Kerch Peninsula. Travel notes and photo report. Kerch Peninsula and its natural phenomenon

Kerch Peninsula

The charm of the Crimean land is revealed to others slowly,

gradually, but takes possession for a long time, forever

K.G. Paustovsky.

These words are especially true for the Eastern Crimea and, above all, for its extremity - the Kerch Peninsula.

Indeed, it takes time to feel the harsh beauty of these places, imbued with their charm. Those whose idea of ​​Crimea was formed on the South Coast, when they first got here, are usually disappointed. In fact, no mighty mountain ranges, no lush vegetation, no colorful variegation of noisy resort life; even bizarre heaps of rocks eroded by nature are relatively rare here; True, this severity of the landscape is more than rewarded by picturesque Azov coast, indented by many bays. Basically, when moving along the peninsula, you see an arid wormwood or feather grass steppe, interspersed with fields and interrupted by ridges of low mountains or ramparts, hills and mounds; salt marshes and salt lakes; groups of periodically erupting mud hills surrounded by cracked gray crust. However, gradually you begin to feel the inexplicable, but deeply penetrating charm of this sun-baked land with grayish-yellow grass, the clear contours of treeless hills with dark gray and reddish outcrops of stone, the wind smelling of wormwood, and the sea splashing into the sandy shores and bare rocks.

The uniqueness of the nature of the Kerch Peninsula lies in the combination of a number of geographical rarities in a relatively small area. These are star-shaped mountain ridges - the remains of the sea reefs of the Upper Tertiary period; mud hills, ejecting cold mud under the pressure of oil layers and being a kind of "model" of real volcanoes (the largest of them are Dzhau-Tepe 50 meters high, N.I. Andrusov, V.I. Vernadsky and V.A. Obruchev 30 meters high meters - declared protected monuments of nature); valuable minerals, first discovered here, partly in mud deposits (the names of minerals - kerchenites, mithridatites, bosphorites, reeds-burunites - keep the memory of the place of their discovery); nature reserves - a section of virgin steppe near the Arabat Spit, blooming with tulips in spring; "museum of birds" (43 species) in the tract near Mount Opuk; the Kazantip peninsula Azov coast with grottoes and natural sculptures of various shapes, which has preserved the rounded shape of the atoll from the time of the prehistoric sea that was here, now known for the huge disco-fair held annually on the site of the unfinished nuclear power plant; reed Astana floodplains near Aktash lake and much more. Unique originality of the Kerch Peninsula. The monuments of its architecture and art, the remains of ancient cities and settlements are extremely interesting.

In the western part of the peninsula there is a gigantic once Kimmerian (aka Akkos) rampart, which in ancient times stretched from the Kazantip Bay on the Sea of ​​Azov to Uzunlar Lake, to which powerful fortifications of the city of Kimmerik on the Black Sea coast approached from the south.

Historian of the 5th century BC Herodotus wrote: "And now there are still Cimmerian walls in Scythia, there are Cimmerian crossings, there is also an area called Cimmeria, there is also the so-called Cimmerian Bosporus." Historians are more and more inclined to believe that the shaft is really not only by name, but also by origin connected with the most ancient inhabitants of these places - the Cimmerians. The length of the shaft reached 32 kilometers. Due to the crumbling of the shaft and the filling of the moat over the past millennia, it is difficult to determine its original height and width, especially since its preservation is uneven in different areas. Studies have shown that the shaft contained a stone embankment as a core and in different areas reached at the base a width of 18.5 to 40 meters, and a height of 4.5 to 6 meters. Layings of hewn stones, found in places, could be the remains of watchtowers. The ditch on the western side of the rampart, with a depth of 3-4 meters, had a width of 13 to 26 meters along the upper edges.

Another rampart, also, apparently, built up by the Cimmerians and later renovated by the Greeks, originated at Tiritaki on the Black Sea and ran parallel to the first rampart to the coast of Azov. Its array included the oldest of the burial mounds - the Golden one, which was a powerful knot of the fortified line. The earthen mound of the mound, 21 meters high and 240 meters in diameter, was surrounded by a retaining wall (crepe) made of colossal irregularly shaped stones, which in the 19th century was preserved to a height of 11.5 meters. Under the mound of the mound there were three stone crypts. The largest of them had a round shape with a diameter of 6.4 meters; starting from the floor level, the vault, formed by overlapping rows of masonry, rose up to 9 meters in height. A corridor (dromos) 4.75 meters long led to the crypt. The crypts of the Golden Mound and part of its crepe were dismantled in the 19th century during the extraction of building stone. The remains of the Golden Kurgan are visible when approaching Kerch along the Feodosia highway to the left of the road.

The most significant Mountain chain on the peninsula - the Mithridates ridge, about 90 meters high. Rising steeply above the sea at a small cape protruding into the bay, it stretches for 4 kilometers, approaching the Golden Mound. The southern slope of the mountain is steep, the northern one is more gentle. In the prehistoric period, the sea came closer to the mountain, so that the valleys on its sides were the bottom of the bays.

