What are the cave cities in the Crimea. Touching the world of ancestors. City of Crimean Jews Chufut-Kale

Chufut-Kale
Tepe-Kermen
bakla
Kyz-Kermen
Kachi-Kalyon
Chelter Marmara
Shuldan
Kyz-Kule

"Cave cities of Crimea" are called the ruins medieval cities, fortresses and monasteries located on mountain plateaus and rocky capes in the southwestern part of Crimea. Most of them are located in the Bakhchisarai region and not far from Sevastopol.

The first " cave cities Crimea" were founded presumably in the 5th-7th centuries. tribes inhabiting the Crimean steppes and foothills - the Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans, fleeing the invasion of nomads in remote mountainous areas.
In addition to natural fortifications - impregnable steep cliffs, mountain settlements were reliably protected by defensive walls, combat and watchtowers, fortress moats. Due to their favorable location near busy trade routes, they often turned into major centers crafts and trade. The reasons for the death of the "cave cities of Crimea" are different: some of them were destroyed by wars and devastating raids of nomads, others were abandoned by the inhabitants after the change political situation on the peninsula, when their population no longer needed to hide on high mountain plateaus behind powerful fortress walls. Many cities existed for several centuries, and the inhabitants of the last of them - Chufut-Kale - left the city in the middle of the 19th century. The most famous and most visited of these places are Chufut-Kale, Eski-Kermen and Mangup.

CHUFUT-KALE

Chufut-Kale - the best preserved "cave city", is located three kilometers from Bakhchisarai. The time of the foundation of the city is unknown: some researchers date it to the 6th century, others to the 10th-11th centuries. In 1299, the troops of the Golden Horde seized the fortress by cunning, placed their garrison in it and named the city Kyrk-Or, which means “forty fortifications” in Tatar. At the beginning of the XV century. artisans-Karaites settled in Kyrk-Ora - the descendants of the Turkic tribes, who professed a kind of Judaism. They built a new part of the city, and soon Kyrk-Or turned into a major center of crafts and trade in the South-Western Crimea.

In the fifteenth century the city became the fortified residence of the first Crimean Khan Hadji Giray, who fought for the independence of the Crimean Khanate from the Golden Horde. However, after the fall of the Golden Horde, the Kyrk-Or fortress lost its defensive significance. In the fertile valley at its foot was the capital - Bakhchisaray ("city in the gardens"), where the khan and his subjects moved, leaving only the Karaites to live on the top of the mountain. Since they were considered Jews, the city received its last title- Chufut-Kale ("Jewish fortress").

Local Karaites were artisans and merchants, sometimes engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. The richest of them kept shops in Bakhchisarai, but they were allowed to stay there only until sunset, and at night they had to return to Chufut-Kale. After the inclusion of Crimea into Russia in 1783, Catherine II allowed the Karaites to settle in Bakhchisarai, Evpatoria, Simferopol and other large cities of the empire. For Chufut-Kale, this was the beginning of the end: one by one, the inhabitants left the rocky plateau with harsh living conditions, and by the middle of the 19th century. the city was completely deserted. Most of the city buildings were dismantled by the residents themselves, who needed material for the construction of new houses in Bakhchisarai.

Today, city blocks are shapeless piles of stones that were once two-story, back-to-back houses. A peculiar monument of medieval architecture is the remains of the fortress walls of the city, the height of which reaches 10, and the thickness is 5 meters. At the southern gates of the city, the wall forms a "mousetrap" - a narrow passage into which the enemy fell, breaking through the gates covered with wrought iron. During the siege, a flooring was arranged over the passage, from which boiling water and tar were poured from boilers on the enemy. Nearby are four-tier battle caves. Prayer houses of the Karaites - kenas, well preserved to this day, were built in the 14th and 18th centuries.

The device of both kenas is the same. In the first room, sitting on the benches, the old people prayed, and in great hall- men. The women prayed separately on the balcony behind the wooden bars.

Another attraction of Chufut-Kale is the Karaite cemetery in the Josaphat valley, one of the oldest in the Crimea. Scientists believe that the most ancient burials on it date back to the middle of the 13th century. Back in the 19th century century-old oaks grew among the white-stone tombstones in the cemetery, cutting which was considered a great sin. Therefore, among the Tatars, the cemetery was called "Balta-Tiymez" (literally, "the ax does not touch"), and the khan's officials extorted regular taxes from the Karaites, threatening to cut down the sacred oaks in case of refusal.

ESKI-KERMEN

Like Chufut-Kale, Eski-Kermen (translated from Tatar - “old fortress”) was located on the top of a table mountain with sheer cliffs. The city was founded at the beginning of the VI century. and lasted until the end of the thirteenth century. The "Old Fortress" had a powerful system of fortifications at that time, and the sheer cliffs on which the city was located were practically impregnable. Eski-Kermen developed and flourished until the end of the 8th century, when it became one of the centers of the uprising against the Khazars, who oppressed the local population. Having suppressed the rebels, the Khazars completely destroyed the defense system of the city.

However, after that, life in the city did not die, and it existed for another five centuries as an open, unprotected settlement. Eski-Kermen was finally defeated and burned in 1299 by the Nogai hordes. Gradually, its ruins were covered with earth and overgrown with shrubs; only numerous caves remained unchanged.

Seven centuries have passed since the destruction of the city, but in some caves you can still see the remains of religious buildings. For example, the Temple of the Three Horsemen, which got its name from a fresco preserved on the wall above a grave carved into the rock. It depicts three horsemen, the middle of which - St. George the Victorious - strikes a serpent with a spear. Next to one of the riders on horseback, the figure of a boy is visible. Under the image are traces of the Greek inscription: "The church was carved and the holy martyrs of Christ were written for the salvation of the soul and the remission of sins."

In a cave to the east of the city gates there is a kind of tombstone with a cross carved in a circle. Archaeologists suggest that one of the prominent residents of the city was buried here, since according to the medieval tradition, the most honorable citizens were buried at the gate.
Numerous casemates have been preserved in Eski-Kermen, equipped with special holes in the floor, through which stones could be dropped on the attacker. There are grain pits not far from the casemates. Due to the frequent sieges of the city, they kept a constant supply of grain, replenished by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, who were hiding from uninvited guests behind the fortress walls.

MANGUP

“The rock on which this citadel rises has a circumference of 20,000 paces. That rock spread out like a flat plain, overgrown with grass and tulips, and around it the abysses gape a thousand arshins deep - real abysses of hell! — the Turkish traveler of the 17th century wrote about Mangup. Evliya Celebi. Mangup makes a similar impression of grandeur on travelers today, although more than two hundred years have passed since the last inhabitants left it. researchers do not have a common opinion about the time of the emergence of Mangup.

Excavations have shown that already in the first centuries of our era there was a small settlement on Mount Mangup, and the first fortress was built in the 5th-6th centuries. The remains of defensive fortifications that have survived to our time belong to a later period - the XIV-XV centuries, and inscriptions on stones and chronicle sources indicate that in the XIII-XV centuries. the city was called Theodoro and was the capital of the principality of the same name. It was ruled by princes from the noble Byzantine family of Gavras, who previously dominated Trebizond. In Russian chronicles, the principality was called Mangupsky, and in Western European documents it was often called "Gothia".

The Principality of Theodoro was one of the largest in the Crimea. During its heyday, its borders in the northeast reached the Kacha River, in the west - to the territories of Chersonesos, and in the south, before the advent of the Genoese, most likely, the principality belonged to the entire coast from Alushta to Balaklava. The inhabitants of Theodoro - Greek descendants of the Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans - were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing and handicrafts, fought, built fortresses and founded ports. Crafts and trade flourished in the Principality of Theodoro and its capital.

The tools found during the excavations testify to the development of blacksmithing, and the ceramics, among which Chersonesos is also found, testify to the intensive trade that was conducted by the principality. Here the interests of the Theodorites often clashed with the interests of the Genoese, who settled on the coast of the Crimea and were engaged in trade, which often led to wars. The Principality of Theodoro was considered a serious political force not only in the Crimea: the rulers neighboring states sought to enter into an alliance with him and entered into dynastic marriages. The sister of the last Mangup prince Alexander was the wife of the sovereign of Wallachia, Stephen III, and the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III intended to marry his son to another sister of the prince. The marriage was prevented by the invasion of the Turks in the Crimea.

In the summer of 1475, an army of thousands of Turks landed at the walls of Kafa (Feodosia) and soon occupied the entire coast. After the Tatars went over to the side of the Turks, the Principality of Theodoro was left face to face with a formidable enemy. The Turkish army approached Mangup, where they met the desperate resistance of its defenders. The siege of the doomed city lasted almost six months, the Turks stormed the fortress five times, but could not take it.

