Chembalo Fortress (Crimea): description, photo, history

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Cembalo - a fortification on the coast of Crimea, is an architectural monument, which is located in the city of Balaklava. At the moment, the ruins of an ancient building are located on this site, serving as the main attraction of the city.

The citadel on the mountain is a bright representative of medieval buildings on the Crimean peninsula. The complex of defensive buildings, located on Mount Kastron, above the famous bay, inspires respect and reverence even in the form of ruins.

Crimea - Cembalo fortress

At the turn of the millennium, Kastron Bay is mentioned in the writings of such famous men as Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder and others, but none of them mentioned any village, even the smallest one. The first mention of a settlement on the mountain dates back to the X-XIII centuries.

Cembalo Fortress is separated from the city by a deep cleft. Burials were recently found near it, dating back to the time before the appearance of the Genoese in these places.

No other buildings that would confirm the appearance of human settled settlements before this period were found. It is necessary to conduct more thorough archaeological excavations, which can confirm or deny the presence of human settlements or settlements in the area of the mountain and the bay. Castron until the 10th century AD.

How did Balaklava come about?

In the city itself, people have lived since time immemorial. So, it is known that the Greeks, who came to the outskirts of the city, found Taurians in these places, who were engaged in fishing and piracy.

The Greek village was independent until the first century AD, until it was occupied by Roman troops who decided to put an end to the pirate attacks of the Taurians.

During archaeological excavations in 1996, a temple of Jupiter, built by the Romans, was found, which, together with the settlement, existed until the 4th century.

Cembalo Fortress. Origin History

According to historical records, the Genoese appeared in the Balaklava region in 1343, taking land from the Greek aristocrats. In the northern part of the mountain, the new owners dug a moat, built a rampart and surrounded it all with a wooden palisade.

On the northeast side of the mountain they built a stone tower with a gate. Until now, tourists can see these structures, or rather, what is left of them.

In 1354, 11 years after the Genoese set up their camp on Mount Kastron, Khan Janibek, one of the Horde commanders, approached their walls. The Latins did not want to enter into conflict with him and left their shelter, and the khan simply burned the remaining empty buildings.

Two years later, peace was concluded between the Tatars and the Genoese, and the former owners returned to their place.

Balaklava fortress Cembalo was soon restored, and in 1357 replenished with new defensivefacilities.

Designation of defensive structure

The fortress helped the Genoese safely trade with the Black Sea territories and control the local population. For many years it withstood repeated sieges and tough battles of Chembalo. The fortress in 1433 was captured by Prince Alexei, Tsar Theodoro. A year later, troops sent from Genoa returned it to its former owners. But already in 1475 it was taken over again, only now by the Turks.

In the middle of the 19th century, a battle unfolded under its walls between the British and the Balaklava Greek garrison, who fought to the last bullet. In 1941-1942, the fortress housed a Soviet rifle regiment, holding the defense against the advancing German divisions. It was at this time that the Cembalo fortress received the most severe destruction in its entire existence. Even with a powerful earthquake in 1927, not a single tower was destroyed in the fortress.

Cembalo - a museum under the sky

Currently, the ruins are a major monument of military architecture of the Middle Ages, which can be visited by everyone at any time.

Cembalo Fortress, the description of which is preserved in ancient chronicles, was built in a strategically convenient place. On one side there is a steep cliff into the sea, and on the other there is a bay. This location of the structure makes it possible to make maximum use of terrain folds for the defense of the fortress and the bay, as well as for control over seaways. After all, it was worth putting a strong wall on the land side, as the structure turned out to be almost impregnable. By the way, a medieval fortification in Sudak has a similar design. There the citadel has only three walls, and instead of the fourth - an impregnable cliff. Cembalo was built in the same way.

The fortress starts from the embankment, from the ancient market and the port. In ancient times, its walls served as protection for the residential areas of a small settlement. The walls are built of Crimean stone with lime mortar.

Fortress structure

Sixteen stone towers were placed along the perimeter of the defensive structure, the ruins of some of them can be seen even today. At the top of the mountain is the highest building of the citadel, called the donjon. The structure was protected by eight additional towers arranged in a circle. The Cembalo Fortress, the photo of which is in the article, had a consular castle inside, a customs office and a church, which most likely served as a burial place for eminent residents.