When viewed from above to the south, a vast valley opens up, bordered on the horizon by a chain of barrows, rhythmically located on the crest of a low arched limestone ridge. This is the famous Yuz-Oba (One Hundred Mounds), like Mithridates, coming from the east, from Cape Ak-Burun (White Cape), to the west. It is noted that this ridge on the opposite bank of the strait is, as it were, continued by a barrow ridge of the same era (4th-3rd centuries BC), going from the Tuzla spit to Taman and further to Vasyurina Gora and the mounds of the Twins. The contrast between picturesque mountain Mithridates, rising above the sea in the center of a semicircular bay, and the plain at its foot, framed on the left by an arc of mounds, creates an unusual landscape effect.

In the same time, ancient mountain hides in the soil of its slopes the ruins of a large ancient city. Its bowels are saturated with many open and yet undiscovered structures, works of art and various remains of human activity over two and a half thousand years of their existence here.

The very name of the mountain, which arose at the beginning of the 19th century, goes back to distant historical events related to the dramatic circumstances of the death here, on one of the upper terraces of the hill, of the militant king Mithridates VI Eupator. On the northeastern slope, a marble head of his statue was found, made by a Greek master of the Pergamon school and kept in the Hermitage. The face of Mithridates conquers with a huge inner strength, strong-willed pressure. Looking at him, you begin to understand that this bright personality is not accidentally so firmly established in history. ancient world and this region in particular, and its name was identified with the mountain that dominates Kerch, which the Kerch people still call not "Mountain of Mithridates", but "Mithridates".

Several peaks rise above the ridge of the mountain: closer to the sea, at the eastern tip of the mountain, the so-called First Chair of Mithridates, then a rocky ledge, Second Chair of Mithridates, Pyramidal (or Round) Rock and Long Rock. The first chair of Mithridates got its name because of several semicircular steps carved into the rock and in the 19th century were considered the remains of the throne of the legendary king. A.S. mentions them in letters to relatives. Pushkin, who visited Kerch in August 1820: “I immediately went to the so-called Mithridates tomb (the ruins of some tower) ... on the nearest mountain in the middle of the cemetery I saw a pile of stones, cliffs, roughly hewn - I noticed several steps, the work of human hands. The coffin whether it is, whether the base of the tower is ancient, I do not know.”

Now on top of the First Chair is a temporary device of the Eternal Flame in memory of the fallen heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

From the top of the mountain, on clear days, the shores of the Taman Peninsula are visible, that is, the entire strait is visible and controlled. That is why during almost its entire history (until the Turks erected the Yenikale fortress near the crossing), the heights of Mithridates, which served as observation posts, played an important role in the defense of the strait. The mountain has preserved the remains of the earliest excavated ancient Greek fortifications on the First Chair and the latest - concrete fortifications erected during the last war ...

In ancient times, the capital of the Bosporan kingdom of Panticapaeum was the center of the Kerch Peninsula, around which a constellation of small towns was grouped. Now the center is its successor - Kerch, to which the surrounding cities, agricultural and fishing villages gravitate.

Kerch city

Your longing soul is tormented,

Lands of the Lost Gods!

A fresh wind blew ... We sailed past

monotonous shores.

Seagulls dived into the abyss of the sea,

The clouds swirled. I watched,

As the sun rushes into the swell of steel

Diamond streams of arrows

As with the Black Sea wave

Azov muddy waters

The wind is stubbornly kneading

And, the messenger of near bad weather,

Unrolls scrolls of clouds.

Tears off the foam, whirlwinds,

And distant showers dark beam

Hanging over the banks of Kerch.

M. Voloshin

There are relatively few cities like Kerch that combine such a long history, uniqueness of landscape and richness of architecture. Here, antiquity coexists with modernity: the mass of the Melek-Chesme mound and a light bus station, the remains of the cities of Mirmekia and Tiritaki, and industrial facilities. The ruins of ancient cities soften the urbanity of modern areas.

The feeling evoked by Kerch was surprisingly well conveyed by the Crimean writer S.K. Slavich: "... this restless fire on Mithridates, this ancient temple on the shore, this wavy line of eternal hills covering the horizon, like nothing else, like, perhaps, only the vast expanses of the southern steppe or northern forests, give rise to a sense of one's own involvement in destinies, to the history of the fatherland, native land. Such difficult destinies, such a difficult story ... Each of us has our own city, our own village, which evoke this feeling. I would like that now, when you recognize her, Kerch became on a par with them ... ".

A hundred years ago, the author of the book "Kerch in the past and present" X. Zenkevich proudly stated that "Kerch is one of best cities Crimean peninsula Unfortunately, this cannot be said about today's Kerch. Over the past two centuries, the city was destroyed three times: during the Crimean War, during the First World War and during the Great Patriotic War. conservation unique appearance ancient city.