Only in December, the Theodorites, exhausted by hunger, laid down their arms and surrendered to the mercy of the Turkish pasha, who promised to spare the defenders of Mangup. Pasha did not keep his word: most of the inhabitants of the city, including Prince Alexander, were brutally killed, and the city itself was burned and destroyed. For another three hundred years, the Turkish garrison was stationed in the deserted city, and after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the last inhabitants left Mangup.

In addition to the defensive walls and cave casemates, the ruins of the citadel of the 5th-6th centuries, the early medieval cemetery, the remains of the church of St. Constantine and Helena, the ruins of street quarters and a large stone house, where, as researchers suggest, the palace of the rulers of Mangup, have survived to this day. In the southern part of the house there was a front hall with a terrace, the walls of which were decorated with frescoes, and the door frames were trimmed with marble. Not far from the house is the highest point of Mangup, which offers a majestic panorama of almost the entire territory. former principality Theodoro - from Chatyr-Dag and Babugan in the east to the Balaklava heights in the south. In the west, the expanse of the Black Sea sparkles, behind the nearby mountain Eski-Kermen is visible, in the north the rocks of Tepe-Kermen and Knchi-Kalyon are visible, and behind the hills of the foothills stretch the Crimean steppes - the cradle of the Crimean civilization, the beginning and end of the "cave cities".

In the evenings, by the fires, Crimean archaeologists sing a song with guitars about the beautiful Chersonesos adventuress Theodora, who managed to fall in love with the prince of a mountain state. He was so subdued by the beauty that he not only married her, but also renamed the country in her honor. So, her fate was inextricably linked with a unique architectural phenomenon, which is the cave cities of Crimea. Mangup, the largest of them, was the capital of the principality named after her.

A bit of geology

There are quite a few caves in Crimea where people have never lived. And this fact is directly related to the existence of cave cities. Features of the geological structure Crimean mountains are such that different rocks provide them with a kind of “layering”, which is especially susceptible to the action of water and other types of erosion. As a result, natural karst cavities are formed.

Often found in and limestone - a stone formed by bottom sediments ancient sea, from the bottom of which the peninsula rose at one time. Limestone is soft, easy to process, which is why it has been used for construction since ancient times. Thus, geology did a good job of ensuring that the ancient inhabitants of Taurida did not need the indispensable construction of housing on earth.

Dig - don't build

The history of the ancient and medieval world is full of wars. A person at that time could not feel safe if he was not protected by strong walls of a dwelling, and even better - a mighty fortress. But it was not easy to build such things on your own at the then level of development of technology. Consequently, the inhabitants of the Crimea turned their attention to natural fortifications - mountains and grottoes in them.

People of the Stone Age simply looked after a cave to their taste and settled in it - in the Crimea, many cave sites are known, starting from 100 thousand years BC. Having acquired more advanced tools, they began to change the shape of the dwellings provided to them by nature, making them more comfortable and reliable. The presence of settlements in Tauris is also mentioned by Greek and Roman authors. Scientists of a later time are sure that the tradition of their construction was not interrupted until the century.

Most of these residential complexes were actually built by Theodorites, but often they came to the site of an existing town. There is an opinion
that such construction stimulated the invasion of the bloodthirsty Huns. From the point of view of a man of the Middle Ages, life in caves had a number of significant advantages:

• did not have to build housing and fortifications with their own hands from beginning to end;
• the structure turned out to be very strong and reliable;
• the mountains, where the cave cavities were located, served as an additional line of defense;
• manually it was impossible to build a wall as reliable as a stone monolith.

The settlers changed the shape of the existing cavities (usually rectangular or vaulted rooms were obtained), cut out new chambers in limestone or other soft rocks, connected them with passages or blocked them off with partitions. There was no need for walls and towers - man-made fortifications were usually installed only from the side of the entrance to locality and they were small. Building material appeared during the construction itself - blocks of rock were taken out.

A modern person will not have to taste to live in a cold cave, even if it is a beautiful shape. But he is spoiled by the world, and medieval people were more worried about safety from enemies than about domestic comfort.

Cave towns, fortresses and monasteries

Cave towns of the Crimea according to their purpose can be divided into three groups:

1. Actually the city. It is especially rich in such monuments - in its vicinity are Mangup, Eski-Kermen, Chufut-Kale. They are characterized big square, many residential and commercial buildings. A significant number of people lived here permanently, and in case of war they turned into large centers of defense.
2. Defense complexes. Such fortresses were designed to give shelter to the surrounding population in case of war. There could be a sentry garrison. The permanent population was small, and their area is small. Examples are Kalamita, Syuyren fortress, Bakla, Tepe-Kermen.
3. Cultural buildings. Medieval monasteries have always been well-fortified castles, Crimean ones are no exception. The caves became churches, monks' cells, stores of their supplies. The most famous are the Inkerman Monastery, Chelter-Marmara, Shuldan-Koba.

Cave monasteries and cities of Crimea arouse strong interest among archaeologists, historians, just lovers of the past and all sorts of mystics and esotericists. Rare a tourist route the mountains do without visiting at least one of them. In total there are more than a dozen of them.

Capital of Theodoro

Mangup is the largest of the cave cities in the Crimea. It is elevated 200 m above the surrounding valleys - you will not envy the enemy who decided to storm it.
This opinion was fully shared by the Turkish conquerors. It is believed that it was they who called the city Mangup - "ill-fated", because of the number of losses incurred during its capture.

Photos allow you to appreciate the skill of medieval architects. The last inhabitants left the policy after, but even now galleries with columns, twisted stairs, and multi-level premises have been preserved in the rocks. The city was built by the Goths, who settled here during the Great Migration of Nations. They created the state of Dori (later Theodoro) - a powerful principality, allied to Byzantium, which conducted active trade and had strong international ties, in particular with Moscow.

And the beautiful Theodora, who found her prince here, is ready to help her descendants in the same. Local archaeologists say that in Mangup it is very easy to understand which person is your soul mate.

Cave cities on the map of Crimea

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The term “cave cities”, although it is well-established in science and everyday life, in fact has a number of conventions, given which this phrase is usually enclosed in quotation marks. This term also includes defensive fortifications, monasteries and settlements, once equipped in caves, often expanded and deepened by man. The rocks themselves were an impregnable fortress, people only thought of defensive structures. At the moment, all the "cave cities" of the inner ridge of the Crimean Mountains are part of the Bakhchisaray Historical, Cultural and Archaeological Museum-Reserve.

This is the most visited and accessible of the cave cities. It is located on the outskirts of Bakhchisaray, you can get there by public transport, then climbing on foot along a convenient path past the Assumption Monastery. By the end of the forest path passing by the cemetery, the eye will rest on sheer cliffs, dotted with buildings and gloomy eye sockets of caves and rocky canopies. Chufut-kale is located on a plateau, on one side of which there is a gentle rise, and on the other three - steep cliffs overlooking the valley. Archaeological studies have proven that this plateau was inhabited as early as the Neolithic, but the main fortifications date back to the 6th century and are attributed to the Byzantine settlement. The history of this city was written by several ethnic groups that succeeded each other: Alans, Greeks, Tatars, Karaites. The main attractions here, in addition to the grandiose view of the valley, are the streets, the ruins of a mosque, a catchment well, a Karaite kenassa, a five-meter-thick defensive wall, a mint, a prison and the tomb of Janike Khanym (daughter of Tokhtamysh Khan), shrouded in many legends. Nearby, in the "Jossaphat Valley", there is an old Karaite cemetery. The surroundings of Chufut-Kale are very picturesque, here Kramskoy painted several sketches for his canvas “Christ in the Desert”, local views are often found in the paintings of contemporary Crimean artists.

Mount Mangup is higher and more majestic than many surrounding mountains, three deep ravines divide it into four finger capes along which a defensive wall with towers runs from the north. A citadel rises on Cape Teshkli-Burun ancient city Theodoro. Traces of the first settlements here date back to the 3rd - 4th century, while the significance of Mangup began to fade in the first half of the 17th century. Scythian-Sarmatians, Goth-Alans, Greeks, Khazars and later Turks and Karaites lived here. This city had no equal in terms of territory and infrastructure, provided with water, with a total length of fortifications of 1500 meters, it could accommodate a large number of locals with livestock and property. There is a picturesque area around the settlement, the lake at the foot of the mountain attracts a large number of tourists and locals to rest all year round. The ruins of the majestic medieval city, the capitals of Theodoro Principality: fragments of walls of defensive lines, Karaite tombstones, a citadel and a siege well, a basilica, an octagonal temple, northern and southern cave monasteries.

