Cave city fortress Eski Kermen. Cave city Eski Kermen

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There are regions that are rich in historical, architectural and cultural values. And there is a region that is valuable in itself - this is Crimea. In fact Crimean peninsula- a complete nature reserve. It's hard to take a dozen steps here without bumping into historical monument. One of these is Eski-Kermen, a bastion city hewn out of the rocks.

Eski-Kermen Citadel: birth, greatness and death

Actually, rock cities are not uncommon in Crimea. Shrouded in secrets, permeated with mysticism, they, it seems, still keep the shadows of their inhabitants - Taurians, Alans, Goths and Hellenes, Scythians and Sarmatians. This is especially acutely felt in Eski-Kermen, one of the largest cave cities.

The fortress structure on a flat, high plateau well protected by rocks was apparently built by the Byzantines at the beginning of the 6th century to protect Chersonese-Korsun. However, this fortification hardly played a major strategic role, and some time later, historians say, it was captured by the Khazars.

However, the citadel on the plateau gradually expanded, and with it the city grew. At the beginning of the 12th century, according to archaeologists, the Old Fortress (this is what the Crimean Tatar word “eski-kermen” means) extended over an area of ​​8.5 hectares and over two thousand people lived in it. The wide stone “tabletop” was built up with residential areas parallel to each other, between which carts scurried along fairly spacious streets. The remains of temple pulpits convince us that in Eski-Kermen there was not just a priest, but a hierarch, a bishop. During these same years, the basilica was expanded and significantly expanded. Everything suggests that the city in the mountains was important administrative center.

The settlement was surrounded by powerful natural walls, reliable gates, “sally” gates, towers, battle platforms and casemates. Remains of an irrigation system unearthed in the surrounding area and terraces with wild grapes prove that the local economy was based on Agriculture. By the way, the ancient vines, having fallen into the hands of Crimean breeders, became a valuable source for new grape varieties.

cave city Eski-Kermen - Temple of Donators

Several times life in the walled city was reduced to a tiny, smoldering spark. This happened in 1299, when the troops of the ferocious Nogai, avenging his son killed in Kafa, destroyed Eski-Kermen to the ground. Not immediately, but the city was still reborn after the bloody revenge. However, not for long: in 1399, after the assault of the Horde by Khan Edigei, life in the cave settlement completely petrified, merging with the silent rocks.

"Eski-Kermen" - grottoes and tombs

Today the Old Fortress is a museum under the skies. Firstly, here you can see the caves, which in the early Middle Ages were filled with donkeys and goats, pithos and amphorae with wine, slings and bows, sheep skins and tiles. There are almost 350 such grottoes in the ghost town.

Residential buildings on the sites excavated by archaeologists date back to a later time. They were two-story, durable, and their inhabitants, as has now been established, died from fire. In some basements, researchers found skeletons, including children's skeletons - apparently, this is where the townspeople were hiding, hoping to survive the scorching elements.

Secondly, you can wander around the ruins of the basilica, built at the same time as the first fortification. It was of a rectangular, strict shape, with three faceted, semicircular apses (protrusions below the main building) and was divided into three parts - naves. The Polish envoy and cartographer Martin Broniewski, who visited this place in 1578, wrote that the basilica was decorated with marble and serpentine columns. It must be said that the basilica “died” before the fort – its main part was turned into a cemetery, and a chapel was built in one of the naves.

The siege well with its attributes - a steep and deep staircase of 84 steps, a 20-meter tunnel and a shaft where water was stored in case of a long blockade - is of great interest to tourists. Water was supplied by a source “intercepted” by the builders of fortifications. This well is a real artifact: nothing like it was found in any Byzantine fortress built in Crimea for protection against nomads.

"Eski-Kermen" - altars and frescoes

Finally, the ruins of sanctuaries attract visitors to Crimea. For example, the Church of the Three Horsemen, carved in stone ridge at the base of the fortress. This sacred structure has two entrances, the space between which was illuminated from two windows. There are two graves in the temple - a small one, probably for a child, and a larger one. Near them there is a recess for candlesticks and a recess with a cross.

Everything suggests that these burials were the object of worship. At the “adult” grave one can see the fresco that gave the temple its name: St. George the Victorious, killing the serpent, and two horsemen on the left and right, one of them with a child behind. Historians believe that the fresco was created in honor of some kind of battle - so important for the townspeople that some of its participants, who probably died, were counted among the saints. In any case, both the temple and the fresco were created during the period - the end of the 12th century - when the Tatars pierced the Crimea like hungry wolves into a deer that had strayed from the herd.

