Adventures of Italians in Crimea Bashny.Net

In the Crimea, only one was not. Every nation has left their mark and their blood - both in terms of war, and in terms of reproduction. This is part of the Crimean magnetism: every centimeter of the peninsula breathes some legend or history, and people carry the genes of ancestors many different nationalities.

On the Peninsula there are many "material" legacy of the ancients. Today let's talk about the Genoese in Crimea lived two hundred years. These guys were building fortresses, many of which are preserved in varying degrees. Fortifications in the Pike perch - the best-preserved, they are also the most famous. But this does not mean that most uninteresting.

20 photos via macos

1. Genoese fortress located on an ancient coral reef, which is a cone-shaped mountain (Mount Kyz-Kulla-Burun or fortress), near Sudak Bay of the Black Sea. The area of almost 30 hectares of the fortress.

2. During the second half in XII. Sudak appear envoys Byzantine Empire - the Venetians, Pisans and the Genoese. They begin to actively trade with the Russian, Polovtsian and Central Asian merchants. Gradually, it is the Genoese seized the entire coast of the Bosporus (Kerch) to Chersonesos (current district of Sevastopol). Kafa (Feodosia) became the capital of their colony in the Crimea, and the Pike - a military base. We started just with the now famous buildings in the world Genoese fortress.

3. In place of the extant Sudak fortress located over the ancient fortifications of VI century, which have been completed and integrated into a single fortress Genoese in the XIV-XV centuries.

4. The successful arrangement of the Genoese fortress and powerful fortifications made almost impregnable fortress: Fortress difficult to access from the west, south and east walls of the fortress to protect steep mountains down to the sea; from the Northeast dug a deep ditch.

5. Genoese fortress two tiers of defense - the bottom and top. The lower tier is protected by a wall height of 6-8 meters and 1, 5-2 meters thick. Wall reinforced by fourteen battle towers 15 meters high and complex main gate. Each tower called the name of the consul, in which it was built, it is said in some preserved towers plate with heraldic symbols and inscriptions in medieval Latin.

6. The upper tier of defense included the tower and Consular castle, connected to one set of wall that runs along the very ridge, and a complex of Watch Tower. Watch Tower stands at the very top of the mountain and it offers a magnificent panorama of the entire valley of Sudak. And with good visibility you can see the distant mountain Ayu-Dag, and even - for her - silhouette teeth Ai-Petri. This tower is very interesting in terms of engineering solutions. At first - quite a narrow corridor length of approximately 5 meters. Then - a high threshold and a few traces of doorways.

7. Time of War and have not regretted and the fortress itself. Many of its fortifications destroyed during the numerous assaults or dilapidated and collapsed themselves. Now Sudak fortress can be seen only a part of buildings, speaking of her former greatness and invincibility. This is the main gate, several towers (among which including St. George Tower, Corrado Chica Tower Torsello), the temple-mosque, a temple of the Twelve Apostles, and the remains of the warehouse barracks.