Not far from Mangup there is a large impressive cave city, in which more than 350 caves have been preserved, available for inspection and visiting. The construction of the fortress dates back to the second half of the 6th century. Alano-Gothic warriors-federates were stationed there. This city has one of the most tragic fates- it was heavily destroyed, the first time at the end of the 8th century during the uprising against the Khazars. Despite this, temples have been preserved: the basilica, which meets the temple of the Three Horsemen rising along the southern path, carved in a rounded stone block, the Great Cave Temple in the shape of a shamrock, the cave temple at the city gates, the temple of Donators, the temple of the Court of an unusual shape, as well as the gate, the basilica and an impressive siege well, reached by 86 steps, very slippery and almost hewn. In the temples of the Three Horsemen, the Assumption and the Donators, the remains of Byzantine paintings of the XIII-XIV centuries.

Remains of the third largest city now almost destroyed economic activity monastery, which was formed in the XIX century in the caves under the fortress. Kalamita was formed to protect the gorge of the Black River in the time of Chersonesos. Later, in the XIV century, this fortification became the property of the princes Theodoro, known to us from travels to Mangup-Kala. Later, the Turks conquered the fortress, adapting it to the realities of a new invention - firearms. The ruins of the fortress are located on the upper tier of the rock, on both sides the fortress was protected by steep cliffs, and from the side of the plateau - by a wall, the ruins of which have been preserved, with towers and a moat. Now people are more attracted to a large monastery, located right on the cliff of the fortress, it has more than two hundred rooms and two churches. The monastery restored its activities in 1990. A little higher along the valley of the Chernaya River and on its other side there are many caves, incl. monastery churches.

It is more difficult to get to Tepe-Kermen, perhaps that is why this cave system studied least of all: it is necessary either to rise from the village. Machine, or go along the path from the rear gate of Chufut-Kale. Mount Tepe-Kermen is located above the valley of the Kacha River and resembles a volcano in outline - it is almost a regular cone-shaped shape, hence the name: peak-fortress. There was a settlement from the 6th to the 14th century. The most famous monument here is a cave church with a baptismal and an altar surrounded by six columns, of which, however, only half survived. There are different types of caves on Tepe-Kermen, with benches, with doors and hatches, tombs and cisterns for storing water, there are also several caves of an incomprehensible function without windows and half human height.

This cave city is located on a spur of the Inner Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, 8 kilometers from Bakhchisaray. One of the names of Mount Kachi-Kalyon is the Cross Ship, and indeed, if you look closely, the mountain looks like a nose huge ship, and the cracks on it form an image of a huge cross. Kachi-Kalyon is not very well studied archaeologically, and there is little written evidence of the city. Rooms, chapels with crosses and tombs, and tarapans were carved into the rocks. There are remains of a defensive wall that can be traced near the most interesting place on the mountain - the Hagia Sophia, which is carved into a separate piece of rock. Obviously, they were engaged in winemaking here - some feral vines can be found to this day, and some rooms were equipped with grape presses. There are 5 grottoes on Kachi-Kalyon, the source of St. Anastasia with water, which is considered healing, and even now you can meet many pilgrims there.

A. GLAZOVA (St. Petersburg)

What is Crimea associated with? Of course, with the sea and mountains. The Crimean Mountains are the Main Ridge and the Middle Ridge hiding behind it, where amazing cave cities are located, the remnants of the turbulent Crimean Middle Ages. The description of the cave cities appeared in the writings of the first Russian travelers, who found the ancient cities and settlements already dead, their ground buildings had been erased by time by that time.

MANGUP - THE FATHER OF THE MOUNTAINS

The middle ridge of the Crimean mountains. Kacha river canyon.

A grape press carved into the rock, preserved on Mount Mangup.

Mangup. Ruins of the prince's castle.

Science and life // Illustrations

Leaky Cape caves. 1. The staircase on the left leads to a large room, from which you can get into small cells. 2. The photo shows a pillar, the purpose of which is disputed by scientists.

Science and life // Illustrations

The fortress of Kalamita, which belonged to the Theodorites, and the fortress of Cembalo, which protected the Genoese.

Cave monastery Chelter-koba.

Shuldan cave monastery. In the picture - a platform with tombs.

Shuldan cave monastery. Semicircular altar with a stepped bench.

Caves of the Inkerman Monastery are carved into the rock under the ruins of the Kalamita fortress.

Eski-kermen. The entrance to the city is all that remains of a powerful wall with three gates located one behind the other.

Eski-kermen. Entrance to the Temple of the Three Horsemen. Inside the temple, a fresco has been preserved, on which George the Victorious and the rider are visible.

Chufut-kale is the southern flank of the eastern defensive wall.

Southern entrance to Chufut-kale.

The mausoleum of the daughter of Khan Tokhtamysh - Janike Khanym (1437).

In the valley of the river Kacha lies the cave monastery Kachi-Kalyon.

Science and life // Illustrations

The Assumption Cave Monastery was carved into this rock. In recent decades, it was restored, and this chapel was also built.

The church with the baptistery is a unique building in the city of Tepe-kermen (it flourished in the 12th-13th centuries).

In the cliff of the Baklinsky plateau, a city of farmers and winegrowers settled. This is evidenced by the preserved food pits and numerous winepresses for grapes.

The middle ridge of the Crimean mountains is much lower than the Main one, and the mountains here look like frozen waves: one slope is gentle, the other is steep. This form is called "cuesta". As early as the 4th-6th centuries, settlements began to appear on the flat tops of the cuestas, some of which later turned into fortresses. It was at this time that the first fortifications appeared on Mount Mangup. In later times, its majestic outlines gave rise to the second name of the mountain among the Tatars - Baba-dag, translated into Russian - the Father of the mountains. The Turkish traveler Evliye Celebi wrote about Mangup in 1666: "This rock spreads out like a flat plain ... and around it gaping abysses of a thousand arshins - real abysses of hell! Allah created this rock to become a fortress ..."

In the second half of the 6th century, a powerful Doros fortress grew on Mangup. This border point of the Byzantine Empire was intended to protect the borders from the steppe nomads. At the end of the VIII century, when most of the Crimea was under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate, the Doros fortress turned into a hotbed of anti-Khazar uprising - it was led by Archbishop John of Gotha. However, the uprising was brutally suppressed, as evidenced by the conflagration layer discovered by archaeologists.

In the tenth century, the Khazar Khaganate ceased to exist, and Mangup again became Byzantine. At this time, many local residents were engaged in viticulture and winemaking. On Mangup, grape presses carved into the rock have been preserved. They are easily recognizable by two tanks connected by a groove: grapes were crushed in a larger tank, must was drained into a smaller one.

The brightest pages in the history of Mangup fell on the XIV-XV centuries. Then the plateau turned into the capital of the powerful principality of Theodoro, headed by immigrants from Byzantium - the Gavras dynasty. Until now, the ruins of the princely castle and fragments of the fortress walls rise on Mangup.

The principality got its name from Theodore Gavras. It is known that in the second half of the 11th century he ruled Trebizond (now it is the territory of Turkey), did not spare money to support the monasteries, lived for some time as a hermit in the mountains, then led the fight against the Seljuk Turks, was captured and executed when he refused to accept Mohammedanism. The Greek Church honors Theodore Gavras under the name of Saint Theodore Stratilates ("stratilates" means "voivode"). The nephew of Theodore Stratilates, Konstantin Gavras, who fell into disgrace under the Byzantine emperor in the middle of the 12th century, was exiled to the Crimea. It was his descendants who united the lands around Mangup into the Principality of Theodoro.

The principality, which lay between the Tatar possessions (they occupied the steppe Crimea) and the Genoese colonies, stretched along the southern and east coasts, became a stronghold of Crimean Orthodoxy. Churches and cells of several monasteries were carved into the cliffs of the Mangup plateau. One of them is located at the tip of the so-called Leaky Cape. (It really looks full of holes, since the opposite walls of one of the caves have collapsed and a through hole has formed.) A staircase cut into the rock leads to a large room, from which entrances to small cells without windows have been cut. Hollowing out this complex in the rock, the ancient builders carved a vertical pillar in a large room, the purpose of which is still unclear. However, tourists are attracted by the booming sound that fills the cave when hitting it.

In the second half of the 14th century, the Principality of Theodoro became a serious competitor for the Genoese in the Mediterranean trade. In clear weather, the sea can be seen from the top of Mangup in the west. There in Sevastopol bay, located the port of the Theodorites, protected by the Kalamita fortress. Not far away, in Balaklava, was the fortress of Cembalo, which belonged to the Genoese. Such a confrontation is evidence of tense relations between neighbors.

