The history of Balaklava goes back about 3,000 thousand years; it is difficult to name the exact date of the city’s founding. It is known that the shores of the bay have been densely populated since ancient times.
According to Greek, Polish and Arab chroniclers, the city was known far beyond the Crimean Peninsula. Possibly on site modern city was the Listrigonian port of Lamos (known from ancient Greek myths as the place of the cannibal giants that Odysseus fought during his travels).
In the 6th century BC. Chersonesus was founded, there was also a village around Balaklava Bay, which in translation from Greek was called “port of omens” - Sumbolon Limen.
A completely new period, the Roman period, began in 63 BC. after the conquest of Asia Minor and the Balkan region by the Roman Empire. During this period, the city flourished and became a famous center of trade. But the peaceful period did not last long. From III begins the great migration of peoples to the Crimean peninsula, where the fearless regiments of the Huns and Goths rushed. Since the 6th century, Balaklava belonged to the Byzantine Empire.
In 1357, the magnificent fortress of Cembalo (from the name Sumbolon) was built in Balaklava by the Genoese. Also, a few years later, the Temple of the 12 Apostles was built near the fortress. Balaclava was an important strategic site of Genoa, but in 1433 the Greek population of Balaclava began to protest against the colonization of Genoa. The rebels were able to hold the fortress and the entire city for a whole year, but the following year the army of Genoa took Cembalo back into their possession.
In 1453, the Ottoman Empire defeated the great Byzantium, and in 1457 the Turkish Armada managed to take possession of the fortress. From this moment on, the Turkish period of rule began in the city. The name of the city was changed to “Balyklagy”, which translated means nest, fishing place. At times, the Zaporozhye Cossacks managed to capture Balaklava, but they were never able to hold the defense for long.
In 1771, through diplomacy and the signing of treaties, Turkey surrendered the city of Balaklava to Prince Dolgorukov. Since that time, the famous bay has become an important haven for the Russian navy. Three years later, the Turkish authorities recognized the independence of Crimea, and in 1783 the entire Crimea was annexed to Russia (after the signing of the manifesto of Catherine II).
During the Crimean War, the city was captured by the British, who built the first railway, shops, entertainment centers and hotels. In the fall of 1854, the famous Battle of Balaklava took place, in which the British were defeated and lost a significant part of their cavalry. A few weeks later a great storm arose and sank the invaders' ships. This incident gave rise to the legend of the “Black Prince’s gold”, for the study of which a Special Purpose Underwater Expedition was organized.
During the Great Patriotic War, Balaklava became an important target for fascist troops. The 72nd infantry division, accompanied by heavy artillery, was allocated to capture it. The domestic defenders were defeated and moved to the area of the Genoese fortress, which served as an important defensive shield. So in November 1941, Soviet troops managed to repel numerous German attacks without a single loss of life. The defense lasted until 1942, and in 1944 Balaklava was completely liberated from the fascist invaders.
After the end of the war the city turned into a secret military base, and in Balaklava Bay a division of submarines was organized that contained nuclear weapons. There was also an underground plant for repairing marine transport in the rock. The entrance to the territory of this facility was closed, and only in 1995 the last Russian submarine was withdrawn.
Today, when all military secrets have been declassified and the city has acquired the status of a resort destination, more and more tourists want to explore the picturesque bay, walk through the ruins of the Genoese fortress, and simply sunbathe and swim in the clean, warm Black Sea.
Balaklava is a small town on the shores of the Black Sea bay in the southwest of Crimea, located 15 kilometers south of Sevastopol. The entrance to Balaklava Bay, which is not visible from the sea, is located among two small capes: Cape George in the east, and Cape Kurona in the west. Indigenous people live within 20 thousand people.
This century the city celebrated its 2500th anniversary. The name of the city comes from Turkic roots. In the 15th century, the Turks, due to the large number of fish in the bay, began to call it Balyk Yuve. Over time, the Turkic name was transformed into the modern one - Balaklava. In 1976, the city was restored to the status of a separate city; before that, since 1957, the city belonged to Sevastopol. Until the 21st century, the city remained closed to outsiders.
The climate in Balaklava is dry and moderately warm. Similar to the Mediterranean. The area is located on the border of two climatic zones - temperate and subtropical. The subtropical climate of Balaklava is extremely favorable for human health.
During the summer, the heated coastal air masses warm the city, and the cooled air masses during the winter weaken the heat in the summer. In summer, precipitation is rare and the weather is mostly dry, cloudless. The main heat falls in July and August, when daytime temperatures are around +32 °C. Best time For holidays in these places, it is autumn, the swimming season lasts until mid-October.
Many poets, such as A.A. Akhmatova, A.S. Pushkin, A.I. Kuprin, K.G. Paustovsky and others spent their free time in the bay and, inspired by Balaclava, sang it in their works. On the embankment you can find a monument to one of the writers Alexander Kuprin.
Balaklava is famous for many of its cultural and historical places, such as: Gallery of History and Culture of Balaklava, where historical facts, works of local artists and a variety of cultural heritage Balaclavas. Its cultural and historical value The St. George Monastery, located on Cape Fiolent, is famous. Another architectural monument of the 18th century is the Church of the 12 Apostles.
On the territory of Balaklava there are many tourist sites related to the history of the defense of Balaklava: Fort North Balaklava, Object 100, Barrel of Death, 19 Drapushko Battery, Chembalo Fortress.
From time immemorial, fishing, tobacco growing and winemaking have flourished in Balaklava. During Soviet times, an underground military plant for repairing submarines operated in the bay.
To this day, Balaklava is famous for its vineyards, from which delicious wines are made. The city has its own winery, developed in 1889 by Prince L.N. Golitsyn. Main occupation local residents, as before, agriculture and fishing remain. And not far from Balaklava, limestone, crushed stone and gypsum are mined.
Many tourists, visiting the port of Balaklava in the morning, are not averse to enjoying freshly prepared seafood, which local sailors catch in the sea from the very early morning.
B alaklava. The name of a small town 15 km away. from Sevastopol is known almost all over the world. After all, it was on this land that fascinating legends were born, bloody military battles took place and the most beautiful romantic stories happened.
