home Feeder Where is the white rock in Crimea. White Rock (Ak-Kaya) in Crimea

Where is the white rock in Crimea. White Rock (Ak-Kaya) in Crimea

How much I traveled around the Crimea, I always had the feeling that on this island of land someone had collected geological and landscape beauties from almost all over the world - so many different reliefs and views can be found here.
One of these places can be called the White Rock, which will be discussed today.
Almost in the middle of the Crimea, between the Main mountain range and the endless steppes, an extremely unusual cuest formation rises more than 300 meters, reminiscent of the world-famous landscapes of Arizona (albeit with the exception of the color scheme) - the vertical wall of Ak-Kaya, or White rock.
It is hard to imagine, but this rock was once the seabed, as evidenced by the huge number of fossilized shells and mollusks that come across here just under your feet.
Since Soviet times, this place has been chosen by directors who make films about the American West, Indians and not only - at different times on the White Rock they filmed "The Man from Capuchin Boulevard", "Mustang Pacer", "Leader of the Redskins", "Mirage", "Chipollino", "Armed and Very Dangerous", "Kings and Cabbage", "Lobo", "Changers", "Wonderful Valley", "Headless Horseman", "Airplane Flies to Russia", "Dungeon of the Witches", "Escape to the ends of the world”, “Code of the Apocalypse”, etc.

2. White rock is located in the Belogorsk region of Crimea above the valley of the Biyuk-Karasu river. If you get to it from the north, you will not immediately realize that you are heading for an incredible cliff - you are driving along steppe roads that roll over hills and suddenly ... there is a sheer wall under you.
From the south, the rock looks exactly like in the photo - Ak-Kaya directly on the left, Mount Ajilar on the right. Between them, a crumbling winding road goes up, along which they used to climb the plateau. Now there is an asphalt road to the right of Ajilar, from which a dirt road already branches off at the top, passing almost along the edge of Ajilar and Ak-Kai.

3. The White Rock was formed by the erosion and weathering of Cretaceous limestones and sandstones over many thousands of years. If you stand under the rock itself, at the foot you can clearly see the mounds of what were once rock walls

4. Plateau on Mount Ajilar. Here, at the foot of Ajilar and further, in the hollow between it and Ak-Kaya, the very films that I mentioned at the very beginning were filmed

5. Views from the plateau of Mount Ajilar

6. Field geometry

7. And in the distance you can already see the White Rock

8. The same giant repeater, which I have already mentioned earlier, is also located here.

9. At the foot of the White Rock, more than one city was built with scenery for filming. Everything that you saw, for example, in "The Man from the Boulevard des Capucines", was located exactly in this place under the rock.

10. Views from the White Rock

11. The tip of the rock wall. It feels like someone just cut off all the excess with a knife

12. The height here is about 325 meters above sea level

13. The old road that led to the rock. Today, you can climb it only on a well-prepared off-road vehicle.

14. Faults in the upper part of the plateau. There are generally a lot of faults, natural grottoes and caves.

15. Rock wall of the White Rock. Below you can clearly see the scree created by the wind.

16. One day these "small" pieces will fall off and fly down with a roar

17. At the foot of the White Rock in the 70s, about 20 sites of primitive man of the Mousterian era were excavated.
And near the ancient hearths, a large number of bone remains of the extinct fauna of the Crimea were found: mammoth, cave bear, giant and red deer, saiga, primitive bull, wild horse, onager, etc.

18. One of the breaks on the rock wall

19. But once it was the seabed. Yes, it's hard to believe, but it's true. Here and there under your feet you come across such stone blocks, which consist entirely of fossilized shells.

20. Clam frozen in stone

21. Somewhere it's just a piece of rock

22. Some mollusks themselves became pebbles.

23. White rock, view from the road. This is how most people passing by see it.

24. Layer cake created by wind and time...

GPS g. 45.104846,34.624079 (format used in online maps)
GPS g.m. 45°6.907", 34°37.444" (format used in navigators and geocaching)
GPS h.m.s. 45°6"17.45", 34°37"26.68"

The White Rock (Ak Kaya) is a hundred-meter sheer wall of limestone, like the rest of Crimea, origin. The rock, well viewed from the southern directions, gave its name to Belogorsk, becoming its attraction as a monument of nature, archeology and history.