The Principality of Theodoro, reliably protected from its neighbors - the Tatars and the Genoese, was unable to resist the Ottoman Turks who raided the Crimea in 1475. Having defeated all the fortresses, both the Theodorites and the Genoese, the Turks surrounded Mangup. The siege lasted for several months without yielding results. Finally, the Ottoman soldiers resorted to a trick: they imitated a retreat and thus lured Prince Alexander and his retinue out of the city, and then suddenly attacked them. Pursuing the princely squad, the Turks captured Mangup, ravaged and burned the city. The Principality of Theodoro turned into a kadylyk - a district of the Ottoman Empire.

On the territory of the Principality of Theodoro, in the cliffs of the cuesta, even today you can see several cave monasteries. For a long time, historians believed that their appearance was the result of the iconoclastic policy of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian: in 730, he declared the veneration of icons to be idolatry. And then some of the monks, who disagreed with the policy of the emperor, took refuge in the Crimea from his persecution. However, recent archaeological research has shown that not all cave monasteries date back to the 8th century. The monasteries of Chelter-koba, Shuldan and Chilter-Marmara appeared only in the 13th century. They did not have serious fortifications, and they were located near the roads, so the monks, apparently, felt themselves masters of the situation here.

Perhaps it was the Shuldan Monastery that was one of the residences of the metropolitan. In the spacious cave temple of the monastery, a semicircular altar with a stepped bench has been preserved. In the center of the altar are visible cuts for the throne. There are tombs carved in front of the altar. A few years ago, only rare tourists and local boys visited the temple. In the summer of 2001, a flat stone appeared in the place of the throne, and in the niche for the image there were small modern icons and a melted candle. Someone was doing a service here...

In the rock, on which the ruins of the Kalamita fortress rise, the caves of the Inkerman Monastery are carved. Having experienced numerous periods of prosperity and decline, now it has become active. Travelers passing by it are struck by the little church pressed against the rock and balconies built into the wall of the cliff.

According to legend, the first cave temple in Inkerman, the third bishop of Rome, St. Clement, was carved, exiled in the 1st century to the Crimea for preaching Christianity. But even in the Crimea, he gathered a small community and continued to preach. In 1634-1635, the priest Jacob, visiting the Crimean Khanate as part of the Russian embassy, ​​described Inkerman as a place where Christianity flourished in antiquity. He said that the Russian ambassadors found the relics of an unknown saint here and wanted to transport them to Rus'. The saint appeared to them in a dream and declared that he wanted to "still create Rus' here."

After 150 years, Catherine II annexed the Crimea to Russia.

Not far from Mangup is another large cave city - Eski-kermen. Its first defensive walls were erected in the 6th century, simultaneously with the Mangup ones. This fortification housed a garrison recruited by the Byzantine authorities from local residents to protect the approaches to Chersonesus, major port empire. Eski-kermen was many times subjected to raids by nomads, and he was also under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. Now the entrance to the city looks open and unprotected, but once there was a fortress wall with three gates located one after another. A tower rose above the main gate. Despite the complexity and apparent perfection of the defensive system, it was destroyed in the early Middle Ages, possibly during the suppression of the anti-Khazar uprising. Now only the cave casemates, stretching in a chain along the cliff, remind of the former impregnability of Eski-kermen.

But back to his best days. By the 12th century, Eski-kermen had become a major trade and craft center. At that time, apparently, it also had a great cultural significance - several cave temples testify to this. One of them is carved in a block that has broken away from the rock. In this temple, not only the altar was carefully carved, but also the sacristy, in which the ancient clergymen kept the items necessary for the sacred rites. Today the temple is called "Three Horsemen" - according to the fresco preserved inside.

It is easy to recognize St. George the Victorious in the central rider, striking a serpent with a spear. Regarding other warriors, there are only assumptions. Unfortunately, now the right figure is badly broken, but meanwhile it is she who seems to be the most mysterious. Behind the back of the rider on the croup of the horse, the image of a boy was previously visible. The tombs cut into the floor, one of which is clearly a child's one, suggest that George is depicted with local saints who died defending the city and were buried in the temple. According to another version, all three riders depict St. George the Victorious. The left warrior with a raised spear is the image of a reliable defender; right - George, rescuing from captivity a youth who asked in prayers for help.

The worship of holy warriors did not save the inhabitants of Eski-kermen from the attack of the Tatars. In 1299, hordes of temnik Nogai attacked the Crimea. The city ceased to exist at a time when the Principality of Theodoro was only gaining strength. For some time life was still glimmering on the plateau, but the raid of Emir Yedigey in 1399 dealt the final blow to Eski-kermen.

In 1578 Martin Bronevsky, the founder of Crimean studies, visited Eski-kermen. The picture he saw, even then, differed little from the present. Having examined the desert plateau with the ruins of houses overgrown with bushes and the ruins of the basilica, Bronevsky noted: "... this place was once significant and important."

Cave cities are located not only in the Principality of Theodoro. The soft limestone of the Middle Ridge is perfect for creating cave structures, and the locals used it.

The cave city of Chufut-Kale, the most visited by tourists today, lies on the outskirts of Bakhchisaray. It was inhabited 150 years ago. It was inhabited by Karaites (or Karaites, Karay) - an ethnic group formed from the descendants of the ancient indigenous population of Crimea (Cimmerians and Taurians) and the Khazars. From the Khazar Khaganate, the Karaites adopted the Jewish religion, but they recognize only the Pentateuch of Moses (Torah) as sacred scripture and reject the Talmud. The language of the Karaites is close to the Crimean Tatar.

I. M. Muravyov-Apostol, traveling across the Crimea in the early 20s of the XIX century, admiring the Chufut-Kale plateau ascending to the skies, called it an "air city". He wrote: "The dwellings of the Karaites are like eagles' nests on the top of a steep, impregnable mountain... Chufut Karaites descend daily from their nests to Bakhchisarai, where they practice crafts and trades all day long; and as soon as night falls, they return to their homes... "Now the Karaites are scattered throughout the Crimea. As a people, they are on the verge of extinction: there are about 800 of them left.

Chufut-Kale is not like other cave cities - many ground buildings are still preserved here: fortress walls, towers, prayer houses of the Karaites - kenasses and the mausoleum of the daughter of Khan Tokhtamysh, Janike-khanym, dated 1437.

Janike was the wife of Emir Edigey and became a prominent political figure in the disintegrating Golden Horde. Several legends are associated with her name. According to one of them, Janike, trying to help the besieged Chufut-kale, carried water from a secret well to the city all night. Except for her, thin as a reed, no one could get through the underground passage to the well. The next morning, exhausted, Janike died. In the summer of 2001, speleologists cleared a part of the underground passage that runs into a well, which is located outside the city. The course has a branch littered with stones, possibly overlooking a plateau. If the passage really connects the city to the well, then the legend becomes reality.

In the rock opposite Chufut-Kale is the Assumption Cave Monastery. It was probably founded by monks from Chufut-Kale, when the Tatars captured the city in the middle of the 14th century. In the Crimean Khanate, the Assumption Monastery was the residence of the metropolitan and was revered not only among Christians. Information has been preserved that the Crimean Khan Hadji Giray prayed here for help in military operations. Apparently Holy Mother of God heard him, and the Girey dynasty remained in power for another 300 years.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783, the Assumption Monastery was visited by almost all of our crowned bearers - Catherine II, Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Nicholas II. In Soviet times, the monastery fell into decay, but last years it was rebuilt.

Cave cities lie mainly in river valleys. The prominent Russian ethnographer P. Koeppen wrote in 1837: “Having passed under a canopy of a rock, you find yourself in a charming narrow valley, where ... caves, pitted at the top of the mountain, testify to the caring activity of some unknown inhabitants who labored here for no one knows what” .

We are talking about the valley of the Kacha River and the cave monastery of Kachi-Kalyon. Here you can see the remains of churches, but the greatest interest causes a huge amount (about 120) grape crushers. Some researchers attribute the heyday of winemaking to the time of the Khazar Khaganate (to the 8th-10th centuries). The monastery appeared in this place not earlier than the 11th century and continued to operate, receiving material assistance from the Russian state even after the Turks captured the Crimea. This happened at the end of the 15th century, and gradually the cave monasteries fell into disrepair. In subsequent centuries, only shepherds with goats and sheep wandered here, escaping in cool caves from the scorching sun.