A quiet bay surrounded by mountains and close proximity to the sea attracted the Taurians - the ancient inhabitants of Balaklava back in the 8th century. BC e. It is with them and their house that Homer’s myth about Odysseus is connected, where one of the places visited by the main character is Balaklava Bay.
The history of Balaklava is truly amazing. Starting from the 6th century BC, almost all the empires that ruled at that time laid claim to it. Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish periods followed one after another in the life of this picturesque bay. It suffered destruction, and then flourished, it was besieged and liberated again, classified as a military base and, as a result, it is now a first-class tourist place, with its unique history and sights of previous eras.
Now Balaklava is a district of Sevastopol, part of the Sevastopol bays. The bay surprisingly resembles a European port city. Perhaps, crystal white yachts, and multi-level fish restaurants located along the pier, a soft atmosphere and friendly faces of tourists. For an introductory walk, you can take a tour on a small yacht around the bay.
...Not everywhere in Balaklava there are “very crystal white yachts,” but many are very beautiful and cheerful. Photo: travel-history.com The guides know this town like themselves and will answer all travelers’ questions with sincere pleasure. After their words, such a mysterious Balaklava becomes a new bright discovery, because every building or the ruins remaining from it, rising above sea level, is filled with events that happened centuries ago, each with its own drama or happy story.
The Naval Museum will be interesting to visit.
Naval Museum Balaclava, Photo: static.panoramio.com Construction of the complex began in 1957 and was considered a secret state level. The project was an underwater harbor for sheltering and repairing submarines. The structure was equipped with warehouses for storing food products, fuel storage facilities, caches for military equipment and military shells.
Submarine Museum in Balaklava Photo: krym4you.com The complex is a structure of colossal size and is hidden under 120-meter thick rocks and is thus designed to be resistant to an atomic bomb.
Almost 1000 people worked in adits hidden from the outside world. The building was used for its intended purpose for almost 30 years, and now it is a museum complex, ready to welcome everyone.
Balaklava is a city of military glory and throughout its territory there are monuments and steles to soldiers and sailors - heroes who held the defense of Sevastopol, fought in the Battle of Balaklava and bravely sacrificed their lives to save many people.
Balaclava. Stele dedicated to the courage and perseverance of Soviet submariners, photo: Sergey Nikitin On the eastern side of the bay, on the top of the cape, there is a Genoese fortress called Cembalo. The first mention of the creation of these particular fortifications was discovered in 1343. Over the centuries, the fortress was captured, set on fire and destroyed countless times, but its restoration and the construction of its more powerful elements took place with the same zeal. Currently, all that remains of the Genoese fortress are ruins, but they are where so many epoch-making events lie and local old-timers and guides will be happy to tell you in detail about all the historical secrets.
The history of Balaklava goes back to ancient times. Myths and ancient legends, testimonies of scientists and travelers, historians and archaeologists surround everyone who touches its secrets.
Ancient Greek and later Byzantine historians mentioned Balaklava Bay under the name of Sumbolon Harbor (Simbalon, Symbolon). Syumbolon-Limena is a haven of symbols and omens. Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Polyenus, Ptolemy, Flavius Arrian wrote about this...
The name of the city Balaklava is usually derived from the Turkic Balyk (fish) and yuve (lava) - nest, cage - “Fish nest”. This toponym was first mentioned back in 1474 by my fellow countryman Afanasy Nikitin in “Walking across Three Seas”, who, returning from India, visited Kafa (Feodosia) and “Balykaee” (Sukhanovsky edition). In the 17th century, the city was also known as Balukoy, Balyklagy-yuvech... In Genoese documents, on European maps of the 14th-16th centuries, among the local population it was called Yamboli (healthy, health - Greek), Chembalo, Tsembalo, Tsembaldo. Modern name Balaklava was assigned to the city only in the 18th century, shortly before the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
Based on the statements of the writers of the 1st century. n. e., Strabo and Pliny the Elder, academician P.-S. Pallas, and behind him - archaeologist I.P. Blaramberg and other researchers associated the name Balaklava with Palakion, believing that this was nothing more than a reinterpreted and distorted name of the ancient fortification - from Palak, the son of the Scythian king Skilur (2nd century BC).
According to Strabo, Palakion was founded by the Scythian kings as a fortress to fight the commanders of the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. Strabo does not indicate the date of its birth, but apparently it happened in 112-110. BC e. Somewhere in 109 BC. e. Palakion was captured by the Pontians and, possibly, the Chersonesites. In the museum national reserve“Chersonese Tauride” contains the tombstone of a Chersonesos who died at Palakion. Actually, Palakion - Plakia, as a fortress and a city, is a reality and it is quite possible that it was located on the territory of modern Balaklava. Pliny the Elder mentions the Taurus city of Plakia (1st century BC - 1st century AD). Let us remember that the first written evidence of the Tauri belongs to Herodotus (484 - 425 BC), who claimed that the Tauri sacrificed shipwrecked people and all Hellenes captured on the high seas to the Virgin Goddess. He adds that they live by robbery and war. Let this mark of Herodotus remain on his conscience. However, Strabo, speaking about the narrow bay of Symbols, also writes that they set up their ambushes and hangouts near it. Drawing parallels with the subsequent history of Balaklava, I would like to ask the question: what if they protected their territory, fortress and their city?
Information about the origin of the Tauri is very contradictory. A number of researchers - F. Brun, S.A. Zhebelev, V.N. Dyakov... believed that the Tauri were the descendants of the Cimmerians, who, under the onslaught of the Scythians, were forced to retreat to the mountains. There was an opinion about the Thracian trace of the Tauri, about their migration to Crimea from the regions North Caucasus in the 9th century BC e., but one way or another they gave names to the modern Crimean peninsula- Tavrika, Tavria, Tavrida, and then the Tauride province.
According to archaeologists, near Balaklava, west of the Bay of Symbols, there was an early Taurian settlement (around the 8th century BC). The name of the Tavros height remained until recently. In 1938, archaeologist A.K. Takhtai carried out excavations on it. Finds of ceramics, flint triangular knives, and a low-sided frying pan made it possible to attribute this settlement to the early stage of the development of the Taurus culture.