Monument of nature, archeology and history

On the northern slopes of Ak-Kai, four sites of primitive man of the Mousterian era were discovered, a Neanderthal skull was found, proving that civilization arose not only in Europe. It was not so bad to live there - water, black earth soil on which something tasty grew, many grottoes and caves in which you can hide from the beast and bad weather. And a high cliff made it possible to practice driven hunting - the remains of a mammoth, saiga, cave bear, giant and noble deer, primitive bull, wild horse, onager were found around.

Caves in White Rock

There are many legends about the caves and grottoes in the White Wall. In the cave "Golden Nora", the entrance to which is located 52 meters from the sole and 49 meters from the edge of the cliff, a dragon used to live, abducting beauties from all over the area. And the robbers kept their gold there, which gave it such a name.

It was also said that this cave lasts all the way to Feodosia, but only climbers in 1960 were able to verify this. As it turned out, this is not a cave, but a high grotto where the rays of the sun never fall, which is why it seems so bottomlessly black.

According to the fourth legend, the sea once overflowed around the White Rock, and even somewhere on the rock you can find iron rings for mooring ships. Well, in the place of Crimea there was not a sea - the Tethys ocean, only there were no people then, and on the young Earth there was only one continent - Pangea.

The closer you get to the rock, the more majestic it seems, these rocks are millions of years old and they are made up of billions of shells of ancient mollusks, just as small relative to you as you now appear in front of this rock.

And in 1783, Prince Potemkin took the oath of the upper classes of the Crimean Khanate, which ended the centuries-old struggle of the Russian Empire for the Crimea.

Be that as it may, the rock is simply very beautiful. You can drive up to it from Belogorsk, knowing the coordinates, you can climb the embankment to the right of the two main grottoes, there is even the possibility of driving on an underdrive along the road with coordinates. 45 07.272; 34 36.265.

To the left of the rock is Krasnaya Balka - a cold gorge. It got its name from the huge number of red wild peonies that bloom here in late April - early May. In general, the place is worth a visit, and on the way you can hug and centuries-old

In the Middle Ages, the White Rock became a place of execution - they liked to throw off captives from it, who before death could contemplate all the beauty of the nearby lands. Not the best consolation, but people have always been cruel. So they blackmailed Bohdan Khmelnitsky, hinting that it was possible to hurry up with the ransom of the prisoners.

Even if you don't have time to go upstairs, at least visit the lower cave - its atmosphere evokes thoughts of an ancient sanctuary. It is light and dry there, the entrance is comfortably shaded by a tree, and, perhaps, any view from the window will envy the view.

The Crimean mountains are fraught with a lot of interesting and unknown. They protect the peninsula from the south side and delight with their sometimes bizarre forms. One of the most remarkable and memorable rocks is called Ak-Kaya. Ak-Kaya is located near the village of Belaya Skala in the Belogorsk district.

Geographical coordinates of the White Rock - Ak-Kaya on the map of Crimea GPS N 45.098056 , E 34.633333

Name Ak-Kaya translated from Crimean Tatar as "white rock". Moreover, it is under this name that it is better known among tourists and local residents. And the village of White Rock got its name precisely in connection with the proximity of Ak-Kaya. Approaching these places of the Belogorsk district, Ak-Kai simply cannot be overlooked. It is a steep white cliff with a very flat top. Ak-Kaya serves as a natural decoration of the Biyuk-Karasu river valley. The height of the White Rock reaches three hundred twenty-five meters, so if you go to its foot and look up, it will seem infinitely high. From a distance, Ak-Kaya looks perfectly flat, but in fact it is filled with many thresholds and ledges.

I must say that only the most courageous and trained climbers decide to conquer this peak. The white color of Ak-Kaya is due to the fact that it consists of limestone and sandstone, and is the result of their weathering and erosion. At the top of Ak-Kaya there are various natural grottoes and rounded niches, and below you can see rocky mounds and accumulations of large stones. Such an unusual and massive view of Ak-Kai attracts many filmmakers here. The rock became a film set during the creation of such films as "The Headless Horseman", "Apocalypse Code", "The Leader of the Redskins", "Escape to the End of the World" and some others.