And yet the city, picturesquely spread out on the shores of the Kerch Strait, between two seas - the Black and the Sea of ​​Azov - is beautiful and attractive in its own way. It attracts many tourists primarily with its interesting monuments of antiquity and medieval architecture. And there are more than one hundred and thirty of them, only marked with a state security sign. No wonder Kerch - former capital Bosporan state - included in the international program of UNESCO "Silk Road".

History of Kerch

There are many ancient cities and settlements in Crimea. Kerch is the oldest of them, its age is estimated at 26 centuries.

Antiquity in Kerch is a constant component of life. Since childhood, many Kerchans have been collectors of antiquities, workers at archaeological excavations. You come across history not only in the museum, but also when walking along the street, stepping on stone slabs from ancient buildings used in laying stairs or sidewalks, on black-glazed shards of antique dishes on the paths of Mithridates.

After the invasion of the Huns in the 370s, who everywhere completed the death of ancient civilization, old center Kerch Peninsula - Panticapaeum entered a new phase of its history - the Middle Ages. The town on the cape, surrounded by a wall in the VI century, became known as the Bosporus. In X- XII centuries, having become part of the Tmutarakan principality, he became the Russian Korchev.

In the 10th century, the church of John the Baptist was founded here, the construction of which was completed in the 13th century. This is the only one of the Byzantine churches of the northern Black Sea region, which miraculously survived among all the historical upheavals that filled the millennium from the death of the Tmutarakan principality to the Great Patriotic War. It belongs to the cross-domed type common at that time in Byzantine cult architecture, samples of which were erected in different places Crimea from the 10th century. To the north of the Church of John the Baptist in 1963-1964, archaeologist T.N. Makarova discovered an intersection of paved streets located at right angles to each other with masonry houses built on the site of the destroyed buildings of the Khazar time. Korcheva burial ground adjoined the church from the south.

Genoese merchants, who settled in Korchevo in the 13th century, which they called Cherkio, as well as Vospro, built their fortress on a cape near the ancient pier. In 1299, Cherkio was defeated by the Nogai Tatars, who then began to develop it, adjoining the Genoese.

In the XIII - XIV centuries, the Church of John the Baptist was turned into a mosque; the impression of the Arab writer Ibn Batur, who stayed in it on the way to Kafa in 1334, is interesting: “I saw the church, went to it, found a monk in it, and on one of the walls of the church I saw an image of an Arab man in a turban, girded with a sword and with a spear in his hand. A lamp was burning in front of him. I said to the monk: "What kind of image is this?" He replied: "This is an image of the prophet Ali," and I was surprised at his answer. We spent the night in the church, cooked ourselves chickens, which we brought with you on the ship. Ibn Batur's surprise was caused by the fact that Islam forbade the depiction of living beings. The deviation from this ban can be explained by the instability of the Muslim foundations in these parts, where one culture constantly replaced another, retaining, by inertia, some features of the previous one.

From the end of the 15th century, the Turks settled in the city, and for several centuries it acquired an oriental appearance. Genoese fortress the Turks turned into a citadel of their larger fortress, which, like its predecessor, was built from the stones of ancient buildings.

Visiting Kerch in the early years of the 19th century, P.I. Sumarokov reports that around the Church of John the Baptist "particles of marble columns, capitals and unprocessed onago pieces lay in abundance ... On the gates to the city, a marble lion lying on one side is visible, which, judging by the empty place, was once on the other side" . According to I.A. Stempkovsky, "for a long time an ancient bas-relief depicting a griffin was visible on the gates of the Kerch fortress." Outside, at the gates of the fortress, there was a long, compartmentalized pool of a public fountain dating back to antiquity - "its front side is made of marble, and it surpasses all others in the Crimea."

Turkish Kerch was well described by Lieutenant Colonel Tomilov after it was taken by Russian troops in 1771. Its quarters were grouped along main street, walking from the gates of the fortress past the devastated slope of Mithridates, with rare collapses of masonry. Narrow, crooked streets converged to the bazaar at the fortress gates, opposite which stood the mosque. In the fortress and the city there were then 8 mosques, 50 merchants' shops, 674 houses and several buildings with baths. The townspeople lived off fishing, viticulture, horticulture, and trade with the Caucasus and Turkey. The news of the appearance of a Russian squadron in the bay caused panic in Kerch, deprived of its garrison. All the Turks and part of the Tatars fled on military and merchant ships to Turkey, devastating the city. The bulk of the Tatars went to the Cafe. The Russians were met in the city by a handful of Greeks, Armenians and Georgians.

