometers from Y alta. The castle really looks like a swallow's nest: it bravely hovered over the waves, attaching itself to the very edge of a 40-meter sheer cliff, towering over the coast between Livadia and Miskhor.
The Gothic-style building attracts countless tourists here. Vacationers, with bated breath, admire the magnificent views that open from a dizzying height, capture themselves against the wonderful backdrop of the castle. It seems as if the Swallow's Nest exists without land between sky and sea - this feeling of improbability is what makes the structure so attractive.
The history of the castle is intertwined with many legends. Local guides tell them with rapture, and tourists listen with no less rapture, looking down with bated breath. However, the real history of the castleThe swallow's nest is also very interesting. It was first mentioned in 1895, which means that the building already existed by that time. Initially, it was a dacha: a wooden one-story house, boldly built on a rocky patch. The name of the creator, unfortunately, has not been preserved. It is only known that he was a romantic general and called his dacha the Castle of Love (the second name is Generalif). Then the doctor A. K. Tobin became the owner of the house. The dacha was inherited by his wife, who in 1903 sold it to the merchant Rakhmanina. At that time, the name "Swallow's Nest" was assigned to the building.
Further on, the German baron von Stengel became the owner of the dacha. It was he who decided to build a miniature castle in 1912 on the site of the house. So on the Black Sea coast appeared a palace, as if transferred from the banks of the Rhine, reminiscent of knightly medieval buildings. The building with a three-tier high tower is amazing. It is so well located on the edge of a cliff that it is not even immediately possible to determine its very small dimensions: 10 meters wide, 20 meters long and 12 meters high.
When the First World War began, the baron departed for Germany, prudently selling the building. The new owner, the merchant Shelaputin, converted the Swallow's Nest into a restaurant. Then the castle was nationalized by the Soviet authorities. During a powerful earthquake in 1927, the structure was partially damaged, and after a new earthquake in 1966, it began to sag altogether. Due to the danger of collapse, the Swallow's Nest was closed to the public.
Restoration of the castle began in 1968. The work was difficult and dangerous. It takes great courage to work on the abyss in a suspended cradle, so only volunteers were involved in the work. The cracks were filled with stones and filled with concrete. They laid a reinforced concrete monolithic slab under the base, surrounded the building with anti-seismic belts, and then carried out the restoration of the building.
Today this building is a well-known landmark, a monument of history. There is a restaurant inside the castle. A park is laid out around, there are two sanatoriums here. The observation deck offers a magical view of Ayu-Dag, Y alta Bay and Y alta itself. Here is such an amazing place - Swallow's Nest. How to get here? There are several ways: by minibus, trolleybus, car or regular boat.