In the second half of the ⅩⅩ century, the White Rock aroused considerable interest among archaeologists and researchers. At that time, excavations were carried out here, the course of which was led by Yu. G. Kolosov, an employee of the Institute of Archeology. Two dozen sites of ancient people were discovered here, which, according to researchers, belonged to the Mousterian era. Stone knives and tools were found on the rock. For the first time, the bones of Neanderthals were excavated here. There is also evidence that mammoths, giant deer, cave bears, saigas and other animals that are not typical of modern fauna once lived here. There is an assumption that settlements of Sarmatians and Scythians were located on Ak-Kaya.

How to get to the White Rock - Ak-Kaya

The easiest way to get to the White Rock is from the city of Belogorsk, in the north of the city, there is an exit towards the villages: Apple and White Rock, 4 km from Belogorsk and you are in the village of Belaya Rock, the Ak-Kaya rock simply hangs over the village, you can pass it or not notice it just not possible. A dirt road leads to the top of the mountain from the village, it lazily for several kilometers rises to a large plateau of the Ak-Kaya rock. there are many viewing platforms on the plateau, there are even viewing platforms for cars. In late spring and early autumn, the dirt road is very eroded, so it is best to get there by a four-wheel drive car, even in winter it is very dangerous.

In the middle of the wall of the White Rock there is a hard-to-reach cave called Altyn Teshik (“golden hole”). There are several legends about it, one of which says that the treasures of robbers are hidden there.
For many centuries, Ak-Kaya changed its destination every now and then. It was both a place of execution and a solemn swearing in, and a dwelling and even a military headquarters. White Rock is one of the most famous and visited.

White rock Ak-Kaya on the map of Crimea

The White Rock (Ak-Kaya) is a well-known landmark of the Crimea, which is located between the steppe part of the peninsula and its main mountain range. This is also the name of the village, which until 1948 bore the name of Ak-Kaya, (“White Rock” in Tatar). Since 1981, Ak-Kaya has been a natural monument.

Geographic features

Ak-Kaya is a sheer cliff that rises above the valley of the river. Biyuk-Karasu at 100 m. The valley itself is 225 m above sea level. The geological rocks that make up the mountain are white limestones as well as sandstones, which provides a unique color. The peculiarities of these rocks allowed nature to create a real miracle by weathering: grottoes, niches, and pillars appeared closer to the top of the rock. In its lower part, blockages of boulders, picturesque screes and hollows formed. The rock is partially protected from erosion by wild rose bushes and hornbeam, which have actively grown at its foot.
The height of the cliffs reaches 107 meters.!

This is a treasure trove of information for geologists. in the rock layers, the remains of the ancient inhabitants of the sea, which was once here, are perfectly preserved.

History reference

Archaeological expeditions in 1960 - 70s. were able to unearth 20 sites of an ancient man (their age is 300 - 30 thousand years BC) at the foot of Ai-Kai. In addition, the remains of ancient animals were found:

- mammoth,
- cave bear
- giant deer
- onar, and a number of others, no less interesting.

The natural conditions of the mountain - caves, grottoes, a nearby river, the presence of a silicon deposit - made these places very comfortable for the primitive inhabitants of Crimea. In addition, it was convenient to drive prey to the sheer cliff during the hunt.

It was in this place that the remains of a Neanderthal were found for the first time on the peninsula.

At the beginning of a new era, the Sarmatians lived in this territory, scientists believe that the rock was a sanctuary for them.

In the Middle Ages, the Tatars already settled here. The noble family Shirin, descendants of Genghis Khan, controlled part of the Silk Road passing through the current Belogorsk. For them, Ak-Kaya played the role of a veche, where the Elder clan was elected, and the Murzas discussed their claims to the Crimean Khan.

But it was also a convenient place of execution. The owners of the area, who did not disdain the slave trade, threw off the cliff those whom they could not (or did not want to) ransom. Bogdan Khmelnitsky himself, who was captured by the Tatars in his youth, saw this. Then, before the eyes of the future hetman, the captives were executed in order to stimulate him to collect money more intensively for his own ransom.

Interesting:
The Shirin clan was so powerful that the khans of Crimea gave their daughters to them as wives. And the city of Karasubazar (now Belogorsk) was considered the economic capital of the khanate.

In 1777, the headquarters of A.V. Suvorov, who defeated the Tatar army. An oak tree has been preserved at the foot of Ai-Kaya, under which, according to legend, the great commander rested.

Good to know:
On the plateau of the White Rock in 1783, the elite of the defeated Crimean Khanate, through their representatives, swore allegiance to the Russian Empire.