Above the Kacha is the mountain-remnant Tepe-Kermen. The heyday of the city, spread out on its top, falls on the 12th-13th centuries. The unique building of Tepe-kermen can be called the "Church with a baptistery". It owes its name to the unusual cruciform shape of the font. The spacious dimensions of the church suggest that it served as the main religious center of the city. Many tombs were carved in the church and around it, however, as in other cave cities, all of them were opened and looted long before travelers appeared in these places - true history buffs who sought to penetrate into the past of Crimea.

In the Bodrak valley, in the cliff of the Baklinskaya cuesta, the caves of another settlement are distinguishable. This is a settlement of farmers and viticulturists, which became a small urban center in the 10th-13th centuries. The Baklinskoe plateau of two tiers turned out to be a good shelter: the locals built houses on the lower tier, and the upper one covered the city from the side of the steppe and made it invisible to the nomads.

Bakla is located on the outskirts of the Middle Ridge. From its top you can see the distant houses of Simferopol and the steppe stretching to the horizon, Mountain country The middle ridge and pale purple silhouettes of the Main ridge. All the versatility of Crimea is felt here. A variety of landscapes, cultures, epochs intertwined on this small piece of land...

The so-called "cave" cities and monasteries are the most impressive historical monuments Bakhchisarai region. They got their name because the premises carved into the rocks have survived to our time, and the ground buildings (houses, churches, defensive and utility structures) have collapsed.

These fortified cities (a kind of analogue of medieval European castles) were built local residents during the period of the 5th-6th centuries, when there was a threat of invasions of nomads. They served to protect and shelter the population from these raids. The Byzantine Empire, whose sphere of interests included Taurica, also participated in the construction of the "cave" cities.
And fortified monasteries in the mountains were founded by iconodules who fled from persecution from Byzantium, when there, in the period of the 8th-9th centuries, there was a struggle between iconoclasts and iconodules.

The name of the cave cities of Crimea is not some beautiful abstraction, but a completely existing reality. Houses, vaults and sanctuaries carved into the yielding Crimean rocks are a clear example of how people lived many, many centuries ago. There are also functioning monasteries and sketes.
Let's try to at least briefly tell about this miracle of Russia!

"Cave City" Chufut-Kale

The emergence of the fortified settlement dates back to the 6th century, and the Sarmatian tribe of the Alans is considered its founders. From the 8th century the city was owned by the Khazars, and after their departure, the city-fortress became the center of the Christian Kyrk-or principality. (Kyrk-Or - Forty fortifications, Turk.). In 1299, the troops of the Golden Horde temnik Nogai, during the next raid on the Crimea, plundered Kyrk-Or. And in the 40s of the XIV century, during the reign of the Golden Horde Khan Dzha-nibek. it was finally captured by the Tatars and became the center of the Golden Horde beylik. Later, with the formation of the Crimean Khanate, the city was the temporary capital of the Khanate. Here, besides Christians and Tatars, Karaites began to settle.
Chufut Kale is the most preserved of all the cave cities of Crimea. The exact date of its construction is still unknown. The approximate period of construction of the VIII-X century. The hand of the Byzantine master is clearly traced in the buildings. In addition, the seal of the Byzantine master was found in a hydraulic structure, not far from the southern entrance to the fortress. The place for the construction of the cave city was not chosen by chance. The city is located on a small plateau, surrounded on three sides by steep two hundred meter cliffs, and only on the eastern side of the plateau was connected by a saddle with Mount Beshik-Tau. In the gorge on the north side, a trade route once ran. Trap at the entrance The city has long been an impregnable fortress. The defensive structures of the fortress were also competently built. From the south, the road approaches in a three-span serpentine, which made it possible to slow down the approach of the enemy and the defenders of the city, without much interference, to thin out the enemy army with stones and small arms. The southern gate was made on shutters, again of Byzantine work, made of bog oak, but if the invaders managed to get through the gate, then there was a trap above the gate, ledges on both sides of the corridor, along which logs were rolled up and interrupted the entrance. Further after the gate, the passage to the city is coming a snake in four spans, above the spans there were residential caves, from which, when the invaders broke through, the enemy was shelled. The eastern fortress wall was built on a pedestal carved into the rock. The pedestal has the shape of a step, and in front of the upper step, on the outside, it was lined with stone blocks. But impregnable fortresses no, and in 1299, after a long siege by the Mongol-Tatar hordes of Nogai, the city fell. From that date the city became known as Kyrk-Or (forty fortresses). Until that time, according to many scientists, the city was called Fulla. Until the beginning of the 16th century, the city was the residence of the Crimean khans. A very interesting building of that time is the mausoleum of Janike-Khanym, the daughter of Totkhamysh Khan. Janike had a hand in the separation of the Crimea from the Golden Horde, and the emergence of the young Crimean Khanate. In addition, she helped Hadji Giray, who was seated in Solkhat, saw him as a support in the fight against the Tokhtamyshevichs - Kichi-Muhammed and Seid-Akhmet, who claimed sovereignty in the Crimea. Hadji Giray won, and the khan's family of Girey reigned in Bakhchisarai for a long time. The mausoleum has survived to this day in good condition. In the same period, a mosque and a mint were built, which have not survived to this day.
Usually they get into the city along the partially preserved on the last two marches stone road that leads to hidden south gate. The gates are hidden in the rock, so that they can only be seen by coming close to them. After climbing the rocky path to the left, behind the ruins of several residential buildings, there is the remains of a wall that separated the Burunchak wasteland. Burunchakskaya street leads from it to the eastern gate. In case of danger, in the wasteland, residents could shelter livestock and property. In the middle of the city runs the Middle Street, which was accessible only to foot and pack animals. Kenasskaya street with kenasses located on it (prayer houses of keraim) runs along the southern edge of the plateau. The tablet about the visit of Chufut Kale by Emperor Alexander 1 to Kenassa is located in a small courtyard. The large kenassa was built in the 14th century. In it solemn festive services were arranged. The second, Malaya Kenassa, is presumably the same age as the first. It was intended for ordinary services and for meetings where various matters of the Karaite community were decided. On May 4, 1886, Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich and Empress Maria Oedorovna visited the kenasses, as evidenced by a stone tablet located in the courtyard of the kenasses.

"Cave City" Eski-Kermen

Eski-Kermen is located near Mangup, 6 km from the village of Zalesnoe (if you walk). Motorists need to go through the village of Red Poppy.
The settlement of Eski-Kermen is located on a place well fortified by nature. Eski-Kermen is translated as the Old Fortress. The plateau is surrounded by sheer cliffs. In some places, the remains of the fortress walls have been preserved.
The fortress was founded at the beginning of the VI century. The main function of the fortress is to protect the approaches to Chersonese. It was a large trade and craft center, which at that time had very good defensive structures. The fortress was repeatedly attacked and destroyed. The first major destruction occurred in the 8th century. The Khazars destroyed the entire defensive system of the fortress, after which the city was without fortifications for a long time. The first attempts to restore the city's defenses were made in the 10th century.

The history of the city-fortress until the 10th century is little known, because the city was a simple defensive structure. The city was finally destroyed by the hordes of Nogai in 1299 and ceased to exist. Many caves have survived to this day (about 350 in the fortress and about 50 outside it), the rest of the structures have not been preserved. To the southeast of the city is the Temple of the Three Horsemen. It was carved into a rounded block of stone, next to it, a pantry was cut down in a block of smaller sizes. On north side The temple has preserved a fresco depicting three horsemen - Saints Theodore Stratilat, George the Victorious and Dmitry. The Eski-Kermen cemetery was located around the temple.
The road leading to Eski-Kermen branched off the main trade route and zigzagged up to a narrow corridor carved into the rock. This place was once the main gate. At the third flight of the road was the front wall, which went around the ledge of the rock in front of the main gate. A tower towered above the gate, from which a fortress wall ran in both directions. All these fortifications have not survived to this day, they were destroyed by the Khazars. Small cave churches along the third march appeared after the destruction of the city's defensive system. Another area of ​​defense - the Patrol complex is located to the north of the fortress on a cape separated by a saddle. The main street began immediately after the main gate, along which there are many caves, one of which led to the tower above the gate. On the right was a cave temple, which consisted of four rooms. The street ran towards the central square with the basilica. From main road There were two branches to the west and to the east. In addition to the main city gates, there were also three small gates in the city, i.e. gates with well-guarded stairs carved into the rock. From the northern part of the rock in ancient times there was an ascent for pedestrians, steps carved into the rock led to the saddle. From the entrance protection system, numerous grooves in the walls of the passage have been preserved.
The Temple of the Assumption is located on a plateau above the place where the Temple of the Three Horsemen is located. Fragments of fresco painting have been preserved on the northern and western walls and on the ceiling of the temple. Near the temple are the remains of a tomb and a cell.
Residential buildings were built on pre-smoothed rock and often had 2 floors. The 1st floor was adapted for household needs, the second floor was used for housing. The roof was made of flat tiles laid on a wooden deck.
Archaeologists have determined that residential buildings were not original, but were at least a construction period.
There are rock-cut tombs in different parts of the city and its immediate surroundings. In ancient times, tombs carved into the rock were covered with stone slabs. This is evidenced by the so-called shoulders, cuttings along the edges of the tombs.

