The most famous fortresses of Crimea

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

Surely everyone has noticed that nowhere you feel the transience of time so sharply and vividly as in dilapidated castles - witnesses of the former glory and greatness. On a small piece of land, almost completely surrounded by the turquoise water of the sea, the Crimean peninsula, you can find an incredible number of fortresses from different eras. Some of them are in excellent condition today and continue to amaze with their majestic beauty, others have turned into ruins. And we can only guess what they really were. However, there is something in common that unites all the fortresses of the Crimea. This is their amazing environment: picturesque mountains, framed by greenery and flowers, turquoise skies and a magnificent horizon.

Historical heritage of Crimea

This wonderful peninsula in different periods of its existence was under the rule of different powers, and hence different cultures. That is why the Crimean fortresses are so different from each other. There is also veryancient, in the Hellenistic style, and medieval European, and Jewish, and Muslim. Every year, thousands of tourists come here to visit the ruins of ancient architectural monuments, travel back in time and get in touch with history.

Tauric Chersonese

This fortress is called Russian Troy. It is located near the hero city of Sevastopol. Archaeologists believe that Chersonese is over 2000 years old. It was founded in the 5th century BC and existed until the 15th century AD. This fortress served as a stronghold for the Pontic kingdom, and then for Ancient Rome and Byzantium. Since each of the lords of Chersonese wanted to make the city more fortified and impregnable, by the Middle Ages the height of the fortress wall reached 5 meters, width - 4 meters, and length - 3 kilometers.

A particularly noteworthy building is the flanking tower of Zenon, one of the first owners of the fortress. The ancient theater, which is the only one on the territory of the former USSR, and the central square - the agora, and the basilica within the basilica (a medieval Christian church) have also come down to us. At the very end of the 20th century, the fortress of Chersonesos was included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list as one of the 100 most outstanding monuments of world culture.

Kalamita Fortress

The first foundation stones of this majestic building were placed by the Greeks in the VI century on the site of the city of Inkerman. The fortress was erected to protect Chersonese. Kalamita has a great location. She is protected from all sides.from enemies by natural guards - cliffs. Other fortresses of the Crimea have the same location. For reliability, walls were often erected around them and a ditch was dug.

Today, only ruins remain of its former glory. However, they also give us an idea of what the fortress was like in the days of its glory. Under Kalamita you can see the cave monastery. It is two centuries younger than the fortress itself. In the Middle Ages, Kalamita belonged to the Principality of Theodoro, protecting the port of Avlita from an external enemy. For some time the city-fortress was the main port of the principality, after the fall of which it fell under the dominion of the Genoese, Turks, Tatars.

Aluston

Like other Crimean fortresses, Aluston has survived to this day almost completely in a ruined state. It is located in the center of Alushta, among residential buildings. This fortress, like Kalamita, was built in the 6th century AD at the insistence of the Emperor of Byzantium, Justinian I. It served to protect the locals from nomads. In the Middle Ages, the Genoese attacked the fortress, captured it and reconstructed it in their own way. In the middle of the 15th century, Aluston was destroyed by the Turks who captured it. After that, the fortress was no longer restored. In the late 90s of the last century, the Ukrainian authorities built a departmental sanatorium on the territory of the fortress. Today, only one round tower of Ashaga-Kule remains from it.

Medieval fortresses of Crimea

In the 12th-14th centuries, the peninsula was often attacked by the Genoese. It is they who arebuilders of medieval fortresses. By the way, they most often chose the ruins of cities as a place for their work. The Genoese trusted the instinct of the Crimeans in this matter. Between modern Alushta and Gurzuf, several fortresses were built precisely in the Middle Ages. When the Khazars attacked the Gorzuvity fortress in the 8th century, they destroyed it almost to the ground. However, the Genoese who sailed to the peninsula built another fortress in the same place, but in the Mediterranean style.

Genoese fortress in Sudak

This wonderful structure also has an ancient history. In its place, the first buildings were made in the 5th-6th centuries, precisely at the time when the Byzantine rulers had power over the Crimean peninsula. The Genoese fortress, the photo of which you see in the article, was built later by the Italians who came to the peninsula. Some of its fortifications have survived to this day. Today, various festivals are often held in these parts, which attracts large flows of tourists to this area.

Funa

The name of this fortress is translated from Greek as "smoking". The Funa fortress in Crimea is also located in the Alushta region - in the valley of Mount Demerdzhi. She played the role of an eastern outpost and was a help for the Aluston fortress. Funa is of particular importance for the inhabitants of Alushta, and the Crimea as a whole. Legend has it that one of the Goth queens was buried here. It is said that she lay in a coffin with a golden crown on her head. Of course, many dream of finding her among the ruins of the castle, but all searches so far have beenuseless.

Ottoman rule

Yeni-Kale is translated from Turkish as "a new fortress". It rises on the rocks on the shore of the Kerch Strait. The author of the construction was the Italian architect Goloppo. They say that he changed his Christian faith to Islam, so many see an oriental trace in his "handwriting". At one time, a garrison was located inside the fortress. It consisted of a thousand people. Since 1771, the Turks who occupied the fortress gave it to Russia, and at the end of the 2000s, a treasure with 77 gold coins was discovered here. Yeni-Kale is the most famous Turkish fortress on the peninsula. Crimea, of course, was not easy during the Ottoman rule. However, after the departure of the Turks, beautiful fortresses remained on the territory, which today are among the best local attractions.

Conclusion

This is just a small group of fortresses that were built by different lords of the peninsula. That's why their architecture is so different. You can see it even in the ruins.