The oldest sites and burials discovered in the vicinity of Balaklava, Inkerman, on the territory of the modern Balaklava region, date back to the Middle Stone Age - the Mesolithic. East of Balaklava, near the village of Alsou in the Murzak-Koba grotto, a well-known Mesolithic site, called the grotto, was explored in 1938. A double burial of a man and a woman of Cro-Magnon appearance was also discovered there. In the vicinity of Balaklava there are a number of ancient settlements: the catacomb cultural and historical community at the eastern outskirts of the town, in the Kefalo-Vrisi tract; Late Srub culture of the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. and Kizil-Koba culture of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. at the mouth of the Vitmera beam, southeast of modern Stroitelnaya Street.
The land is ancient, the land is mysterious, the bay is convenient. Therefore, both the Greeks and Romans did not ignore them.
Back in 1990, the author of these lines, based on a number of finds: pithoi and a fragment of an inscription on Greek, a tombstone of a Roman cavalryman, a gold coin with the image of Emperor Nero (1st century AD) and cautiously suggested by some researchers, wrote that “it can be assumed that there was a camp of Roman legionnaires here.” And, as it turned out, he was not far from the truth. In the summer of 1992, during excavation work, the remains of ancient structures explored by an archaeological expedition of the Tauride Chersonese National Reserve were accidentally discovered. From 1992 to 1999, excavations were carried out, first by employees of the reserve under the leadership of O.Ya. Saveli, then together with the Institute of Archeology of the University of Warsaw (the head of the excavations is Tadeusz Sarnowski).
The results were simply stunning: archaeologists excavated a Roman military base of the I Italian Legion and the sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichen.
More recently, relying on ancient authors and archaeological finds, it was believed that in the southern and southwestern Crimea only two Roman military bases from the time of the Principate are known: in Chersonese Tauride (in the territory of modern Sevastopol) and on Cape Ai-Todor, where the Roman fortress was located Charax, mentioned by Ptolemy.
Actually, until 1992, no one disputed the facts recording the presence of Roman troops in Chersonesos and Cape Ai-Todor. But “lost fragments with a Latin inscription, found at the source of the Mikhailovskaya Balka on the North Side in Sevastopol, the remains of a sanctuary of Thracian gods at the headwaters of the Cossack Bay on the Heracles Peninsula, a fragment of buildings of the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. with eleven marks of the XI Claudian Legion on tiles from the site of Alma-Kermen (Zavetnoye), about 50 km northeast of Chersonese, allowed us to believe that the Roman troops in Taurica were stationed not only in Chersonese and on Cape Ai-Todor” (5). Excavations carried out in 1992-1999 confirmed the assumptions of historians and scientists: previously unknown archaeological sites associated with the presence of Roman troops there. And apparently a fairly large garrison was stationed in Balaklava. Archaeologists managed to excavate a building with a number of rooms, a thick cultural layer and ancient building remains. They discovered forged iron nails, fragments of amphorae of the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e., red-glazed vessels, lamps, kitchen utensils, tiles with marks. A rare find awaited them. In one of the corners of the building, archaeologists found a treasure: 57 Roman silver denarii. He also made it possible to date the date of destruction of the Roman premises. The treasure was hidden in 223 or a little later.
“In terms of its composition, the treasure represents a unique collection of coins, collected over 30 years, from 193/194 to about 223. The coins of the treasure amaze with the variety of reverses... The vast majority of coins are in perfect preservation. It can be assumed that in this case we have one of the ancient numismatic collections (6).
Excavations showed that the building, built by the soldiers of the Vexillation (a unit of the Lower Moesian army, was located on an already inhabited territory. In the masonry of the walls there were reused slabs and blocks of limestone of the Sarmatian stage from the quarries of the Heracles Peninsula.
In June 1996, during the construction of a house a few meters east of the Roman complex, a sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus was discovered. The material found in the temple, including numerous ceramics, made it possible to quite accurately determine the chronological framework of the existence of the temple: it was restored or reconstructed in 139-161. n. e - during the reign of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius and were used somewhere until 223 AD. e. Copper and silver antique coins were found in the sanctuary - Chersonese and Bosporus, terracotta - cult figurines of the goddess Kore-Persephone and a satyr, lamps, fragments of container, dining and kitchen ceramics, architectural details, including Ionic capitals. In the Balaklava sanctuary, a statue of Hercules and fragments of images of an eagle, a bull, the Moon, Minerva, Hercules, Mithras and altars to Vulcan and Hercules were discovered. Epigraphic monuments from the Temple of Jupiter Dolichenes also provided archaeologists with valuable material.
Thus, on the pedestal of the statue of Hercules there is an inscription (translation from Latin):
“Dedicated to Hercules. For the health of the Emperor Antoninus Augustus and Marcus Aurelius Caesar, Antonius Valens, military tribune of the I Italian Legion (installed), with the help of Novius Ulpian, a centurion of the same legion (i.e., I Italian" (7).
The discovery, albeit accidental, of the interior of a Roman military camp and the outer sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus “showed that Rome was engaged in securing not only sea communications, but also the borders of one of its most important allies on the northern shore of the Black Sea. Thanks to the discoveries in Balaklava, a much clearer understanding of the defense system of Chersonesus in the first centuries of our era and the control of the approaches leading to the city from the depths of the Crimea, where, in addition to the Tauri, the Scythians lived for a long time, and where the Sarmatians and subsequently the Goths appeared quite early, was acquired.” (8).
The data obtained as a result of excavations in Balaklava also expanded the knowledge of specialists about the Roman system of leadership of military contingents, about their life in strongholds, about religion and, of course, about the meaning and role of the Roman military presence on the territory of the allied Greek city in Crimea - Chersonese Tauride.
The further fate of the future Balaklava is closely connected with the Genoese. On the Eastern Cape, dominating the entrance to the bay, rise the majestic remains of their fortress Chembalo.