A unique structure is a siege well with a depth of about 50m, which was created simultaneously with the fortress. A six-flight staircase leading down was carved into the rock, it passes into a gallery (about 10 meters long) in which water oozed from the ceiling, but after a breach appeared on the outer wall of the well, the well lost its defensive purpose. Also in different parts of the city there are bags carved into the rock to collect rainwater. There was a water pipe in the city, water was supplied through clay pipes from springs, which were located 4 km away on a neighboring hill. At the very top of the plateau in 1930, archaeologists excavated a basilica. Scientists have established that it was a rectangular building with three apses protruding to the east. The building was divided by columns into 3 naves. Archaeological research in 1930 showed that the Eski-Kermen basilica suffered from a fire in ancient times. Later, the walls of the basilica were destroyed by an earthquake, directed from the southeast to the northwest.
Scientists express the theory that Eski-Kermen, as a fortress, along with the rest of the buildings, was built immediately, in the order of a state event related to the protection of the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine government could show interest and assist in the construction of the defense system and large buildings of Eski-Kermen Kermen.

"Cave City" Mangup-Kale

Mangup is located 20 km from Bakhchisarai. The road there leads through the village of Krasny Mak, then through Zalesnoye; further, the country road branches off to the left, into the valley, above which the powerful Mangup capes, unmistakably recognizable from afar, rise.
Mangup is located on the top of a plateau rising 584 m above sea level. A man looked after this plateau long before the appearance of a fortress on it. On the plateau, traces of a Neolithic human settlement (the first half of the 1st millennium BC) were found. In the 3rd-4th centuries. Scythian-Sarmatians settled on the plateau. The construction of the first fortifications dates back to the 6th century, but very few traces of these primary fortifications remain. In addition to this, the city was protected by nature itself. Sheer cliffs up to 70 m high protected the city from three sides. The city was originally called Doros.
From the end of the 7th century the Khazar Khaganate extends its influence over the entire South-Western Taurica, including Mangup. But the direct capture of the fortress city and the deployment of the Khazar garrison in it caused an uprising of the local population in 787 at the call of Bishop John of Gotha, and the rebels managed not only to drive the Khazars out of the fortress, but also to capture the fortified mountain passes. After the destruction of the city by the Khazars, the city became depopulated. In the 9th century, the defensive system of the city was restored. In the X century there is a mention of the city under the name Mangup - as a fortified settlement that belonged to the Khazars. In the period from the XI century. to the middle of the 14th century, when it appears in the sources under the name Theodoro, it is the darkest in the history of Mangup.

In the XV century. the principality occupied a prominent place in the history of the Crimea and neighboring regions. This period is much better illuminated by written sources and archaeological sites. They testify to Theodoro's connections with Moscow, to the rivalry of his princes with the Genoese for control over the centers of international maritime trade.
At the beginning of the XV century. the principality was ruled by an outstanding representative of the family - Alexei, the son of S. V. Khovra, who had left for Moscow. He seized access to the sea, where in 1427 he built a new fortification on the site of the early medieval fortress of Kalamita, under the protection of which there was a seaport that became a competitor to neighboring Chembalo (Balaklava).
the day before Turkish invasion, in the first half of 1475, a struggle for the throne of Thesdoro unfolded. However, Theodoro's days were numbered. In the summer of the same year, the Ottoman Turks, with the support of the Tatars, landed troops on the Crimean coast. In early July, the Turks approached Mangup. The siege lasted 5 years. Unique natural conditions, excellent defensive structures, the courage of the defenders played a role here. The Turks took the fortress thanks to a deceptive maneuver, they began to retreat and thus lured the defenders of the fortress behind the walls. The city was burned to the ground.
The remains of the walls that we can observe belong to the XIV - XV centuries. The walls were erected by the Turks. Fortifications were created in crevices and on areas of a gentle slope - from cliff to cliff - thus complementing the natural impregnable barriers and were not continuous, but nodal in nature. The fortification covered an area of ​​90 hectares. And could give protection local population along with property and livestock and provide water for all for a long time. In the 16th century, a number of buildings were erected - a mosque, a synagogue, a kenassa, and the citadel was partially rebuilt.
If you go up to the city along the old eroded road that runs along the western ravine and goes around Cape Teshkli-Burun. Numerous caves can be observed at the upper edge of the plateau, from which sentinels surveyed the roads leading to the city. From the main gates leading to the city, only the foundation and the wall, blocking the Kapu-Dere ravine, remained. Judging by the drawings of the end of the 18th century, the gates were covered with a box vault, supported on one side by a powerful pylon, and on the other - by a rock. Huge blocks of limestone served as the base of the pylon; here the defensive wall ended, which ran parallel to the cliff, forming a corridor along which the road to the fortress passed.
Of all the buildings, the citadel on the eastern cape of Teshkli-Burun is the best preserved. It was erected over the place where in the X century. there was a cemetery and a church - this is evidenced by the graves carved into the rock, the contours of the church clearly preserved in stone and the crypt adjoining it.
Cape Teshkli-Burun is a natural bastion: in order to turn this long and narrow cliff, bounded on all sides by cliffs, into a fortress, it was enough to cross the isthmus connecting it with the plateau with a defensive structure 102 m long and 2.8 m thick. After the capture of Mangup, the Turks used the bastion as a prison.
In the citadel, recent excavations have revealed residential areas adjacent to the wall. Closer to the northern cliff there is a well that supplied its defenders with water and was later filled up by the Turks. The clearing of the well in 1966 showed that it was carved into the rock to a depth of 23.6 m, where an aquifer passes, from which water entered a natural grotto at the foot of the cape cliff. Not far from the gate, an octahedron made of large, well-hewn blocks attracts attention - these are the remains of a church, probably a princely chapel, built in the 8th century. sentinel caves
There was a fortification on the edge of the cape - there was a watch tower, on the sides of which there were cave casemates that defended the approaches to the main gate of Mangup. Under the base of the "tower" a staircase leads to a rather big cave, the front wall of which collapsed, forming a through hole, clearly visible from below, which is why the cape is nicknamed "leaky". A whole chain of battle caves stretches along the eastern cliff. Utility rooms adjoined the combat rooms, which served as housing and storerooms. There are similar cave shelters on the western side of the cape, above a section of the road, not far from the gate.
The oldest building in Mangup is the temple in honor of Saints Constantine and Helena. In one of the tombs of the temple, a plate with the name of Justian I was found, the only such find in the entire Crimea. Galleries adjoined the side walls of the temple: under them, as well as under the floor of the temple, many graves were found.
The floor of the central nave consisted of large stone slabs, while the floors in the side naves were mosaic. Next to the northern wall of the temple there was a baptismal, which probably arose simultaneously with the basilica: later it was converted into a chapel, and a cemetery appeared around it.
The most interesting cave church of Mangup is located above the main road to the eastern gate: a secret exit from the city led to it through a cleft in the rocks. natural grotto in front of the temple was used as a courtyard; opposite were the cells of the abbot and the monks, carved into the rock. The church itself is decorated with a cornice, arches, pilasters, covered with paintings, of which only fragments have survived. Above them in the conch of the apse is a heavily damaged composition of five figures and cherubs with scarlet wings placed between them, in the center of which is Christ with his hand raised for blessing, with the gospel in his left. On the plafond of the arch in the center is a medallion depicting the Mother of God of the Sign: on both sides are two prophets in crowns and magnificent vestments. sentinel caves
Remains of a palace with a tower near the Gamam-Dere ravine. researchers consider "the only example palace complex on the soil of the Crimea and one of the few in the entire Middle East. The inscription on the slab, once built into the wall of the tower and decorated with a double-headed eagle, reads: “This tower was built together with the palace in a blessed fortress, which is visible even now, in the days of Alexei, lord of Theodoro and Pomorie.”
The construction of the palace and castle complex completed the defense system of Mangup that had developed by that time, which consisted of three lines. The first line included the defense of all the most vulnerable places on the capes, the second line was the line of walls and towers that cut off the capes; the third frontier was the citadel. After the restoration of the palace, Prince Alexei added a tower to it, from which one could see the entire line of walls of the second line with its often placed towers. Each of them had an open back side, which facilitated communication with its defenders, and in the event the enemy captured the tower, it was subjected to direct fire from inside the fortress.
A significant part of the plateau, which remained unexplored and picturesquely overgrown with clumps of trees and shrubs, allows you to guess the directions of streets, squares, building blocks. 500 years ago, Mangup fell, two hundred years ago, the last few inhabitants left it; no archival records survived from the principality - everything either died in the fire of conflagrations, or was taken outside the country, and the stones of the ruins were taken away for new buildings. However, let's hope that the earth still harbors many traces of its former greatness.