As the most important border outpost of Russia on the Black Sea, Kerch retained the appearance of a military camp for about half a century. By the 1820s, other military bases appeared on the Black Sea, and the growth of fortifications on Cape Ak-Burun led to the loss of the military significance of the Kerch fortress and its abolition. In 1821, a port was opened for trade with the peoples of the Caucasus. Kerch was supposed to become a provincial center, so she received a master plan for development, developed by the Odessa architect Francois Chalem, a student of Charles Percier, one of the leading architects of France. The master plan was finalized in the years 1830-1840 and was based on the idea of ​​"connection of times". It arose in a circle of enthusiasts of antiquity, which included the mayor I. Stempkovsky, P. Dubryuks, the director of the museum of antiquities I. Blaramberg and the city architect A. Digby. According to this idea, Kerch acted as the successor of the culture of the region and the continuer of its traditions. Mount Mithridates was the dominant element in the composition of the city.

During the Crimean War, Kerch was badly damaged by fires and destruction. On May 12, 1855, the English squadron entered the Kerch Strait; having landed troops in Kamysh-Burun, the British occupied Kerch. On June 10, 1856, Kerch was abandoned by the enemy.

During the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries. monumental buildings were built that formed the center of Kerch. The city developed slowly, despite the fact that back in the 80s. In the 18th century, deposits of iron ore were discovered here. At the beginning of the XIX century. it had only 250 inhabitants. Kerch began to develop only at the beginning of this century.

In 1908, the Kerch Strait was deepened - a sea channel was dug in it, and they began to enter the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov large ships, revived and Kerch port. Kerch was also famous for its fishing. Only the famous Kerch herring in the past, as reported in a book published in 1914, "about 5 million pieces are extracted from the strait annually."

According to the 1939 census, there were already 104.5 thousand inhabitants in Kerch.

The Great Patriotic War on the Kerch Peninsula left a lot of destruction and mass graves. At the same time, she revealed the resilience and courage of the defenders of the city. The war continues to remind of itself with unexploded shells and bombs, as well as burial places of fallen soldiers found during earthworks.

During the Great Patriotic War, the city was twice covered with the darkness of fascist occupation and twice rejoiced at its liberation.

When in December 1941, after a month and a half of occupation, Kerch was liberated, the world first learned about the terrible atrocities of the Nazis - about the Bagerovsky ditch near Kerch, filled to the brim with the bodies of seven thousand executed, poisoned, tortured ...

During the fighting, the city was destroyed. The writer Pyotr Pavlenko, who visited Kerch in those days, later recalled: "When I saw Stalingrad, it did not shake my imagination, because I had already seen Kerch before it."

On May 19, 1942, Kerch was again captured by the Nazi troops, and the next day they occupied the entire Kerch Peninsula. Some of the fighters and commanders who covered the crossing of Soviet troops on Taman Peninsula, went to the Adzhimushkay quarries, turning them into an underground fortress. Few survived.

The fierce battles for Kerch are reminiscent of obelisks on the mass graves of soldiers, which are especially numerous along the coast of the Kerch Strait, monuments, streets bearing the names of heroes, including those of Kerch who fought for hometown. Among them are the pilots of the famous women's 46th Guards Regiment of night bombers Vera Velik and Evgenia Rudneva. Monuments have been erected near the schools where they studied. There is also a monument to the young partisan Volodya Dubinin, who died after the liberation of the city while clearing the entrance to the quarry.

The city's attractions

Kerch is an industrial city. His enterprises are widely known: Kamysh-Burun iron ore plant, metallurgical plant named after. Voikov with its largest enamelware workshop in the country, the Zaliv shipyard.

Kerch is the most powerful in Crimea sea ​​port, equipped with modern equipment and consisting of several ports: commercial, fishing and the port of the Kamysh-Burun iron ore plant.

Kerch is also developing as a resort. On the coast of the Strait and the Sea of ​​Azov, where beautiful sandy beaches stretch for tens of kilometers, boarding houses, houses and recreation centers, children's health camps. But the real mastery of this resort area yet to come.

Kerch, where traces of different eras and historical events are intertwined, will soon become a national archaeological reserve, an international tourist center.

Now the most remarkable museum of the city is the Historical and Archaeological Museum (Sverdlov St., 22). This is one of oldest museums countries. It was founded in 1826 as the Museum of Antiquities. Its exhibits were archaeological finds obtained during the very first archaeological excavations, which were undertaken in 1816-1817 by Paul Dobrox, a Frenchman who was in the Russian service. On Mount Mithridates, a special building was built for the museum, reproducing temple of Athens Theseus and destroyed in the Crimean War during the bombardment of the city by English ships.

During the excavation of necropolises and grave mounds, many beautiful art objects made of precious metals, especially gold, were found here. They were taken to St. Petersburg and are now kept in the Hermitage; in the Kerch Museum, only "uncarryable things" remained.