Another temple, more ancient, was carved at the same time as the first fortification at the main gate. It had three entrances, an honorary chair for the bishop and a baptismal font. There are tombs carved into the floor. The shape of the building is so unusual, asymmetrical, that it has baffled more than one generation of Crimean residents: the Tatars, for example, called this place “The Judgment Seat,” apparently believing that the building served not only for prayers, but also for other purposes. The frescoes that decorated the walls of this temple, unfortunately, have not survived. But the painting of another church, the Assumption, although partially, is still visible. Residents of Eski-Kermen built this chapel... in a former winery. More precisely: at first it was a pit for grain, then grapes were pressed here... And then the room was adapted into a church.

This, of course, is not all that reveals ancient city curious tourists. Towers, watch platforms, staircases carved into limestone, loopholes and embrasures... Here, every stone, every fragment of ancient ceramics fascinates and whispers its own story - about former times and former people.

Valley of the Givers

Very close to dead city stretched across the Cherkez-Kermen valley, where there was another temple - Donatorov. Built between the 12th and 14th centuries, it excites the minds of the preserved fresco depicting the liturgy of the Holy Grail. The “name” of the church is obviously connected with its patrons, because “donator” in Latin means “giver”. The famous Soviet historian Nikolai Repnikov, who carried out excavations in Crimea, believed that the Donator Church, along with the valley and the fortress, were once a single complex. The same scientist described the numerous frescoes for which the temple was famous - all of them, according to him, were distinguished by the highest skill, in which the old Constantinople school was evident. Alas, almost nothing remains of the drawings, but today liturgies are sometimes held on the site where the shrine once stood.

Cave with Internet

At the “bottom” of Eski-Kermen there is a camp site of the same name. This is a whole ensemble of comfortable and, at the same time, exotic holiday: the hotel offers rooms of varying comfort, and for those who love the exclusive - a cave room in a medieval style. Inside the estate there is also a parking lot, a café with home-cooked food, a zoo corner where children enjoy playing, a sauna, camping, horses for walking and ponds for fishing. To fish on the territory of the base “from dawn to dusk,” that is, all day, you need to pay 1,000 rubles. The catch, and the ponds are abundant with carp, silver carp and crucian carp, can be grilled in person and eaten in the gazebo in the fresh air. Just above the fortress, in the mountains, a small sparkle clean lake, where you can also try your luck with a fishing rod in your hands (200 rubles per day of fishing).

Eski-Kermen on the map of Crimea

Road to Ghost Town

From Simferopol to tourist base, and also get to Eski-Kermen itself as follows:

• by regular bus Simferopol-Zalesnoye to the village of Krasny Mak;
• by regular bus Simferopol-Kholmovka to the final stop or to Krasny Mak;
• by train Simferopol-Sevastopol to the village of Frontovoy (station “1509km”), and from there by bus 45 to Krasny Mak or Kholmovka.
• From the named villages, following the signs, you need to walk approximately 6 kilometers.

From Sevastopol you can get there:
- by train Sevastopol-Simferopol to Frontovoy, and then by the above-mentioned bus route 45.

How to get from Yalta:

to Red Poppy - by regular bus Yalta-Bakhchisarai, and then on foot, according to road signs.

Departure from Bakhchisarai:

• by bus Bakhchisaray-Zalesnoye to Krasny Mak;
• by bus Bakhchisaray-Kholmovka to the final destination or to Krasny Mak.

The easiest way, of course, is to go to these protected places by car: from Bakhchisarai you need to get to the village of Tankovovoye (this is about 14 kilometers), and then drive to Krasny Mak (another 4 kilometers).
Before Red Poppy you need to turn right and drive up to the village of Kholmovka. In front of it, turn left, approach the quarry, turn right and proceed to the farm fence. At this point you should turn left again into the valley, from which the legendary and majestic Eski-Kermen will rise towards you.

However, people who choose public transport and they will walk several kilometers and won’t regret it for a minute: the landscapes around are so enchanting that the road will seem like a journey into a fairy tale.

Official information
Medieval fortified city in the southwest parts of the Crimea Peninsula,

14 km from Bakhchisaray and 5 km northwest

Ruins of the medieval city of Mangup-Kale

General information about Eski-Kermen (according to published sources)

The name Eski-Kermen is translated from Crimean Tatar as “old fortress”.