KACHI-KALION

Kachi-Kalyon is located 0.5 km northwest of the village. Bashtanovka, on the right bank of the Kacha River.
The settlement arose here in the 6th century, and the monastery appeared later - in the 8th-9th centuries.
On the eastern slopes of the Kaminsky Gorge around the monastery there was a medieval settlement, and the XIII century. it was destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols, most of the cave structures are located near four large grottoes. A small stone bench has been preserved near the walls, and a cross has been carved just under the ceiling. Inside the Big Grotto there are caves located in 3 tiers. On the upper platform of the Church Grotto there is a spring with a pond. This spring is revered as healing and is called by the name of St. Anastasia the Patterner. Behind the spring, a cross and three niches were carved into the rock, in which the icons of the Mother of God, St. Anastasia and the Evangelist Matthew. At the entrance to the Church Grotto there is a sacred cherry tree. It has a trunk girth near the ground of 1.6 m, a height of 9 m, and an age of 150 years. The tree is mentioned already in the 19th century.
The church, carved in a separate piece of rock, multi-tiered caves - former chapels, cells, utility rooms, grape-pressing-tarapanas (there are about 120 of them), carved into the rock mass, have been preserved. Impressive is the grandiose domed fourth grotto with caves and the source of St. Anastasia. In total, there were about 150 cave rooms, interconnected by hinged ladders-bridges.
In the cave monastery you can see: the ruins of the outer belt of defensive walls (X century), the cave church of St. Anastasia and the tombs in separate blocks of stone (VIII century), the Church of St. Sophia carved into a block of limestone (XIII-XVIII centuries), various household buildings (VIII century).

TEPE-KERMEN Cave towns of Crimea

Tepe-Kermen
Byzantine fortress VI-II K and 2 km from the village of Kudrino. From Bakhchisarai you need to go 14 km to the southeast, to Mount Beshik-Tau. From the source flowing at the foot of this mountain, you need to turn left and go to the east. Northern and western slopes covered with forest, and on the southern slope there are many caves in several tiers.

This fortress-castle arose in the 5th-6th centuries. and, apparently, belonged to the local feudal lord.
The settlement is located on a separate standing rock 535 m high. The name Tepe-Kermen in translation means "fortress on top". About 250 caves for various purposes have been carved into the cliffs. The caves were located in groups in two or four vertical rows. There are fewer caves on the plateau itself, and they are visible only along the edge of the cliffs. It was possible to enter the fortress at the northwestern tip of the plateau, where a narrow road was cut down. The fortifications consisted of two lines. total area settlements 1.4 ha. The domes of the Crimean observatory are clearly visible from the Tepe-Kermena plateau.
The most interesting objects for inspection: religious and household buildings of the 8th-14th centuries, a cave church in the name of Saints Constantine and Elena of the 11th-12th centuries, a cave church with a baptistery of the 5th-6th centuries.

KYZ-KERMEN
Kyz-Kermen - Shelter and fortified city of the X-XIII centuries. It is located 2.5 km north of the village. Kudrino, near Tepe-Kermen, the monuments are separated by a deep beam.
The city occupied a significant area and had all the prerequisites to become a significant and large trade and craft center of that time. But he did not - in the IX century. it was destroyed by the Khazars. Since then, the settlement here has not been restored.
The fortification occupies the tip of the cape, stretching from north to south for 700 m, from west to east - for 240 m. The area of ​​the settlement is 12 hectares. At its narrowest point, the cape is blocked by a 125 m long wall. There is a spring 350 m to the northwest. In front of the defensive wall, about a hundred meters to the north, buildings, fences, terraces of the 4th-5th centuries are clearly distinguishable. There are few cave structures in the settlement, they have been preserved only on the eastern cliff, from where a view of Tepe-Kermen opens.

BAKLA Cave towns of Crimea

Translated from Turkic as "beans, beans". Located in the interfluve of Alma and Bodrak, 2 km from the village. Rocky. It lies somewhat away from the traditional tourist routes, so it is rarely visited. This is the northernmost "cave city" in the Crimea.
The settlement was founded around the 4th-5th centuries. Later, defensive structures were built - the citadel, adjacent to the edge of the cliff, and the walls surrounding it. Outside the walls of the fortress there was a settlement: rock churches, grain pits, grape-pressing-rams, residential buildings and about a hundred cave rooms.
From the south, the territory is limited by cliffs 12-20 m high, from the north, east and west it was surrounded by a defensive wall with towers. The length of the settlement is 175x55 m, the area of ​​the fortress is 1 ha. There are about 100 cave structures in the Bakly region. An exit gate was built in front of the eastern line of defense. Around the settlement, on the slopes of the hill and in the valley, there was an open settlement that existed from the 3rd to the 14th centuries.
In the 6th-10th centuries This is a Byzantine fortress, acquiring in the XII century. features of a small town. In 1299, during a raid on Crimea by the Golden Horde temnik Nogai, Bakla was defeated, and since then there has been silence and desolation...

NAPLES SCYTHIAN Cave towns of Crimea

The ancient settlement, the capital of the late Scythian state, built by the famous Scythian king Skilur more than 2 thousand years ago
Naples-Scythian - an ancient settlement - the territory is a triangle facing north, from the northeast there is natural protection - steeply plunging Petrovsky rocks (an ideal place for training beginners and professional climbers with marked trails), in the west - a deep, hard-to-reach beam, along the cliff line which was a defensive wall.

In Greek "Naples" means "new city". Of course, it is unlikely that the Scythians named one of their fortresses with a Greek name. Most likely, the Greeks heard the name of this fortress in the Scythian language and remade it in their own way, turning it into the word “Naples” that they understood.
Presumably, Scythian Naples existed for about six centuries and was devastated by the Goths. Much later, several families of Greeks came here, but they also left Naples after some time. Later, when the Tatars began to build the city of Ak-Mechet here in the 16th century, a building stone was taken for him, then still nameless, here, in the tract called Kermenchik.
In 2012, the Scythian Naples archaeological reserve was included in the new Sacred Belogorye tourist route. After the restoration, the entrance to the territory of the archaeological reserve became paid.

KARAIM CEMETERY
For 1500 years, people were buried at the ancient Karaite cemetery near the cave city of Chufut-Kale in Crimea. More than 10 thousand graves - the largest in Europe.
The Karaites are an ancient Turkic people who practice Judaism, unlike modern Jewish beliefs. Unlike Christians, Muslims, and other Jews, the Karaites buried their dead in a north-south direction. According to various sources, the necropolis near Chufut-Kale began to exist in the 6th-13th centuries. Until now, many tombstones have long been destroyed and turned into dust, some of the inscriptions have completely disappeared, while others still retain traces of the past.
The form of graves and tombstones here is the most diverse: both rectangular slabs, and coffin-shaped sarcophagi, and steles, and vertical obelisks.
The cemetery is spread over an area of ​​4 hectares. You can get there if you leave Chufut-Kale through the Eastern Gate and walk half a kilometer along the Josaphat Valley. At the cemetery, visitors are greeted by silence, desolation, graves overgrown with moss. Almost everyone who has been to the cemetery notes a strange depressing impression, a feeling that the souls of the Karaites buried here have not left the grave and everyone is here.

SIEGE WELL TIK-KUYU

An ancient hydraulic structure is the golden well of Tik-Kuyu. Carved into the rock approximately in the 4th century AD, used during the siege of the fortress
This well is located in the vicinity of the cave city of Chufut-Kale. Its discovery in 1998-2001 partially revealed the light of truth on the mystery of where the cave city got its water from, and most importantly, how it managed to withstand the long sieges to which it was often subjected. In addition, along the well it was possible to go to the rear of the attacking enemies.
This is not just a well, but, to put it modern language, the whole hydraulic ancient building. The system consists of a spiral staircase at a depth of 25 to 45 meters, which then continues as a vertical shaft 25 meters high to the ground.
Where the shaft and the spiral staircase converge, an inclined staircase gallery (Altyn-Merdven) 120 meters long adjoins the vertical component. This gallery leads to an exit near the walls of Chufut-Kale, where a defensive tower used to be.
There are wall paintings from the 4th century AD on the walls of the rooms, and the gallery is covered in Karaite cursive, in Aramaic, and also in Latin.
The last signs of human presence date back to the 15th century, after which the well was filled up with earth and stones for unknown reasons. Filling up such a deep shaft is not an easy and quick job.