In the 30-40s. of the last century, excavations were often carried out by people who were far from archeology, or even just treasure hunters. As a result, many of the most valuable archaeological sites for science were lost forever. Some of the exhibits of the Museum of Antiquities were taken by the British, who captured Kerch, to London, to the British Museum. The Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum experienced another ruin during the years of the last war.

In the postwar years, the museum was restored, its profile was expanded, it was replenished with new exhibits. Today there are more than 130 thousand of them. Among them are remarkable archaeological collections, a unique collection of lapidary monuments of world significance. A peculiar stone chronicle includes about two thousand stone stelae and tombstones.

In 1988, the museum was transformed into a state historical and cultural museum-reserve, which, in addition to the historical and archaeological museum, includes the Museum of the History of the Defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarries, an art gallery, and the Museum of the History of the Eltigen landing.

An exhibition of paintings and sketches by the winner of the State Prize is constantly exhibited in the art gallery (Teatralnaya st., 33). Buta, numbering about a hundred canvases.

Acquaintance with Kerch will be incomplete if you do not get acquainted with the monuments of the past, at least the most significant ones.

Mount Mithridates - the most remarkable place cities, it ancient history Kerch. Excavations have been carried out on the mountain for many years. The remains of the buildings of Panticapaeum, the capital of the Bosporus, were found here. Once upon a time, a six-columned temple of Apollo towered above the acropolis surrounded by a defensive wall. The white columns of the temple were visible far from the sea.

The Great Mithridatic Staircase, which has more than four hundred steps, leads to the top of the hill. It was built in 1833-1840. designed by Digby, an Italian architect who worked in Russia.

The mountain bears the name of the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator (132-63 BC), to whom the Bosporan kingdom was also subject. A descendant of Alexander the Great, one of the main associates of the Persian king Darius, he was an outstanding personality, a versatile person who spoke several languages. Mithridates possessed great physical strength, indomitable energy and courage, a deep mind and a cruel disposition. The warlike king waged a stubborn long-term struggle with Rome, trying to crush the powerful empire, but in the end he was defeated himself.

The defeated Mithridates found out about the conspiracy led by his son Farnak, and here, on the mountain, he took poison out of hopelessness. But the poison did not work, and then the defeated king ordered the head of his personal guard to stab him. It happened in 63 BC. e. Cicero, having learned about the death of Mithridates VI, called him "the greatest of the rulers with whom Rome ever waged wars."

Now, the Obelisk of Glory, erected in 1944, rises above Mount Mithridates. Next to it, on the so-called "first chair of Mithridates", from where, according to legend, the Pontic king admired the sea, the Eternal Flame burns in honor of the soldiers who defended the city and liberated Kerch from the enemy. This is how the events from the history of Kerch, the heiress of the ancient Panticapaeum, echo in time.

Temple of John the Baptist. From Mount Mithridates we descend to Lenin Square, where the Church of John the Baptist is located - one of ancient monuments early medieval architecture. Today it is a functioning temple.

There is a consensus among researchers about the time of its construction: some call the eighth century, others the tenth. At the beginning of the XIX century. the building of the temple was lengthened with an extension on the western side. Renovated a few years ago. The author of the restoration project is the architect E.I. Dopushinskaya.

The temple is an outstanding work of architecture. It is small, built in the Byzantine style, with a single dome on a high drum. Some of its inherent features can also be traced in ancient Russian churches, for example, in the Spassky Cathedral in Chernigov.

Before the church was closed in Soviet times, it contained ancient icons, as well as cult objects, among which was a wooden bowl dating back to the 4th century.

Kerch mounds. There are many mounds in the Kerch region - burial monuments, reminiscent of Egyptian pyramids. The royal mound is one of them, and the best preserved. It is located in the village of Arshintsevo. You can get there by bus number 4.

The tomb of one of the Bosporan kings, built in the 4th century BC. BC e., is a masterpiece of ancient architecture. The mound was built on a natural hill, the height of the embankment is 17 m. A stone corridor leads to the crypt, located inside the mound, where the tomb of the king was located.

The Melek-Chesmensky Kurgan (Volodi Dubinin Street) is similar in architecture to the Tsar's, but is somewhat inferior to it in size. It contained a burial of a noble Bosporan, dating back to the 4th or 3rd century BC. BC.

In 1830, archaeologists excavated the famous Scythian mound Kul-Oba, located a few kilometers north of Kerch. In the crypt, built of smoothly hewn stones, was the burial place of the Scythian leader. The ruler was buried with his wife and slave. A rich treasure trove of household items and decorations dating back to the 4th century was also found here. BC e. Among the most valuable finds are masterpieces of ancient jewelry art: a twisted golden hryvnia with figures of equestrian Scythians at the ends, a golden bowl, rich pendants with medallions depicting the head of Athena in a helmet, the famous electrum vase (an alloy of gold and silver) - with scenes from Scythian life and others. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get acquainted with them in Kerch - the treasures from the Scythian mound are stored in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage.