Donjon, as conceived by the architects, would be the last refuge if the fortress walls were captured or destroyed. It was three-tiered, with a flat roof. The ground floor was folded in the form of a cut cone, inside of which a container with water was placed. The inhabitants of the fortress took water from Kefalo-Vrisi, which still serves as a source of water supply for modern Balaklava.

On the second floor of the citadel there were living rooms. The remains of a fireplace were recently found there. On the third floor wassentinel. At night or in bad weather, the central tower served as a lighthouse. Numerous cellars were located under the donjon, which were intended for storing food and ammunition.

Citadel today

Now the Chembalo fortress is in ruins, there are four towers left, part of the retaining and protective walls, as well as the ruins of the church. In 2008, heavy rain eroded a long-standing depression in the masonry, causing the northeast wall of the citadel to collapse.

This fortress is one of the most visited places by tourists who come on an excursion to Sevastopol and its environs.

If you climb to the top of Mount Kastron, where the keep of the fortress is located, you will see an amazing panorama of the city of Balaklava, which is comfortably nestled in the bay, on the surrounding amazing terrain.

Every summer, numerous excursions are held here, and in the fall, knightly tournaments are held on the ruins of the ancient fortress.

Next to the ruins there is a tourist path leading to the famous Balaklava beaches, called Golden and Silver, as well as to the tract Fig.

From 2004 to 2007, Ukraine spent about 2.5 million hryvnia (about 8 million rubles) on the reconstruction and restoration of the fortress ruins, but these funds are not enough to fully restore the ruins and turn them into a tourist complex that displays architectural fortifications Medieval and capable of attracting even more visitors.

Road to Balaklava

There are no difficulties for travelers and tourists to visit the Cembalo Fortress. How to get to the ruins? To do this, you just need to get to Sevastopol, because Balaklava is its suburb. Further, everything is simple. A bus runs four times a day to a cozy town in the Black Sea bay with ancient ruins. Travel time is 25 minutes. You can also hitchhike as there are many shuttle buses running along this road.

You can go to Balaklava through Y alta by car. The distance between cities is 75 kilometers. You can get from one city to another in one hour.

There is another route that allows you to visit the Cembalo fortress in Balaklava. You will have to go from Simferopol, the capital of the peninsula, by one of the regular buses that run four times a day. Travel time is 2-2.5 hours.

Excursion routes to the fortress

To get to the Chembalo fortress, you can use three popular excursion offers:

- "Secret Balaclava". The route begins with a plant for the repair and re-equipment of underwater vehicles, then a boat trip and at the end - a visit to the ruins of the fortress. The duration of the tourist path is six hours, of which at least half is a walk on the open sea and swimming. The length of the route is 50 kilometers.

- "Listrigon Bay". The duration and length of the excursion is the same as in the previous route. The difference of this path is that the boat trip is carried out on a yacht to Cape Fiolent - a paradise oncoast of the Black Sea.

- The third excursion route begins with the sights of Balaklava and continues with a sea voyage to Cape Aya and the Lost World tract. The tour ends on Mount Kastron, where the Genoese fortress Cembalo used to be, whose ruins with the remains of towers and walls tourists can see in our time.

Interesting historical facts about Cembalo

The fortress itself was divided into two parts: the Upper City, dedicated to St. Nicholas and located on the top of a mountain, and the Lower City, named after St. George, located on a hillside.

In the Upper City, all the administrative buildings necessary for the functioning of the fortress were built, and in the Lower City - residential buildings for the inhabitants of the citadel.

Two treasurers, a judge, a bishop, an elder, as well as messengers, trumpeters and several dozen shooters lived in the fortress.

The main population of the bastion were the Genoese, who had full power in the region, including in trade. Greeks, Tatars, Jews, Armenians and Slavs also lived in the fortress.

Conclusion

For those who want not only to plunge into the heady beauty of the nature of the southern coast of Crimea, but also to touch the memory of medieval Balaklava, to feel the spirit of ancient structures that have seen numerous battles and sieges, victories and defeats in their lifetime, it is recommended to visit the mountain Kastron and the ruins of the Chembalo fortress standing on it. The view that opens from the top of the mountain will not leave anyone indifferent.