In the second half of the 14th century. trade routes connecting the countries of Western Europe with the East partially moved to the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. At this time, Crimea was a connecting link in the economic and political relations of Byzantium and the Slavic states on the Balkan Peninsula with the Russian lands. Therefore, Crimea becomes the object of the aggressive policy of the Tatar-Mongols and two Italian republics competing with each other - Venice and Genoa. For a long time, the Italians waged an irreconcilable struggle with Byzantium for the Black Sea trade routes and markets. In March 1261, the Genoese entered into an agreement with Michael Palaiologos (emperor of the Nicaean Empire - a Greek state in Asia Minor), which proclaimed eternal peace between Byzantium and Genoa. In July of the same year, Palaiologos' troops captured Constantinople. The Genoese were given the right to duty-free trade and the opportunity to establish colonies on the lands of the empire. Already in 1266 they firmly settled on the site of ancient Feodosia. Under an agreement with the Golden Horde Khan, the Genoese founded their trading post, Cafu. In 1318 they established themselves in the Bosporus. Probably at the same time, a Genoese colony appeared in Balaklava, but their legal position was formalized much later.
The Crimean Khan, having concluded a peace treaty with the Genoese in 1380, recognized their right to own the fortress, which from that time began to be called Chembalo (Tembalo, Tembaldo) in Genoese documents. This is evidenced by the Genoese chroniclers, as well as the Venetian traveler Iosaphoth Barbaro, who visited Crimea in 1437.
Having founded a new colony, the Genoese began building a fortress. It is possible that they used fortifications that could have been built earlier by the Greeks. On the top of the cliff they build the city of St. Nicholas, or the Upper City - the administrative part of Chembalo. There was a consular castle, a town hall and a small church there. The consul's castle, built at the very top of the cliff, was a square tower about 15 m high; in its basement there was a reservoir, water into which flowed by gravity through ceramic pipes from a source located above the fortress, on the slope of the neighboring Spilil mountain. This place is still called Kefalo-vrisi, translated from Greek - Head of the spring, or Mane-tunero - Mother of Waters.
The lower city, or the fortress of St. George, was surrounded by a fortress wall with three towers (or half-towers) with narrow loopholes. The top of the towers ended with a parapet with battlements. Marble plaques with inscriptions and coats of arms of the consuls under whom they were built or reconstructed were installed on the towers.
“1463. This building was built by the venerable, noble Mr. BARNABA GRILLOT. Consul".
“1467. This structure was built during the administration of M. de OLIVA, the venerable consul of CIMBALO. This tower has a wall."
The towers are made of local rubble stone and lime mortar.
The highest administrative and military power belonged to the consul Cembalo, who until 1398 was elected for three months from the local nobility, then, like the consuls in Cafe (Feodosia) and Sogdaya (Soldaya; Sugdeya) - Sudak, they began to be appointed from Genoa. The activities of the consuls and administrations of the colonies were regulated by statutes.
The administration included two treasurers, or massarii, one of whom had to be a Genoese and the other a local resident, a vicar - an assistant to the consul, who was involved in judicial affairs. Under the consul there was a council of eight elders, there were two trumpeters and one messenger (9). Spiritual authority in Chembalo was exercised by the bishop.
Local residents were engaged in agriculture, including cattle breeding, as well as crafts, trades and trade. Among the industries, fishing occupied a special place. In the Charter of 1449, among the articles common to all colonies of Genoa in the Crimea, articles relating only to Cembalo, including fishing, were highlighted. The charter ordered the merchant bailiff to take a certain amount of fish from any catch: from a barge - no more than 1/10 of the catch, from a caught flounder - no more than two fish. One of them was intended for the consul. In Chembalo there were special premises where dried and salted fish were prepared for export. Apparently, the colony had a small shipyard for repairing military ships and fishing boats.
There was a brisk trade in Chembalo, including in slaves. The Charter states that the objects of trade were “lands, things, goods and people.”
The Genoese asserted their power with the help of a small garrison consisting of mercenaries (socials and stipendiaries). According to the Charter of 1449, the city had 40 riflemen armed with ballistae.
In each fortress - upper and lower - there were commandants to whom the soldiers on guard duty were subordinate.
At the end of the 13th century. Cembalo becomes an important outpost of Genoa in Crimea. In the second half of the 14th century. The principality of Theodoro (whose capital was located on Mangup) also strengthened its influence. At this time, the Mangup Principality included most of the fortified settlements located around Chembalo and in the Baydar Valley. In an effort to gain a foothold at sea, the princes of Theodoro are building their port at the mouth of the river. Chernoy, in 1427 the Kalamita fortress in Inkerman was reconstructed to protect it.
Difficult relations with the Genoese led the Theodorites to an armed conflict. Having secured the support of the Crimean Khan, Prince Alexei in the fall of 1433 apparently helped the townspeople of Chembalo prepare an uprising against the Genoese. The following circumstances contributed to the implementation of the plans of the Mangup prince: the plague that broke out in Cafe in 1429 spread to Chembalo and claimed the lives of many of its inhabitants. In 1428-1430 There was a severe drought in Crimea. All these disasters led to a sharp deterioration in the economic situation of the local population of Chembalo and to increased exploitation by the Genoese.
In 1433, a popular uprising began in Chembalo and a number of surrounding villages. Genoese chroniclers of the 15th century spoke about him. John Stella, Giustiniani and Foglieta. The latter writes: “This year (i.e. 1433) the Greeks are residents of the city of Chembalo Tauride Chersonese They formed a conspiracy against the Genoese rulers of the city, suddenly taking up arms, and, having expelled the Genoese, they handed over the city to some Greek Alexei, ruler Fedoro...” (10).
The Genoese colonies in Crimea were unable to suppress the Chembal uprising on their own and turned to Genoa for help. At this time, she waged an unsuccessful war with the Kingdom of Aragon, so it was only in March 1434 that a 6,000-strong army under the command of Carlo Lomellino on 10 galleys, 2 galliots and 9 smaller ships left Genoa (11).
On June 4, 1434, the squadron reached Chembalo and stopped at the roadstead. The next day, after a fierce battle, the Genoese cut the chain blocking the entrance to Balaklava Bay, entered it and besieged the fortress.
On June 6, Lomellino failed to break the resistance of the rebels. Then the Genoese, using naval artillery, fired at the city. They managed to destroy one of the towers, the fortress wall and break into Chembalo.
