Attractions of Krym AR region

The cave monastery of Chylter-Marmara stretched with a gallery along the cornice of Mount Chylter-Kaya ("lattice rock") above Ternivka.

More than fifty caves are located in 5 tiers: cells, a refectory, utility rooms, as well as a gallery with five columns and a large Christian temple. The complex is surrounded on all sides by impregnable rocks and cliffs.

The Chylter-Marmara Monastery operated from the XII-XIII to the end of the XV century, but some researchers date it to the VI-IX centuries.

The epithet "Marmara" comes from the name of a medieval village, the ruins of which are located on the slopes of the mountain. The plateau offers a wonderful view of the surrounding nature.

The largest and only preserved (reconstructed) city gate of the five that existed in medieval Gezlev (Kezlev).

Odun-bazar-kapusu (Gate of the Wood Bazaar) is located on the eastern side of the old city. Immediately behind them was the Wood Bazaar, hence the name.

The width of the gate is more than 12 meters, the length of the passage is 13.5 meters, and the height together with the gate tower is about 20 meters.

In 1959, the gate was demolished under the pretext that it obstructed traffic. The city gate was restored in 2003 based on the remains of the foundation, ancient images and descriptions. On the first floor you can see the preserved original masonry, on the second floor there is a Crimean Tatar cafe-museum "Kezlev Kavesi", on the third - the museum "Kezlev Gate" with a model of the medieval city. It is convenient to start a tour of the old town from here.

The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory is the largest astronomical installation in Ukraine. The observatory is located near the village of Nauchnyi, on the flat top of the watershed between the Bodrak and Kacha rivers near Bakhchysarai.

In 1949, the first telescope was built - an underground photographic refractor with cameras with 400 mm lenses. Then I started working on Bastov’s telescope. The 1960s requested the largest 2.6-meter reflector in Europe.

The observatory conducts research on the Sun, monitoring the dawn light and the planets of the Sonya system. There is plenty of evidence of the rise of world popularity.

Hrihoriy Shain, Andriy Severny, Evald Mustel and others celebrated their ancestral weddings here.

In 1993, the conserved unfinished complex of the Crimean nuclear power plant became the arena for the international dance music festival "Kazantip" (later moved to the village of Popivka in the western part of Crimea).

The construction of the Crimean NPP began in 1978 on the shores of the Aktash Salt Lake near the Kazantip protected cape. The construction was stopped by the efforts of the "greens".

Mount Demerdzhi is a mountain massif (yayla) north of Alushta, one of the most beautiful peaks of the Crimean Mountains.

It rises 1240 meters above sea level. Translated from Crimean Tatar, Demerdzhi means "blacksmith". There is an ancient legend about an evil blacksmith who set up a giant blacksmith's furnace on the top of the "smoky" Mount Funa, where enslaved local residents worked. When the blacksmith killed the girl who came to ask him to free the captives, the mountain swallowed him along with the forge.

As a result of weathering, a unique stone chaos was formed on the top - a complex of rocks "Valley of Ghosts", consisting of stone pillars, towers, mushrooms, etc. The "Head of Catherine" rock stands out, resembling the profile of the queen. Walking and horseback excursions are held.

A sarcophagus with the remains of a noble Bosporan woman of the 1st century AD was found on the territory of Kerch in the 19th century.

The burial chamber is frescoed with scenes of the abduction of Persephone, daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter. The Crypt of Demeter is considered a vivid and unique example of decorative painting on mythological subjects, executed in the so-called floral style, most characteristic of Bosporan painting of the 1st-2nd centuries AD.

Due to constant flooding, the crypt is preserved, the technological model is installed on the first tier of the Great Mithridatic Stairs. The 1:1 scale model is created with exact adherence to all dimensions, proportions, frescoes and painting.

The monastery of wandering dervish monks (from the Turkic - "beggar") of the Sufi order "Mevlevi" (whirling dervishes) is the only monument in Crimea that represents the Sufi movement in Islam.

Sufism (from the Arabic "suf" - coarse woolen fabric, a sign of an ascetic) is a religious and philosophical doctrine about merging with the Almighty in ecstatic enlightenments. Dervishes hold their meetings with chants and dances, during which they fall into mystical ecstasy.

The Monastery is a domed hall with tiny cells located around it. Nearby is the Shukulay-Efendi mosque with a minaret (17th-19th centuries), as well as the former building of a madrasah (theological seminary), which now houses a cultural and ethnographic center and a museum of Crimean Tatar culture.

The Diva Rock is a high 70-meter cliff that juts out into the sea for several tens of meters, its silhouette vaguely resembles a girl with loose hair.

There used to be Monk Rock between Diva Rock and the shore, which looks like a hooded monk, but it was broken by a storm in 1931.