Legends of Ak-Kai

The inhabitants of Crimea are very fond of telling beautiful legends about their wonderful peninsula. And the White Rock is simply created for amazing events to take place here.

According to one version, once it was the dwelling of the Zmey Gorynych himself. As usual, the monster flew around the neighborhood, stealing livestock from people for food, and, according to the laws of the genre, fell in love with a young girl. The Serpent dragged his chosen one to the cliff.

Beauty found out how to kill the monster, and dropped the letter with information from the mountain. But in vain she waited for help, no one came. Time passed, she gave birth to a baby, for which a happy father made a golden cradle. And only when he heard the cry of the baby, a certain hero took out a magic sword and managed to defeat Gorynych. True, the end of the legend is sad - everyone died, including the beauty and the child, with whom she threw herself off the cliff. Only the golden cradle remains, and enthusiasts still hope to find it.

According to another legend, one of the most famous caves of Ai-Kai (Altyn-Teshik) served as a treasury for local robbers, hence the name, which in Russian sounds like “Golden Burrow”. And some are sure that an underground passage begins from this cave to Feodosia itself. There are other interesting stories connected with the rock.

Be that as it may, but Ai-Kaya is a real treasure for scientists. Lots of discoveries made here.
— geologists,
- biologists.
— ethnographers
archaeologists and historians.

Video review

Information for tourists

The legendary treasures of the Golden Hole and the Scythian mounds attract modern treasure hunters to the White Rock, but it is no less popular with ordinary tourists.

You can climb Ai-Kaya:

– by car, preferably in an SUV and not in winter;
– on a horse, at the foot of the cliff there is a horse farm, where they will rent a horse, and they will offer a route to choose from - 1.5 hours up and down a steep path or a calm ascent and descent in 3 hours;
- on foot, which, of course, cannot be called an easy walk, but all difficulties will be rewarded with beauty that can only be appreciated from the top point.

Going to the White Rock, travelers see not only this miracle of nature itself and breathe the beautiful air, but also get acquainted with historical artifacts, excavations of the ancient Scythian settlement. And many more wonderful experiences await them along the way.

Important!
There is no shade on the plateau, you need to take hats, and there will be no place to take the water that is on the mountain!

Fans of active and extreme recreation can try rope jumping (jumping off a cliff on a rope). And romantic natures stay at the campsite and spend the evening with a guitar by the fire

Interesting:
The unusual shape and beauty of the mountain attract filmmakers. Many famous films were filmed here, among them
- "The Man from the Boulevard des Capucines"
- "Headless horseman",
- "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta"
- "Business people".

How to get to Ai-Kai

From Simferopol to the village of Belaya Skala is only 47 km,
- by car you need to go along the highway to Feodosia, then turn to Belogorsk;
- by bus from the Vostochnaya bus station to Belogorsk, then take a minibus to the village of Belaya Skala, then on foot;
- Possibility to travel by bus.

Address: Belogorsky district, Belaya Skala village

White Rock on the map of Crimea

GPS Coordinates: N 45 06.483 E 34 37.317 Latitude/Longitude

In Crimea, there are many attractions for every taste. There are mosques and waterfalls, gorges and monasteries, museums and cave cities, mounds and quarries, palaces and caves, dolphinariums, parks, gardens, fortresses, observatories, reserves, mud volcanoes, an art gallery and even an extinct volcano. You can live your whole life in the Crimea and not see half of it. So it happened with the White Rock. How many times, driving along the Feodosia - Simferopol highway, we saw it in the distance, not even imagining how interesting this place could be. This year we finally went on purpose. My school friend, and part-time Feodosia guide, Elena, went with us.

White Rock - Ak-Kaya, the most beautiful massif of the Outer Ridge of the Crimean Mountains. An almost hundred-meter sheer cliff of limestone rises on a conical base of white marls cut by deep ravines. This landscape, close to the chalk prairie, allowed Soviet filmmakers to shoot westerns and adventure films here: "The Headless Horseman", "The Man from Capuchin Boulevard", "Mustang Pacer", "Leader of the Redskins", "Chippolino", "Armed and very dangerous", "Kings and Cabbage".