Paduan Andrei Gatari described this battle as follows: “On Tuesday morning (June 8th) the battle resumed and one of the gates was occupied by the besiegers. Seeing this, the son of Prince Alexei, who was among the besieged, retreated inside the fortress with 70 soldiers. The soldiers then entered the fortress and, pursuing the enemy, occupied the hill, causing a great massacre. Spare was given only to one son of Prince Alexei, his close associates and one candiot (resident of the island of Candia)....” (12).
In 1453, the Turks, having captured Constantinople, closed the Black Sea straits to Genoese ships. The Genoese republic, weakened by wars, could not provide assistance to the colonies in Crimea, so it was forced to sell them to its main creditor, the Bank of St. George.
The Turks, having concluded an alliance with the Crimean Khan, demanded tribute from the Genoese. Chembalo also paid an annual tribute to the Crimean Khan. Using all means of diplomacy, the Genoese obtained permission from the Sultan to allow their ships to pass through the straits. The Genoese used the resulting respite to conclude an alliance with the Principality of Theodoro, Moldavia, to get closer to the Crimean Khan, and also to strengthen the fortress.
Curtains and towers, walls of the lower and upper city. These works were completed in 1467.
But all the efforts of the Genoese were in vain. In the summer of 1475, the Turks captured the Genoese colonies in Crimea, including Chembalo, giving it a new name - Balyk-yuve (Fish Nest or Fish Tank). Some researchers translate it as Balyk-kaya (khaya) - fish rock. The captured Genoese were taken to Constantinople, while a small part that went to the mountains mixed with the local population. During Turkish rule, Balaklava, as well as Inkerman and Chorgun (Chorguna) were part of the Mangup Kadalyk (or district).
A Turkish garrison was stationed in the fortress; the unwanted Crimean khans languished in prison. In the summer of 1625, during a major joint campaign, the Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks a short time captured Balaklava and Kafa. In subsequent battles with the Turkish fleet, they were defeated, losing about 800 Cossacks and 500 Donets killed (13). In the second half of the 18th century. The balaclava falls into disrepair.
The description of the fortress in 1578 was made by the envoy of the Polish king Martin Bronevsky, in the fall of 1665 by the Turk Evliya Celebi, in the middle of the 19th century. - Greek 3. Arkas, who counted eight surviving towers.
The Dominican monk Dortelli d'Ascoli, who lived for ten years in Crimea (1624-1634), wrote: “Balaklava is famous for its port and the vastness of the surrounding forests, which represent such a variety of timber that one is truly amazed at the sight of them. Large gallots are built there every year to supply thick logs to Alexandria. In recent years, galleys have also begun to be built there" (14).
Currently, on Fortress Hill we see the remains of defensive and retaining walls and four towers.
In 1991, the head of the Chembalo branch of the Tauride Chersonesos national reserve excavated a small temple there.
At the end of Rubtsova Street, a church has been preserved, the construction time of which some researchers judged from a stone found in the temple with the inscription:
“In September 1357, this construction began during the administration of the modest husband Simone de Orto, consul and castellan” (15).
This block of text was discovered in 1861 by the famous researcher of the Crimean Middle Ages V.N. Yurgevich. The discoverer of this monument indicates that it was discovered near the church doors, in the wall and was covered with plaster. It is possible that this is a recycled block that got into the masonry during the construction of the building. Perhaps this saved the monument from the Sardinians of the expeditionary force during the Crimean campaign of 1854-1856. Their commander-in-chief Alphonse La Marmora ordered, before leaving Crimea, to break out all consular building inscriptions from the walls of the Cembalo fortress and send them to Genoa.
Discovered by V.N. Yurgevich, after the closure of the temple, kept the stone in the Sevastopol Museum of Local History (Proletarskaya St., now Suvorov St.), then it was transferred to the Chersonesos Nature Reserve, where it remains to this day. Recently, some researchers have doubts that a stone with a construction inscription was found in the Temple of the Twelve Apostles. It is suggested that it was found in the ancient, possibly Genoese, church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, closed in 1924 and dismantled for building material in the 40s of the 20th century (16).
Based on field studies, some scientists tried to date the temple to 1793-1797. The reference book of the Tauride Diocese states that the church was built in 1794. It is known that on the eve of the Crimean War it was rebuilt. This can be judged from the published photograph of Roger Fenton.
On June 8, 1875, the restored church was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. At the beginning of the 20th century. Attributed to this temple were (17): the chapels of the Holy Trinity (in the center of Balaklava) and in the name of the Holy Prophet Elijah (one mile from the town), the church in honor of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, built in 1903 on the territory of the cemetery (st. Marble) at the expense of Spiridon Ginali and the ancient church in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. It was located in an ancient, possibly Genoese cemetery. All that remains of it is the crypt and part of the apse (Kalich St., 67).
The banners and other relics of the abolished Balaklava Greek battalion were kept in the Church of St. Nicholas. During the years of Soviet power, the temple housed the House of Pioneers, a club, and OSOAVIAKHIM. In 1990, Kiev architect Yu. Lositsky developed a project for the restoration of the temple as an architectural monument of the 18th century. The building is a unique example of religious architecture, which has no analogues in Crimea and neighboring regions. This is a four-pillar cross-domed temple built from rubble marble-like limestone. The entrance is decorated with a four-column portico of the Tuscan order with a triangular pediment made of Inkerman stone. The load-bearing columns of the interior are also of the Tuscan order; there are no paintings. On July 13, 1990, Archpriest Alexander (in the world A. Polovetsky) held the first service in many years on a church holiday. The church called the Twelve Apostles was revived, and is now the courtyard of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery.
And this ancient restored temple, and the powerful defensive walls, and the towers of the medieval fortress still excite the imagination of everyone who has visited this town, taking them into its historical past.
For many centuries, Russia waged a stubborn struggle for access to the Black and Azov Seas. Its strengthening on the southern borders encountered fierce resistance from France, England and Austria, who saw the Russian state as a dangerous enemy to their interests in this region.