The city's territory occupied an area of ​​8.5 hectares, having a length of 1040 m and a width of 170 m. Built on a table-shaped mountain plateau, limited by cliffs up to 30 m high. Eski-Kermen is part of the Bakhchisaray historical and cultural reserve.

The city of Eski-Kermen was founded at the end of the 6th century AD. e. as a Byzantine fortification and existed until the end of the 14th century. The history of the city before the 10th century is little known, since the city was an insignificant fortification. Although on this moment some researchers are inclined to believe that perhaps the Doros fortress was located here, and not on the Leaky Cape of Mangup-Kale. This is reflected in the name of the city by the Crimean Tatars: “Old Fortress”. Indirect confirmation of this hypothesis is the presence of a siege well of the 6th century, with a staircase of six flights and eighty steps, with a twenty-meter corridor; This was not the case in other known fortifications of the Byzantines during the construction of the defensive line against the raids of nomads in the Middle Ridge of Crimea.

From the 10th century, the gradual expansion of the city and the growth of its importance began, with the greatest prosperity occurring in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the number of inhabitants exceeded 2000 people. At that time there already existed a full-fledged medieval city, the plateau is built up with rectangular blocks, separated by streets wide enough for a cart to pass through; the ruling bishop of the district was located on the territory of the city, as evidenced by the remains of a pulpit in the temple at the central gate. The Basilica, supposedly built between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 8th century, is being rebuilt and expanded in the central part of the plateau.

In 1299, the city was destroyed by Mongol troops led by the Golden Horde beklarbek Nogaya was no longer able to fully restore its former meaning. In 1399, the Mongol army, led by the temnik of the Golden Horde Edigei, destroyed the rebuilt fortifications and completely ruined the city, which after that was never restored. Only a small settlement remains in the vicinity: Cherkes-Kermen (village Krepkoe) located between the northern tip of Eski-Kermen and Kyz-Kule. It existed from the period of late antiquity until the early 70s. XX century.

Not far from the village of Kholmovka there is the cave city of Eski-Kermen. The Byzantines built the fortress at the end of the 6th century to defend Chersonesos. In the 8th century, the Khazars destroyed the city, but local residents did not leave their places. The cave city of Eski-Kermen was finally destroyed in 1299 as a result of the raid of the Golden Horde emir Nogai, who took revenge on everyone and everything for the death of his beloved grandson, whom he sent to Crimea for tribute.

The original name of the city was forgotten, becauseEski-Kermen or Old Fortress- the name given by the Tatars, although during their rule no one lived in the city

The city is located 18 kilometers southwest of Bakhchisarai on a separate flat peak with steep slopes and impenetrable cliffs. The height of the mountain is approximately 300 meters and it stretches from north to south. The surface of the mountain is similar to an airplane wing and has a length of 1040 meters, and a maximum width of 200 meters. The summit of the mountain is at the southern end of the plateau.

From the north, the plateau is somewhat elongated and decreases slightly towards the north, ending in a pointed rocky cliff. In the west and east, the cave city of Eski-Kermen is limited by rocky cliffs with a height of about 30 meters. On the southern side, where the steep cliffs are of small height, a road winds up a gentle slope, which in front of the peak is carved right into the rock. This part of the plateau was protected in ancient times by powerful defensive walls.

Eski-Kermen, one of the largest cave cities Crimea.

Love this one so much cave city. He is very close to me holidays of new wine Dionysia, exactly on Eski-Kermen we crush grapes with our feet, dance Bacchic dances and perform rituals dedicated to the ancient cult guilt. This city evokes in me a voluptuous feeling of nostalgia for something gone forever, because here we walked during the “Brotherhood of the Black Arrow” tour, or stayed here during the ten-day trans-mega tour, when we were staying in the neighboring Cherkess-Kermen. Therefore, as for many other reasons, I have a special, reverent attitude towards this city. Fate, rock, has tied us tightly... I especially love Eski-Kermen, when there is no one here, no loud-mouthed guides, no annoying tourists who don’t understand why they were brought here, who are alien to the energy of this place, just as the people who have inhabited this city for a thousand years are alien. When there are no tourists, cyclists and local residents here... There is such a time, it’s winter... But only at this time, when there is no one here and I am alone within the walls of the cave house, where the mountains are visible from the “balcony”, dark forest and the constellation Orion, I understand how happy I am with such experiences... But the most incredible sensation is given by a winter walk on a moonlit night among the ancient walls and caves of what was once one of the greatest cities of the past...