Here is the world famous antique monument- the crypt of Demeter - you can inspect. It is located on 2nd Longitudinal Street. Of interest is, first of all, the painting of the crypt with the image of Demeter - the Greek mythological goddess of fertility, the patroness of agriculture. This is a unique monument of Bosporan painting of the first half of the 1st century. On the walls of the crypt, there are also images of the figures of Hermes - the patron saint of travelers, Pluto - the lord of the kingdom of the dead, the nymph Calypso, an ornament in the form of grapes.

Around Kerch

During the Kerch-Feodosiya operation on a stormy night on November 1, 1943, an amphibious assault landed near the fishing village called Eltigen, capturing a small bridgehead on the shore, which went down in the history of the war under the name " Tierra del Fuego". This land was really "fiery": a small landing "piglet" was shot through. But, burrowing into the ground, the Eltagens held out for almost forty days and nights, sometimes repelling ten or more attacks a day. Diverting significant enemy forces, they The Eltigenites were supported by fighters on boats, who often had to make their way from the Taman coast through a wall of artillery fire, pilots from the 46th women's regiment of night bombers, and heavy artillery installed on the other side of the strait.

On the night of December 7, 1943, by order of the command, everyone who could move - more than one and a half thousand paratroopers - went on a breakthrough. Having broken the enemy ring, they reached Kerch during the night and, unexpectedly hitting the Nazis from the rear, went to Mithridates and the surrounding streets. Then for four more days they fought behind enemy lines until they were evacuated by boats.

In Geroevsky (as the village is now called) in May 1985, the Museum of the History of the Eltigen Landing Forces was opened. A memorial was erected at the landing site. The memorial complex also includes mass grave paratroopers, a motorboat sunk by enemy aircraft and now raised on a pedestal, a hospital and an operating room, traces of trenches and an anti-tank ditch. On a hill near the village, you can see the excavations of the ancient city of Nymphaeum.

To Taman

The Kerch Strait in ancient times was called the Cimmerian Bosporus. "Bosporus" means "bull's crossing". Why "Cimmerian"? Once this whole region was called Cimmeria - in the VIII-IX centuries. BC e. it was inhabited by the Cimmerians. Herodotus wrote about this: "... The country now occupied by the Scythians, originally, they say, belonged to the Cimmerians."

The strait is notable primarily for the fact that since time immemorial it has served as a "fish" route through which fish migrate (in last years mainly anchovy) from the Black Sea to the Sea of ​​Azov, and then in the opposite direction.

On the Taman Peninsula, you should visit the village of Tamanskaya (Taman). It was founded, like other villages, by Zaporozhye Cossacks, who were resettled by the tsarist government to the Kuban.

On the site of the village in VI-V ev. BC e. was ancient greek city Germonass, which was part of the Bosporan kingdom. It fell in the III-IV centuries, destroyed by nomads. In the X-XII centuries. the city, which received the name Tmutarakan, was the center of the ancient Russian Tmutarakan specific principality. In the XIII century. it was owned by the Genoese: I visited the city under the rule of the Turks.

In Taman there is a monument to the first Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, who landed on the "Kerch Kut" - the Taman Peninsula - on August 25, 1792 after the Zaporozhian Sich was defeated by Catherine II. Zaporizhzhya, or Black Sea, as they began to be called, the Cossacks had to settle in new lands and become the Kuban Cossacks.

Alexander Pushkin visited here, heading in 1820 with the family of General N.N. Raevsky from the Caucasus to the Crimea. "From the Taman Peninsula, the ancient Tmutarakan Principality, the shores of Crimea opened up to me," he wrote to his brother. The name of Mikhail Lermontov is associated with Taman. The poet came here in 1837 "on official business". The result of a short stay was the beautiful story "Taman". On the seashore, where the estate of the Cossack Fyodor Mysnik stood and where the events of the story unfold, a hut was restored, which is called the "House-Museum in memory of the stay of the great Russian poet M.Yu. Lermontov on Taman in September 1837".

A small church, erected in 1792, has also been preserved in the village - an architectural monument. In the vicinity of Kerch there are many magic corners where you can enjoy your vacation.

Yurkino, Osoviny

The villages are located in a resort area, 15 km northeast of Kerch. There are several recreation centers and boarding houses. Not far from the villages are: Cape Lantern - extreme point Eastern Crimea, ferry crossing across the Kerch Strait, there are many monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, including the memorial to the Heroes of Adzhimushkay.

Resort

It is located in the northern part of the Kerch Peninsula, 19 km northwest of Kerch and 2.5 km from Lake Chokrak, near which mineral springs. A wide shell-sand beach stretches along the coast - one of the best on the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. Travel from Kerch by regular bus.