In 1768, Turkey, incited by European countries, went to war with Russia. During it, on June 23, 1773, a naval battle took place, known in history as Balaklava. Two Russian ships - "Koron" and "Taganrog" - under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Jan Heinrich Kingsbergen (a Dutchman in Russian service), while cruising, met a Turkish squadron of three battleships at Balaklava: two - 52-gun, one - 36 -cannon and 24-gun xebek with landing forces. Despite the fact that the Russians were armed with only 32 guns against 164 Turkish ones, they boldly attacked the enemy. After a six-hour battle, the Turks began to flee. It turned out to be impossible to pursue faster enemy ships. The commander reported after a brilliant victory: “It would be easier to catch the moon than to catch up with sailing ships with my two flat bottom cars. If I had a frigate, then Her Majesty would have two more ships” (18). The Russians lost 1 officer and 3 sailors in the battle, and 26 sailors were wounded. The Turkish losses were more significant. For this feat, Captain 2nd Rank Kingsbergen was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.
Balaklava Bay became the first refuge for Russian ships arriving in Crimea even before its official annexation to Russia. “For command of the nascent fleet on the Black and Seas of Azov» appointed the hero of the Chesme battle, Vice Admiral F.A. Klokacheva. For a long time there was a search for a place to base the Black Sea Fleet. Ten years before the founding of Sevastopol, the ship Modon, commanded by F.F., arrived in Balaklava. Ushakov. “Description party” from this ship, under the leadership of navigator I.V. Baturina examined and compiled the first “Map of Akhtyarskaya Harbor with Soundings”. The handwritten map of Ivan Baturin, which has survived to this day, apparently was not appreciated by the command at that time. A.V. was one of the first to draw attention to the convenience of the bay for basing a fleet and building a fortress. Suvorov, who appreciated her merits.
He and F.F. The Ushaks also did a lot to strengthen Balaklava. Commanding the deck boat "Courier", in 1772 Fyodor Ushakov sailed from Taganrog to Balaklava Bay. Appointed the following year as commander of the 16-gun ship Moreya, then the 16-gun ship Modon, he was in Balaklava harbor in case of defending the fortress from the expected Turkish landing.
As in Genoese times, the entrance to the bay is blocked with an iron chain. And already as a rear admiral, having taken command of the naval fleet based in Sevastopol in April 1789, he paid attention to the security of Balaklava.
In the report of G.A. Potemkin F.F. Ushakov writes: “And since there are no armed or other ships at the Balaklava harbor, the entrance to the harbor is not protected by cannons, which your lordship reported... would you like to order one armed corsair ship to be placed there, also on the eastern cape Balaklava harbor to make a small battery in the same place where it was during the last war. Cannons for this one, if there are no others, you can give two or three from the local port” (19).
Back in 1771, the troops of Prince V.M. Dolgorukov entered Crimea. The following year, on November 1, in Karasubazar (Belogorsk), a treaty of friendship and alliance was signed between the Russian Empire and the Crimean Khanate. Having suffered a number of defeats on land and having lost the fleet in the Battle of Chesme, Turkey made concessions. The agreement between Russia and the Crimean Khan pushed the Turks to conclude the peace treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardzhi in 1774. The Crimean Khanate was declared independent from Turkey. In the Crimea and Kuban, liberated from Turkish rule, Russian troops under the command of the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov.
The main apartment of the Russian troops was in Bakhchisarai. The Cossack Don Regiment of Prime Major I.I. was stationed in Balaklava and the St. George Monastery. Kharitonov, in Balaklava and Inkerman - the Ryazhsky infantry regiment was quartered, and in the villages of Karan and Kamary - a battalion of rangers.
To prevent the landing of Turkish troops in Crimea, A.V. Suvorov strengthened his positions along the shores of the Black Sea: he laid earthen batteries, skillfully positioned troops, and determined the locations of posts, patrols, and cordons.
Suvorov chose a place to install the guns at a height, on the western shore, at the entrance to Balaklava Bay. A closed earthen fortification was built in the form of an irregular quadrangle with bastions on three corners, with a deep, wide ditch, a steep scarp and a counter-scarp. The moat had to be carved into the rock. To the west of this fortification, on the steep seashore, a lunette was built (20).
The peace with the Turks turned out to be very unstable. Turkish ships often appeared off the coast of Crimea. On September 8, 1778, a two-masted Turkish postal ship was detained in Balaklava while it was inspecting the fortifications. And the next day A.V. Suvorov informs P.A. in his report. Rumyantsev: “Finally, from the Turkish fleet, ships began to appear in various places along the local shores, which now, according to actual reports, arrived at Kefin Bay (Feodosia - auto) large and small, up to a hundred, there are five ships to the Balaklava harbor, but to this day they have not attempted to land on the shore and now there is no response from their commanders to me. All precautions on the part of the Russian troops have been taken and will be done according to the orders given to me by your Excellency. Lieutenant General Alexander Suvorov" (21).
The Turks, seeing the Russian batteries, entered with A.V. Suvorov into negotiations, trying to go ashore, supposedly in order to replenish fresh water supplies. However, the composure and restraint of the commander, who showed himself to be a subtle diplomat, led to the fact that the Turkish squadron was forced to move away from the shores of Taurida.
In 1783, the tsarist government decided to annex Crimea to Russia, confirmed on April 8 by a decree of Catherine II. While taking measures to protect the newly acquired region, they did not forget about Balaklava. In the decree of Empress G.A. Potemkin “On the construction of new fortifications along the borders of the Ekaterinoslav province” dated February 10, 1784 said: “The balaclava, corrected as it is and maintained by the Greek troops settled here...” (22).
They were formed in 1776 from the Greeks of the islands of the Archipelago, who participated in hostilities on the side of Russia during the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774. Eight battalions of Greeks under the command of Stefan Mavromichali, moving onto the ships of the Russian fleet, commanded by Count A.G. Orlov, fought in the Battle of Chios, in the Battle of Chesme. After the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty, Russia accepted its Greek allies into citizenship, and Count Orlov transported them to Crimea. The Greeks were settled in the Northern Black Sea region, creating military units from them in Odessa and Balaklava. The Balaklava Greek battalion consisted of three companies. At first they were commanded by Majors Dusi, Kandioti, Naponi. The first commander was Lieutenant Colonel S. Mavromichali, who rose to the rank of general. The Greeks carried out cordon service on Black Sea coast Crimea, participated in the Russian-Turkish wars and in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. The battalion consisted of 1194 people - men, in the 30s. - 1379 soldiers and officers. The battalion headquarters was located in Balaklava.