CAVE CITY SUIREN Cave cities of Crimea

An ancient cave city that holds a lot of interesting historical information.
The fortress occupies a dominant position over the valley of the Belbek River. You can climb to the cave city along the ancient wheeled road that bypasses the cape from the west, or along one of the two paths in the eastern and western parts of the cape.
When climbing the road, you can see the remains of the Chilter-Koba cave monastery.

Traces of a defensive wall with a round tower have been preserved in the citadel. The architecture of the tower suggests that the fortress was built in the 8th century. On the east side of the tower there is a gate with a collapsed arch. In the western part of the tower there was an exit gate. Numerous traces of loopholes that protected the approaches to the gate and gate have been preserved.
On the second floor of the tower, fragments of frescoes have been preserved, indicating that after the destruction of the fortress, a church was built among the ruins. The fortress, like the Chilter-Koba monastery, was destroyed during the Crimean campaign of Nogai in 1299 and was never restored.

CHELTER-KOBA MONASTERY

Another name: Chelter-Marmara, the monastery was supposedly founded in the XIII-XIV centuries, dedicated to the Great Martyr Theodore Stratilat
Chelter-Koba (Chilter-Koba) is one of the cave monasteries of the Crimea. Literally, the name means "Cave Grille". It is located in the Bakhchisarai region, in the valley of the Belbek river, at a distance of one kilometer from the village of Bolshoye Sadovoye (Tash-Basty) and from the cave city of Eski-Kermen. The complex of the monastery consists of the main cave temple, cells and a refectory, interconnected by paths carved into the rock monolith. To the south of the monastery complex there is a spring located at the beginning of the Khor-khor beam.
The monastery has more than 50 caves arranged in 4 tiers.
In one of the lower tiers, a huge room with five columns stands out, resembling a pagan sanctuary. Almost a third of the room is occupied by a "platform", which is considered a giant ram. East edge this cave is processed in the form of a small Christian temple.

The main hall is no longer artificial, but a karst cavity created by nature itself. Its area is 150 square meters. The contrast between what we have seen so far and this real cave makes us stop and freeze in amazement: indeed, this is the largest cave church in Crimea with all the attributes of the Orthodox faith: traces of the altar, graves, font. Along the rock there are many traces of cells in the form of artificial caves, and then a long grotto to the spring.
The monastery was founded presumably in the XIII-XIV centuries. on the northern borders of the Principality of Theodoro, near the Syuyren fortress. The main temple of the monastery is dedicated to the great martyr Theodore Stratilat. Destroyed in 1475, when the Turkish army captured the Eastern and Southern Crimea.
Since then, the monastery has not been revived or rebuilt, so these underground medieval ruins can serve as another small museum of Byzantine Orthodoxy. Restoration work has been underway since the early 2000s. Divine services were resumed in the main temple, part of the cells and the belfry were restored.

KYZ-KULE TOWER

Remains of the fortified castle Kyz-Kule (Maiden Tower).
The castle of Kyz-Kule arose, most likely, after the destruction of the defensive structures of Eski-Kermen, that is, not earlier than the 10th - 11th centuries. In 1933, excavations were carried out inside the fortress. The remains of a one-apse chapel of the 11th-13th centuries were unearthed near the tower. with tombs in it. At the same time, archaeologists established that the Kyz-Kule fortress in the XIV century. died from the fire. Only the tower remained, covered with poetic legends and traditions...
From the gorge to the west of Kyz-Kule, a path with steps carved into the rock leads to the tower.
This gorge has been inhabited by man since ancient times. At the beginning of the gorge and in its western spur, traces of Stone Age sites were found. There was a settlement here in the Middle Ages. There are many natural and artificial caves in the rocks surrounding the gorge.

TEMPLE OF DONATERS Cave towns of Crimea

Donators - from the Greek "donors" - people who supported the temple with their donations. It is estimated that the church appeared no earlier than the XIV century
It is located in a separate rock-outlier in the upper reaches of the Cherkez-Kermen beam. The entrance to the temple from the bottom of the beam is not visible. It can only be found by climbing to the top.
The temple is a small room carved into the rock, about 2x3 m in size. At one time, there were wooden outbuildings on the outside, as evidenced by recesses made in the stone for attaching beams. A staircase carved into the rock led to the entrance.
The monument is famous for the fact that medieval fresco painting has been preserved here for a long time. Perhaps it was the secrecy of the place that contributed to this. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the drawings were in good condition. But, unfortunately, over the past century, most of the murals have been lost.
The main fresco, located in the altar, depicted the infant Christ in a bowl, surrounded by saints. The wall paintings reflected gospel stories. One of the frescoes depicted a family of temple donors.

BLAGOVESCHENSKY MONASTERY Cave towns of Crimea

Holy Annunciation Cave Monastery
The monastery is located 20 meters below the level of the Mangup plateau and the descent to it from the plateau is quite sharp - along the boulders. The monastery itself is located on a hill 210 meters above the rest of the valley and climbing from which to it is quite laborious, but interesting.

At the entrance to the monastery, flower beds lined with stone are noticeable, which are looked after by novices. From this height, a great landscape opens up and it becomes clear why people create monasteries in such uninhabitable places.
The premises of the monastery are built from the grottoes of the cave cities of the VI century. It is interesting to look at the modern windows built into small holes in the upper tiers of the caves, behind which there are home flowers. The monastery has a belfry and a large grotto, apparently once used for meetings.

MELEK-CHESME MOUND

A monument of funerary architecture during the heyday of the Bosporan kingdom. This kind of monumental crypts-tombs were built by the local nobility.
Among the many explored Bosporan ledge crypts, Melekchesmensky went down in history as the most technically and artistically perfect among the Bosporus ledge crypts. The mound got its name from the Tatar name of the river Melek-Chesme, which flows nearby.
The height of the mound is 8 meters, and the circumference reaches 200 meters. The barrow was discovered in 1858, but it turned out that it had been plundered in antiquity. The remains of a child, stone slabs, boards of a sarcophagus, a children's bronze bracelet of fine workmanship, and fragments of red-figure crockery were found in the tomb. The burial dates back to the 4th or 3rd century BC. e.
Opening hours: from 9:00 to 18:00. Day off: Monday. Paid entrance.

TEMPLE OF THREE HORSEMANS

The Temple of the Three Horsemen is carved inside a large boulder, standing alone on the approach to the settlement.
There is a huge boulder by the path. Inside it is a temple. On the wall is a fresco painting, applied in ancient times on wet plaster, depicting three holy riders.

One of them with a spear smashing a snake is George the Victorious. On the croup of the horse of another rider, a baby clung to the back. Who is this child, why is he drawn here? There are many assumptions, but the mystery has not been revealed so far. Under the fresco there is an inscription: "The holy martyrs of Christ were carved and painted for the salvation of the soul and the remission of sins 67 .. (year)". According to the new calculation, this century is between 1192 and 1292, the time of the last century of the city's existence.
2 graves are carved on the floor, one of them is very spacious, maybe even for 2 people, the second one is obviously for children... Was it intended for a boy depicted sitting on the croup of the horse of the front rider?
Perhaps the temple glorifies the brave warriors buried here. Unfortunately, the fresco was badly damaged by the hands of tourists who want to chip off a piece of the painting as a keepsake. Therefore, for several years now, the entrance to the temple has been closed by a lattice door, but this does not prevent one from admiring the fresco from the threshold of the temple.

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
http://poluostrov-krym.com/dostoprimechatelnosti/peschery-kryma/emine-bair-khosar.html
http://our-travels.info/ost/Goroda/Ukraine/Krym/Bah_pesh.php
Isikov V.P., Litvinov P.A., Litvinova G.B. Atlas of sights of Crimea. - Sudak: STALKER, 2008.
Ena V.G., Ena Al.V., Ena An.V. Brief geographical dictionary of Crimea. - Simferopol: Business-Inform, 2009.
http://suntime.com.ua/
V.N.Dublyansky, A.B.Klimchuk, V.E.Kisilev and others. Large karst cavities of the USSR. Kyiv, 1987. Dep. in VINITI ZIONT, No. 1112-B87.
Wikipedia site.