You can climb the stairs to the top of the Diva Rock, having overcome the stone chaos at the place of the ruined Monk.

On the shore, just above the Diva, there is the 80-meter Panea rapid, at the foot of which are preserved the remains of the fortified medieval Panea-Isar monastery of the 8th-15th centuries, which was used by the Genoese as a fortress. The remains of the 10th-century basilica with a mosaic floor and a stone crypt with thirty Byzantine burials from the 8th-10th centuries were discovered.

Donuzlav is a salt lake in the western part of Crimea, unique in its size, configuration and ecosystem.

The medicinal composition of the water is a mixture of estuary oil, sea and spring waters. The northwestern part of Lake Donuzlav has been declared a reserve.

In 1962, the lake was connected to the sea by a narrow entrance channel, effectively becoming a bay of the Black Sea.

Until 1994, the Crimean naval base of the Black Sea Fleet was located in the port of "Donuzlav", which included units of anti-submarine naval aviation and fighter ships. The base of fighting dolphins has been transformed into a rehabilitation center of the Yevpatoriia Dolphinarium, dolphin therapy sessions (swimming with dolphins) are held.

Donuzlav Wind Power Plant (WPP) is the first wind power plant in Ukraine, the largest in the CIS at the time of its creation.

On a large area in the middle of the Crimean steppe, a geometric forest of tall masts with propellers of electric generators is located.

Built in 1993 under a joint agreement between Ukraine and the USA on the basis of licensed USW56/100 wind turbines. In total, more than 100 windmills with a total capacity of 11 MW have been installed, which is enough to provide electricity to the villages of Myrnyi and Novoozerne.

Nearby is the Myrnyi Wind Power Plant with 177 wind turbines with a total capacity of 21 MW.

Khan's Mosque Dzhuma-Dzhami (Khan-Dzhami, Kezlev Mosque) - the largest and most magnificent Muslim temple in Crimea.

Founded in 1552 under Khan Devlet I Geray. The project of the mosque was commissioned by the khan in Istanbul to the outstanding Greek architect Khodzha Sinan, who built the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and many other magnificent temples.

Dzhuma-Dzhami (Friday Mosque) was named in honor of Good Friday as a cathedral temple in which all Crimean khans announced a firman - obtaining the right to the Crimean Khanate from the Turkish Sultan.

Over the years, the mosque has undergone repeated alterations, but still resembles the silhouette of Istanbul's Hagia Sophia. In 1962-1985, restoration was carried out and two minarets were restored, which collapsed at the beginning of the 19th century as a result of an earthquake.

During the Soviet era, the Dzhuma-Dzhami Mosque housed a museum of atheism. After Ukraine gained independence in 1990, the temple was returned to believers.

Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall is the most powerful and one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Crimea.

It is formed by the Eastern Ulu-Uzen River, which flows through the difficult-to-pass wooded Khaphal gorge. The mountain stream empties from a 15-meter ledge into a deep pit and flows further down the gorge.

The name is translated from Crimean Tatar as "forever murmuring".

Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall is the most abundant Crimean waterfall, it does not run out even in dry years.

Upstream you can see a whole series of picturesque rapids-cascades. Nearby is the 750-meter-long Dzhur-Dzhur cave.

Many hiking routes cross here. Entrance to the territory of the reserve is paid.

The Emine-Bayir-Khosar cave is located one kilometer from the Marble cave, near the village of Mramorne.

For the first time, geologists got to it in 1927. Later, about 1.5 kilometers of halls and galleries covered with colorful calcite crystals - "cave flowers" - were opened.

In 1994, the Emine-Bayir-Khosar cave was equipped for a guided tour. The excursion along the 500-meter route lasts 1 hour.

Eski-Durbe (from Crimean Tatar - "Old Mausoleum") - the oldest tomb of Bakhchysarai. Built in the 15th century - long before the Bakhchysarai Palace.

According to legend, a ruler who owned the valley before the arrival of the Girays, whose name has already been forgotten, is buried here.

In shape, Eski-Durbe is a cube with a spherical dome. The square arched courtyard with a fountain can only be accessed from the tomb.

Eski-Kermen is a cave town on a mountain near the village of Krasnyi Mak.

It was built during the early Middle Ages (V-VI centuries) by Scythians or Goths to protect Chersonesus from the Khazars. The original name is unknown, the current one is translated from Tatar as "old fortress".

Many rooms carved out of the rock massif have been preserved: the courthouse, the sentry complex, the siege well, and others. Of particular interest is the cave temple of the three horsemen with the remains of ancient frescoes.

On the nearby plateau is the Kyz-Kuli tower (X-XI centuries).

At the foot of Eski-Kermen there is a barbecue cafe, travelers are offered overnight accommodation.