In addition to Balaklava, the Greeks lived in the villages of Kady-Koy, Kamara, Karan, Laka (located south of Tepe-kermen) and Kermenchik (small fortress) - between the Belbek and Kacha rivers, as well as in Autka, Alsou and other places.
Thus, a kind of militarized Greek settlement was formed in Balaklava. There was a special cantonist school for training military personnel.
In their free time from service, the Greeks were engaged in agriculture, trade and fishing. The head of the battalion was entitled to 240 acres of land, officers - 60, privates - 20. Those who retired, as well as those who did not serve in the battalion - 10 acres.
In 1822, the Balaklava Greek battalion received an additional 14,152 acres of land in the Tauride province. Many Greeks rented out these lands. Some of them became very wealthy people. The commander of the Greek battalion F.D. Revelioti acquired a number of lands on the southern coast of Crimea, including Livadia and Oreanda, then sold them: Livadia - L.S. Pototsky, Oreand - A.G. Kushelev-Bezborodko.
After the Crimean War, in 1859, the Balaklava Greek battalion was abolished.
By 1864 total The Greeks living in Balaklava and its environs numbered no more than two thousand. The core of the community consisted of members of the disbanded Balaklava Greek battalion, their families and old-time Greeks who remained on the peninsula or returned to Crimea after the resettlement of 1778.
Back in 1777, during the uprising of the Tatar nobility against the last Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey, many Greeks who provided assistance to the Russian army suffered. And in the event of a military conflict with Turkey, the fate of the Greek population was easy to predict. This is how the plan for the Relocation of Christians to the Russian Empire appears. According to the authors of this project, the move will protect the Orthodox from Muslim violence and undermine the economy of the Crimean Khanate.
This mission was carried out by Lieutenant General A.V. Suvorov, assigned to the peninsula to prepare for its annexation to Russia.
Suvorov found himself in a difficult situation. Maneuvering between P.A. Rumyantsev, the commander-in-chief of the army in Crimea and Kuban, under whose command he served, and G.A. Potemkin - Novorossiysk Governor-General, to whom he was obliged to obey, Suvorov solved very complex military, diplomatic and administrative problems.
In June 1778 A.V. Suvorov received orders from P.A. Rumyantsev about the resettlement of Christians in the Azov region. However, the latter emphasized that he was forced to give it under pressure from G.A. Potemkin.
Without much enthusiasm, but with his characteristic energy, A.V. Suvorov took up the task entrusted to him. He was faced with a difficult task: the Greeks had to be resettled in the Azov steppes, the Armenians - in the Don, the Catholic Armenians - in Ekaterinoslav. In his actions, Suvorov managed to enlist the support of the local clergy: Archimandrite Peter Karkosov, priest Jacob and, of course, Ignatius Gazadini (Gazadinov) - the last metropolitan of the Gottheya-Kefay diocese, the initiator of the resettlement of Crimean Christians.
Ignatius arrived from Constantinople on April 25, 1771 to the Balaklava St. George Monastery, and a day later went to his residence - the Assumption Monastery near Bakhchisarai.
It was he who, having become the head of the diocese, wrote a petition to the Holy Synod on October 29, 1771, and to the Russian Empress on October 8, 1772. In them, the Metropolitan asked to “free from the hands of the Christ-hating Tatars” the Christians of Crimea, who “from first to last ask not to be left alienated from the sovereign protection of Russia.” He traveled to St. Petersburg twice, where he met with Catherine II.
The Empress, having considered Ignatius’s request, contributed in every possible way to the resettlement of Christians to Russia. The Metropolitan did not waste time either. In his sermons, he called on Christians to voluntarily accept Russian citizenship, and his nephew Ivan Gazadinov, later an officer in the Russian army, secretly walked around the cities and villages of Crimea, talking about the promises made by Catherine II to Metropolitan Ignatius. And these promises could seduce anyone: “Inviolability of property, complete security life and good name, freedom of movement, conscience, religious processions, not to take the Hellenic age as recruits, exempt from taxes for ten years...”
It is not surprising that relatively quickly Ignatius received the consent of the Christians to relocate. He handed the document to A.V. Suvorov and on April 23, 1777, the day of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, announced the time of his upcoming departure.
Some Tatars also left with the Greeks, Armenians, Georgians and Bulgarians. A.V. Suvorov wrote to P.A. Rumyantsev: “Tatars who are secretly baptized leave with Christians for Russia; in many of them a constant desire grows towards something in which I was not ordered to put any obstacles” (23).
Having left their homes, 31,449 Christians left.
The surroundings of the St. George Monastery were also deserted. 82 people left Balaklava, 331 in Karan, and 475 in the village of Kamary. In Balaklava and surrounding villages, the resettlement was led by Lieutenant Colonel of the Dnieper Jaeger Regiment Yurgens David Nikolaevich, later a major general. However, not all Christians left Crimea: after a year and a half, 27 thousand remained on the peninsula. In 1780, Empress Decree No. 1817 followed. They determined a place for the Greeks in the Azov region. The city of Mariupol and 23 Greek settlements were founded there.
In 1787, Catherine II made a trip to inspect the “precious pearl of her crown.” long journey from St. Petersburg to Tavrida. The Empress's huge retinue included the Austrian Emperor Joseph II; the empress's penultimate lover was the charming Dmitry Mamonov, who was old enough to be her grandson, the governor-general of the Novorossiysk province, Prince Grigory Potemkin.
Ordained from childhood to the clergy, he studied at the Smolensk Seminary, but instead of the monastic hood he preferred the Life Guards uniform. Having taken part in the palace coup that elevated Catherine II to the throne, and becoming her favorite, he quickly achieved high ranks and positions. Soon, however, Potemkin amazed everyone, went “to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, put on a monk’s cassock, grew a beard and announced that he was exchanging the brilliant courtyard for a monastic cell. His hermitage continued for a few days. Catherine summoned Potemkin from the monastery cell, and from then on his fate was decided: he appeared first among the courtiers...” (24).