At the top of the plateau are a huge number of caves, there are more than 400 of them, more than in other cave cities Crimea, so the city holds a kind of primacy in this matter.

Although very few reliable facts have been preserved about the city, many secrets can be revealed to an attentive traveler walking along the ancient streets among the remains of houses and looking into the most diverse caves.

Nobody remembers the true name of this amazing, most “cave” city of all. Crimean fortresses.

The Tatars simply called him Eski-Kermen, it is assumed that the Khazar name Kut, and the Goths who settled here called this city Shivarin, perhaps the Greek name in different eras of the city’s life could be Fulla, And Climates. Such a variety of names is not surprising - the city existed for a thousand years, and it was inhabited or tried to be conquered by different ethnic groups.

The main entrance gate of Eski-Kermen, once on the left and right of the gate, powerful gate fortress towers rose on hewn platforms.

The city itself, with an area of ​​8.5 hectares, is located on a flat plateau of a steep table mountain.

Its length along the north-south axis is 1000 m, its greatest width is 170 m, the height of the steep cliffs reaches 30 m.

The slopes of the mountain are made of huge blocks, sharpened by wind and rain.

In all these blocks, along the entire perimeter of the plateau, there are carved hundreds of caves for various purposes, from temples, residential buildings, combat casemates to barns and granaries.

In the central part of the plateau there is a huge Basilica, nearby blocks of residential buildings and narrow medieval streets have been excavated.

The huge estate of the winemaker, with tarapans for wine pressing and deep cellars where the wine was stored, has been well studied.

On the outskirts of the city there are monasteries. One of them, in the form of a trefoil on the way into the city, at one time served as a refuge for travelers who were late for the city by the time the gates closed.

The gates are cut down funerary arcosolia And ossuary, rock tombs and small chapels.

A deep rut, just like in Chufut-Kale, cuts through main street city ​​and serpentine descends into the valley, reminding us that for a thousand years a turbulent life was in full swing here, leaving us with rare artifacts.

The types of temples are also amazing in their own way: "Judgment" with bishop's chair, small and unique Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary with a tarapan knocked out in the corner and a cellar for storing wine. When ascending to the city from the eastern side, the traveler is greeted by a stunning temple carved into a separate stone - this is the so-called Temple of the Three Horsemen.

One of the horsemen is St. George the Victorious, revered in the cave cities of Crimea, and two other unknown warriors of locally revered saints. One of them has a boy sitting behind his shoulders. Tomb graves unknown heroes of the past were carved right into the floor of the temple...

The cyclopean structure of the siege well is truly amazing.

In the well it is quite possible to go down the ancient steps carved into the rock. The steps go in five flights 30 meters deep into the rock.

It was through this well that the city was captured Khazars during the uprising of John of Goth.

It is interesting to walk along a narrow corridor through a crevice and climb to the northern sentinel complex. Stunning views of the tower Kyz-Kule neighboring city Cherkess-Kerman.

Visit the western and eastern granaries, see the place where the city gates once were, touch with your hands the grooves where the beam locking the gates was once laid, climb the rounded ledges that keep traces of the “bed” of the place where huge stone squares once rested , representing fortress curtains and powerful towers.

Truly multifaceted and unique Eski-Kermen!

Like all cave cities of Crimea, Eski-Kermen did not appear out of nowhere. It is believed that since ancient times, people have adapted mountain grottoes for their needs and created new ones with the help of pickle.

But at the same time, Eski-Kermen also has the completed forms of a fortress and was clearly created according to some ingenious plan of an ancient architect.

According to archaeological research, the fortress was built on the initiative of the Byzantine authorities at the end of the 6th century. to protect the approaches to the outpost of the empire in the South-Western Crimea - Chersonese.

The garrison of the fortress consisted of local residents - ready and alan- federates

(allies) of the empire.

The granaries on the eastern part of the city were later used as combat casemates.

Presumably at the end of the 8th century. Eski-Kermen falls under the rule of the Khazars.

It is possible that the inhabitants of the fortress took part in anti-Khazar uprising, known in literature as the revolt John of Goth.

Some researchers also associated the destruction of the fortress walls with this event.