Since 1981, it has been a natural monument of national importance. The entire area is of great interest to archaeologists. It was here that the remains of a Neanderthal man were discovered for the first time in the USSR. The caves of the White Rock served him as a shelter from bad weather, and its sheer cliffs helped to drive the beast during the hunt. And in a quarry where limestone was mined, in 1981, the bones of an ancient whale that lived 50 million years ago were discovered. This is the first such discovery not only in the Crimea, but throughout Eurasia.

Like most mountains of the Inner Range, this is a typical cuesta, that is, a mountain with asymmetrical slopes - gentle and steep. We drive from the side of the Golden Field and stop at the White Rock from its gentle side, along the road, which is marked on the map as the road to the quarry.

Of course, we did not miss the opportunity to drive closer to the Scythian mounds, of which there are a lot here, from very low to ten meters high. But we will return to this a little later. In this message, I will only talk about the landscape part of our walk. Archaeological deserves a separate story.

If you look to the north, this is the usual Crimean steppe.

which suddenly ends abruptly

revealing the vast valley of the Biyuk-Karasu River (from the Crimean Tatar - big black water).

Here she is, winding like a green snake

Along the entire cliff, you can see cracks separating large blocks from the main massif. Sooner or later they will collapse.

But destruction is ongoing. The white color of the rock is caused precisely by the fact that the rocks from which Ak-Kaya is composed do not have time to change color under the influence of natural influences. The mountain has a two-tier structure - the main massif is Paleogene limestone, and under it there is a cone-shaped slope, consisting of rocks intermediate between limestone and clay, that is, screes formed as a result of the slow destruction of limestone. We will see this later when we go down to the valley and look at the White Rock from below.

I do not risk coming closer to the cliff - a strong gusty wind literally pushes me unexpectedly in the back. Although I really want to go to the very edge and appreciate the height and beauty of the valley.

I must say that we were very lucky with the weather. The cyclone passing at this time gave dramatic landscapes and adrenaline sensations.

The sky is clearing up

then covered in dark clouds

I did not manage to get closer to these interesting boulders - in this place we literally "lay into the wind", trying to move.

With great difficulty, we got to the car and, having descended from the plateau, drove up to the grotto, marked on the map as "disc-shaped".

The grotto was quite large

and inside it is really disc-shaped!

In 1960-70, 20 sites of primitive man of the Mousterian era were excavated at the northern foot of the cliff. A large number of flint points, knives, scrapers have been found. Near the ancient hearths - the bones of extinct animals of the Crimea - mammoth, red and reindeer, saiga, primitive bull, wild horse, onager, etc.

In the upper part of the rock, weathering has created pillars, grottoes, oval niches. At the bottom - weathering products accumulate: scree, piles of boulders. In places, the erosion is restrained by thickets of wild rose and hornbeam.

We climb the scree to walk along the entire rock at the base of its steep upper part.

First small grotto

And this is a big grotto. Impressive, right? We did not try to climb up without special equipment.))

At this time it started to rain.

If the trail was clay, we would not have gone far in the rain. But the loose rock only sagged under our feet.

Another big grotto. A hawthorn grows at the entrance.

Of particular interest has always been a cave located in the middle of a sheer cliff. Due to its inaccessibility, it has acquired legends and is called Altyn-Teshik, which means the Golden Hole. The entrance to it is located at a distance of 52 meters from the sole and 49 meters from the edge of the cliff.

The photo was taken by my husband on the phone, and these two figures on the left are us.

In the Middle Ages, the Tatar city of Karasubazar grew up 5 km from the rock. Today it is Belogorsk - a modest district town. And during the heyday of the Crimean Khanate, Karasubazar in its significance could be compared with Bakhchisaray. There was a large trading hub here. Numerous slaves captured in the northern lands were driven here, to the market. And at the top of the White Mountain in those days a place of execution was arranged. Convicts were thrown from a steep cliff. This gloomy spectacle was observed in 1620 by the young Bogdan Khmelnitsky. He spent more than a year in Tatar captivity in Karasubazar. He was often led to an ominous cliff, hoping in this way to induce him to more persistently write letters to his relatives asking for ransom. During the Russian-Turkish wars, the headquarters of A. V. Suvorov was located in these places. On the White Rock, the result of the centuries-old struggle of the Russian state for the Crimea was summed up. It was here that on June 10, 1783, Prince G. A. Potemkin ordered the Crimean beys and murzas to appear in order to take their oath of allegiance to the Russian state.