Nizhnezamorskoe

The villages of Nizhnezamorskoe, Zolotoe, Novootradnoe and Pesochnoe are located on the shores of the Kazantip Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov. In the distance of the bay, beautiful sandy-shell beaches 20-30 m wide stretch for 25 km. The bottom of the sea is sandy, shallow.

Peninsula Kazantip

A well-maintained modern village built for the builders of the Crimean NPP (construction has been stopped). Branches of the Kerch Travel and Excursion Bureau and tourist and excursion cooperatives operate in the village. Directions: regular buses from Kerch, Feodosia, Simferopol and Lenin; by trains to the station Seven Kolodezey (pgt. Lenino), then - by bus.

The village of Lenino (formerly Seven Kolodezey) - the center of the Leninsky administrative district - is located on a flat plain, on both sides of railway. More recently, it was a small waterless village. In recent years, the village has changed beyond recognition. A ring of green spaces has been created around it. Straight paved streets, new public and residential buildings, beautiful buildings hotels, restaurants, specialized shops, hospitals give the village a modern urban look. The favorable location near the route of the North Crimean Canal opens up ample opportunities for further development in front of the village.

From the village to the Sea of ​​Azov is only 5 km. In the future, this whole area, especially the seaside, will become a resort. This is favored climatic conditions area: mild winters, cool springs, rather hot summers and warm autumns. In the Leninsky district - on the Azov coast - Lake Chokrakskoye is located with its therapeutic mud and sour sources.

The region is exceptionally rich in archeological monuments. Let us name only those located near the regional center: the site of the Mesolithic-Neolithic period, the settlements of the Bronze Age, Scythian burial mounds, ancient settlement III-I century BC. e.

At the foot of the Parpach Ridge is the large village of Leninskoye. It has a large poultry farm, a secondary school, a hospital, a cultural center and a stadium. A little higher than the village, in the Yuzmak gorge, a reservoir was built, the waters of which are used for water supply to TT. Lenin and partly for irrigation of fields. Archaeologists have discovered at Leninsky Neolithic site, the remains of settlements of the Copper-Bronze Age, Scythian mounds of the 6th-4th centuries were investigated. BC e., a medieval settlement.

Photo of Crimea and the nature of the peninsula

The Kerch Peninsula is the extreme eastern part Crimea. Its length from west to east is about 90 km, and its width from north to south reaches 50 km. This peninsula is washed by two seas: from the south - the Black Sea, and from the north - the shallowest Sea of ​​Azov in the world. Both seas are simultaneously visible in the area of ​​the Akmanai isthmus (the narrowest part of the peninsula). The total area of ​​the Kerch Peninsula is about 3000 km2. The highest point of the peninsula is Mount Khroni, 175m high.

The landscapes of the Kerch Peninsula cannot be called diverse. In its northeastern part, hilly territory prevails, and in the southwestern part, it is flat, but the whole panorama is generally represented by mostly untouched, wild and desert nature. The soil is represented by fertile southern chernozems, as well as dark chestnut saline ones. Most of The territory is sown with agricultural crops - corn, wheat, oats. There are also vineyards.

Topographic map of the Kerch Peninsula, Increase :

In some parts of the Kerch Peninsula, pristine steppes have been preserved, in which unique animals live. A striking example to that - nowhere else found a colony of pink starling. Also on the territory of the peninsula there are several large salt lakes, and there are wide bays on the coast.

largest locality peninsula - the city of Kerch with a population of 170 thousand inhabitants. The climate of the peninsula is temperate continental with dry and hot summers and mild snowless winters. average temperature air in summer is 24-250 C, and in winter - 10C.

Satellite map of the Kerch Peninsula.

The extreme eastern part of Crimea is the Kerch Peninsula, it is washed by two seas, the main part of its territory has the status of an archaeological reserve. southern part washes the Black Sea, the northern part of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, such a geographical location provides a special climatic zone.

Location of the peninsula

From the heights of the Akmonai Isthmus, you can see the basins of the two seas. The terrain in the southwest is flat, the northeast is hilly. The hills are considered the hallmark of the Kerch Peninsula. The highlight of this area are mud volcanoes, their phenomenal properties are widely used in spa treatment.

A distinctive feature of the Kerch Peninsula is the hot summer, which brings drought and winter with little snow. The water area of ​​the Kerch Strait separates the peninsula from the Taman Peninsula. Today, the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas are connected by a ferry crossing. The Taman Peninsula is separated from the Kerch Peninsula by a strait, with a width in some places from five to fifteen meters.

Kerch city

On the Kerch Peninsula is the "capital" of this region - Kerch. The modern city is located along the Kerch Strait for 52 kilometers. City of four water areas with different temperature and salinity. These properties provide pools:

• the Black Sea;
• Sea of ​​Azov;
• Kerch Strait;
• Lake Sivash.