By the middle of the 9th century. the influence of the Khazars in the South-Western Crimea weakens and then completely ceases.

fortress walls made of huge blocks blocked off the most inaccessible areas of the fortress.

About life Eski-Kerman in the IX-X centuries. we know little.

Most likely, at this time the settlement was a sparsely populated fortress on the Byzantine-Khazar borderland.

From the second half - end of the 10th century. life on Eski-Kermen, begins to be reborn.

This revival is associated with the help of Byzantium, which is clearly seen from the primary source, the so-called “notes of the Gothic toparch.”

Historians and archaeologists have identified the destroyed city described in the “Note” in the area called "Climates", with the Crimean “cave city” Eski-Kerman.

Archaeological research carried out in 1928-1930 showed that the fortress walls in the southern part Eski-Kerman, were demolished to the ground.

According to excavations, the destruction of the fortress walls in the southern part of the city occurred no earlier than the end of the 8th century. and no later than the 10th century. The results of excavations indicate that after the destruction of the battle walls, the life of the city continued.

According to one assumption, defensive structures Eski-Kerman could have been dismantled at the end of the 8th century by the Khazars, as a consequence of what was described in "The Lives of John of Goths" unsuccessful uprising of the Goths under the command of Bishop John against Khazar rule.

Along with the identification described by the toparch, the destroyed city Climates with Eski-Kermen, it has been suggested that the remains of the fortification Kyz-Kule which is located on a hill Tapshan, near Mount Eski-Kermen, northwest of the northern end of its plateau, are located on the site of the “fortress” whose construction is described "Note of the Gothic Toparch".

Thus, the topographical features of the mountain Eski-Kerman and its immediate surroundings, along with archaeological data, as well as general geographical information contained in "Note of the Gothic Toparch", can serve as a reliable basis for linking the “Note of the Gothic Toparch” with the Crimean “cave city” Eski-Kerman.

Later, on the site of the former Eski-Kermen fortress, a medieval city gradually formed. By the XII-XIII centuries. The settlement was already built up with rectangular blocks, separated by streets up to 2 m wide. This is the highest flowering of the city, at this time temples were built and painted here, the city reached its greatest size.

At the end of the XIII-XIV centuries. the settlement was destroyed.

He is associated with the campaign of the Golden Horde temnik Nogai to the Crimea in 1299.

After this life is Eski-Kermen gradually fades away.

The city was probably finally destroyed at the end of the 15th century. during the Turkish invasion of Crimea and the fall of the principality of Theodoro, centered on Mangup.

In the 16th century in the environment local population Only vague legends have survived about him.

Yes, the Polish envoy Martin Bronevsky, who visited Crimea in 1578, wrote: “Not far from Mancopia... there is a certain very ancient fortress and city, but it, neither among the Turks and Tatars, nor even among the Greeks themselves, due to its extreme antiquity, has any name. It fell into ruin during the time of the Greek princes, about whom numerous atrocities are reported in these places that they committed against God and people.”

From this passage it is clear that people are driven by an idea - a spirit. There was a people, and not one at all, but the remnants of many peoples who once ruled Taurica and lost their former power. In the Middle Ages, the united Goths, professing the Greek Orthodox religion, spoke among themselves in Greek - the only language of that time for interethnic communication. This conglomerate of various ethnic groups - the remnants of the Tauri, Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Polovtsians and other peoples - represented a community of highlanders. And this community had an idea - to live in the cave city of the fortress. Build stone houses and fortress walls, cut down dwellings and outbuildings in the rocks, build ossuaries and crypts in the rocks, right on the territory of the city, for their loved ones... for there was no fear of death, there was no disgust for their dead fellow tribesmen. This society had a different culture, a different idea of ​​the meaning of life and death. And so they lived for a thousand years, from generation to generation, adhering to their idea of ​​state independence and pride. They knew how to stand up for their home, children, wife and parents with a sword in their hand. A proud and brave people who revered the ashes of their ancestors and supported the traditions of their grandfathers... But they died under the blows of an evil fate... And the surrounding peasants living in the mountains and forests did not have this spirit and idea of ​​​​living in a fortress city; when attacked by the enemy, they abandoned their home , animals, arable land and ran away to the mountains...

So over time, the cave cities and those who lived in them were forgotten. And already 200 years after the death of the city, in response to questions from inquisitive visitors, local residents - descendants of the ancient and glorious, but who had forgotten their grandfathers and customs - spoke Tatar: "Eski-kermen", which translated means Old Fortress…

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