Welcome to Crimea !
Welcome to peninsula Crimea, one of the most unforgettable place favoured by nature, historic, cultural, unique “world in miniature”.
Crimea was formed in IV-XII centuries by sinking of the Continental Shelf on the north-west of Black Sea. Now only 8 kilometers srtip of land connects Crimea with continent. Crimean climate is also unique, because Crimean peninsula has the form of island, which has influence on the weather, fauna and flora. Mild Mediterranean climate, warm temperate atmospheric temperature lasts during half of the year – from May till November.
The peculiarity of Crimea is a variety of natural conditions: chains of mountains, in 3 lines they are bordering South coast of Crimea, some mountains have the form of giant tables, and some are like majestic tents, cave towns, that were built by ancient civilizations, triumphant temples and quiet monkeries with centuries-old history, a lot of tarns and even some waterfalls, Grand canyon of Crimea, the most narrow-gauge of canyon between mountainsides doesn’t exceed 3-5 meters.
Culture and history of many nationalities are interknitted in Crimea, in close vicinity live Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Jewish, Greeks, Armenians, Koreans, Karaites, Italiens, Germans. The diversity is seen everywhere in architecture, food, national holidays. So for example, in Bakhchisaray – there is the Muslim’s centre, the capital of Crimean Khanate, famous palace Hansaray, belonged to the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray is a neighbour of orthodox Assumption Monastery, was built in a rock close to cave town Chufut-Kale, from the earliest times it was inhabited by Karaites,who Tatars thought to be Jewish that is why they called fortress “Jewish fortress”. Another outstanding example of mixture of nature, culture and religion is modern children’s resort town Yevpatoriya, with magnificent long sand beaches, appropriate for both children’s bathe and surfing, flat landscape, peloid lakes (healing mud), boundless steppe with lonely standing trees, this small but very cosy town will surprise with unique mixture of religions at one place, which was called “Small Jerusalem”. On the short route not more then 1 kilometer some temples of different confessions are located, the representatives of them are living in Yevpatoria.
History of Crimean peninsula is interknitted with great many legends and stories, fairytales and anecdotes. Every inhabited locality has its unique history. Feodosia is the most ancient town, it is more then 2500 years old, and older then Moskow, Paris or Kiew. Sevastopol, hero-city, city of Russian glory, seaport – unfulfilled dream of many conquerors, who dreamt to possess this land; city was rased to the ground 2 times, and again was rebuilt. In 5 century on the place modern Yevpatoria appeared Greek colony Kerkinitida. Simferopol is the former capital of Scythia with remaining ruins of ancient Neapol Scythius, the age of town estimates 40000 years. Yalta is famous for residention of last Russian Tzar Nikolai II and pompous sample of architecture – palace of Graf Vorontzov.
Chufut-Kale is one of the best preserved and best known towns. It is located near Bakhchisarai on the plateau of a mountain spur which dominates three deep valleys. Nature itself planned the inaccessibility of this town, while man reinforced the natural defenses with fortifications.
After the defeat of the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanatr became considerably stronger. The significance of Kyrk-Or as a stronghold declined, and the Crimean Khan Menglis-Girei moved his capital to Bakhchisarai. The old town remained a citadel of Bakhchisarai and a place of incarceration for aristocratic prisoners.
In the mid-17th century Tatars left Kyrk-Or. Only Karaites remained to live there. They were the descendants of ancient Turkic-speaking Khazars, whose state in the 7th – 10th centuries included parts of the Crimea. In the 8th century the Khazar Kaganate adopted Judaism. Tatars considered Karaites to be Jews, hence the town graudually acquired the name of Chufut-Kale, which in Turkic meant “Jewish fortress”. After the Tatar departure, Karaites lived there for over 200 years. They adopted Karaism, a doctrine which rejects rabbinism and talmudism and bases its tenets on the interpretation of the Pentateuch. With time, the word “Karaite” came to refer to the name of the people.
After the Crimea’s conquest and its inclusion into the Russian empire, the Karaites declared their loyalty to the new rulers. In return the government granted them privileges, enabling them to live anywhere in the empire. From that time on, Chufut-Kale became deserted. Its dwellers left the plateau and settled in cities. By the mid-19th century the town ceased to exist.