The foundation of this settlement dates back to the fifth century BC, historical Center under open sky has:

• Mount Mithridates;
• Settlement of Panticapaeum;
• Church of John the Baptist;
• Adzhimushkaysky quarries;
• Yeni-Kale fortress.

Locals advise climbing Mount Mithridates to visit the ancient settlement of Panticapaeum, and from its top to admire the scenery of the surroundings. The city is famous for hosting all kinds of festivals, competitions, regattas. The Sunny City, which has about 300 sunny days, opens bathing season in May.

Not far from Kerch are the sandy beaches of the Arshintsevskaya Spit and Lake Chokrak, world famous for its healing mud. Medicinal properties mud is used to treat joint, gynecological diseases.

The Kerch Peninsula belongs to natural phenomenon- mud volcanoes, they are located near the village of Bondarenkovo, their height reaches one and a half meters. The composition of the erupted masses is saturated:

• Oil;
• Methane;
• Hydrogen sulfide.

The mystery of the beginning of volcanic eruptions containing mud has not yet been solved by scientists. It is known that the mixture is pushed to the surface by combustible gases. The location of volcanoes is fixed on the surface of the earth, also in the bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov.

It is difficult to find the location of volcanoes on your own, so it is advised to use the service of a guide.

Perspective for the development of the region

Every year more than five million tourists and vacationers rest and improve their health in the Crimea. Some of them visit the Kerch Peninsula, which is of particular interest today. The construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait is underway, this event opens up broad prospects for the development of the region. The presence of investment flows contributes to the implementation of the program for the development of small business, to develop services in the resort and tourism sectors.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kerch Peninsula (Ukrainian Kerch Pivostrіv, Crimean Tat. Keriç yarımadası, Keric yarımadası) - East End Crimea. The length from west to east is about 90 km, from north to south from 17 to 50 km. The area is about 2700 -3000 km². The highest points - pihbopai mountain(189 m), Mount Opuk(184 m) and Mount Khroni(175 m). The peninsula is washed in the north Sea of ​​Azov, and in its western part - the bay Sivash, in the east - Kerch Strait, on South - by the Black Sea. In the west, the peninsula is connected to the rest of Crimea Akmanai Isthmus about 17 km wide. In some elevated places of the isthmus, both seas are visible at the same time: the Azov and the Black.

Most of the Kerch Peninsula belongs to Leninsky district Crimea.

The northeastern part of the peninsula is hilly, composed mainly of limestone , clays And sandstones. A lot of mud volcanoes. southwestern part Kerch Peninsula flat, steppe. Mainly folded Paleogene clays. On the peninsula there are several large lakes (salt) and beds of temporary streams. There are no rivers with a constant flow, the largest drying river is Samarly.

Climate

The climate is temperate continental, with relatively mild almost snowless winters and hot and dry summers. January average temperature −1,5 °C , July +23,5 °C . Rainfall is less than 500 mm per year. Strong east and northeast winds are observed.

Soils

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Notes

Literature

• Kerch Peninsula // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Tevelev A.V.

An excerpt characterizing the Kerch Peninsula

My “sixth” winter was already reluctantly receding, leaving behind ragged furrows on the once so pristine face of the earth. Snowdrifts mercilessly “settled”, losing their proud whiteness and turning into dirty clods of ice, shamefully melting, giving birth to many cheerful streams, which, whispering playfully, ran merrily along the slopes and paths already beginning to turn green in some places. The days were clear, transparent and windless. The “green” smells of spring were confidently fragrant in the air and almost real warmth was spreading, from which the earth, still sleepy from hibernation, woke up more and more. Once again a new life is born...
I, like all children, adored spring. It seemed that we, too, like sleepy bear cubs, crawled out of our “lairs” after a long hibernation and joyfully offered our smiling faces for a kiss to the first gentle rays of the sun. And the good sun gladly “decorated” our children’s cheeks and noses with scatterings of freckles, evoking warm smiles from our mothers ... The days slowly became longer and more and more old women came out on our street with their benches to sit by the porch and enjoy the warm rays of the sun.
I really loved our kind quiet street. It was not very wide and not too long, as I always called it - home. At one end it rested against the forest, at the other, against a huge chamomile field (on the site of which, much later, to my great regret, a local railroad station). On our street, then still immersed in greenery, only about twenty private houses huddled. It was a “blessed” time when there were no TVs yet (we had our first one when I was nine years old) and people just talked.
We all knew each other well and lived like it was one big friendly family. Some were loved, some not so much... But everyone knew that if he had trouble, someone would always come to his aid, and it never happened that someone was left aside. Even the most "harmful" tried to help, although later, of course, one way or another, they did not forget to remember this. I am by no means trying to show the romantic idyllicness of the place and time in which I lived and, moreover, to reduce the significance of any "progress" that appeared. But I will never be able to forget how much warmer and cleaner people were when their souls and minds were not burdened by the alien "fog of well-being" and "mental dirt" of the same "progress".