Appointed governor-general of the Novorossiysk province, G.A. Potemkin organized the empress's grandiose journey to Taurida. In January 1787, Catherine II left St. Petersburg. They carefully prepared for the voyage. They even published a guidebook, where the notable places of Taurida were indicated and their descriptions were given. Balaklava and the St. George Monastery were also not forgotten.
Setting off in January 1787, the cortege, consisting of 14 carriages and 164 sleighs (17), reached Sevastopol four months later.
At noon on May 22, travelers appeared in Inkerman, where, by order of Potemkin, a small elegant palace was built. It offered a beautiful view of the Akhtiar harbor. For this, the “most serene” even sacrificed one of the towers of the Kalamita fortress. She covered part of the bay and suffered for it. It was just demolished...
Hiding from the May heat in the halls, guests enjoyed delicious dishes and drinks while listening to the melodies of the Most Serene Orchestra. At the height of dinner, “the curtain blocking the view from the balcony was pulled back, and thus the view of the beautiful Sevastopol harbor suddenly and unexpectedly opened up. In the roadstead there were 3 ships, 12 frigates, 20 small ships, 3 bombardment boats and 2 fire ships, a total of 40 warships. All guns opened fire. Looking at the fleet, Catherine drank to the health of her best friend, Emperor Joseph, to whom, as she claimed, she was indebted for the acquisition of Crimea” (25).
Catherine II beamed. The faces of the foreign ambassadors and Count Falkenstein were not at all cheerful. The always skeptical smile disappeared from his face. Count Segur, amazed by what he saw, said with barely concealed annoyance that the fleet, built in only two years, was some kind of miracle. They did not expect such promptness from the “most illustrious” one.
In a boat specially ordered from Constantinople, Catherine II arrived in Sevastopol.
After the festivities in the capital of the nascent Black Sea Fleet, the Empress and her retinue examined Balaklava.
Near Kady-Koy, the travelers were met by a mounted detachment of armed “Amazons”, consisting of one hundred Balaklava Greek women. They were dressed in green velvet jackets trimmed with gold braid, crimson velvet skirts, and white turbans with gold spangles and ostrich feathers. The exotic “company of Amazons” was commanded by the wife of an officer of the Balaklava Greek battalion, Elena Ivanovna Sarandova, whose curvaceous forms did not at all fit in with the mythical “breastless” Amazons. Shocked by the extraordinary spectacle, spectacularly prepared on the orders of Prince Potemkin, Catherine II awarded Sarandova the rank of “Captain of the Amazons”, and later awarded her a diamond ring. Until the end of his long life, E.I. Sarandova (Shidyanskaya by her second marriage) will remember the good deeds of the Empress and her eminent companions. However, Joseph II limited himself to a royal kiss. Then, along an artificial alley of orange, lemon and laurel trees, covered with laurel leaves, they followed to Balaklava.
Cozy azure bay, the ruins of the Genoese fortress and beautiful weather made a pleasant impression on the travelers. According to A.G. Brickner, the tireless Prince Nassau-Siegen and Count Segur also visited the St. George Monastery, although A.L. Berthier-Delagarde doubted the reliability of his information. Catherine II, alas, drove past the ancient monastery. Soon, along the path that was called “Catherine’s”, she returned to her capital.
There has been a commercial port in Balaklava since 1784. In 1808, a customs outpost and quarantine appeared in it, but the port did not receive further development due to the peculiar position of the harbor and the competition of the trading ports of Feodosia, Evpatoria and Kerch. At that time, Balaklava had a little over a thousand inhabitants, and it was like big village. There was only one street in the city, quite narrow and without any notable buildings.
In 1851, engineer-captain Yu.K. Amelung compiled general plan improvement of Balaklava Bay, but did not have time to implement it - the Crimean War began.
After the war, in 1859, Balaklava with the village of Kady-koy was transferred to the category of a provincial town in the Yalta district. A few years later, its revival begins: agriculture develops, new residential and public buildings appear.
If by 1870 only 180 acres of land were cultivated in Balaklava, occupied mainly by vineyards, then by 1890 there were already 1240. Considerable credit for this belonged to Kazimir Aleksandrovich Skirmunt, who settled in Balaklava “not of his own free will.” He started vineyards and, having carried out meteorological observations, established the uniqueness of the Balaklava climate. It turned out that compared to the southern coast of Crimea, the climate here is more severe, but it also has its advantages: an abundance of sunny days, more moderate temperatures in summer and rare fogs. average temperature in July in Balaklava it is 3 degrees lower, and precipitation falls 1.5 times less.
Having opened a boarding house in his house, Skirmunt began to promote it in the press. Others followed the example of the enterprising Pole. Balaklava is beginning to develop as a resort town. The city produced the “Balaklava Resort Leaflet”, published by the Balaklava department of the All-Russian League to combat tuberculosis (editor - Dr. A.S. Kushul).
By this time, the city government of Balaklava was abolished, making it the 6th police station of the Sevastopol city government. The mayor began to be called the headman. But this demotion did not greatly affect her further development. Under the city mayor K.S. Ginali part of the land northeast of Balaklava towards Kady-koy and the western rocky shore of the bay is divided into plots, which were quickly sold out. Between the old part of the town and Kady-Koy, the New Town begins to grow. From 1900 to 1910 alone, at least a hundred dachas were built. It must be said that before the revolution there were only a few street names: Embankment, Bazarnaya, First, Second and Third...
The landscape of Balaklava had a significant influence on the historical layout and development of the city. The placement of buildings on the seashore led to the fact that sea views became dominant in its architectural appearance. The mountainous environment is no less important for Balaklava in this regard. The sea and mountains formed the basis of the architectural composition of the town. An exceptional role in the magnificent views of Balaklava is played by the surface of the sea, the Cliff and rock with a fortress, blocking the entrance to the bay - the most important dominants that actively participate in the formation of the architectural appearance of Balaklava, the steep slopes of the coast, falling into the depths of the sea.
Against this amazing background, luxurious dachas and more modest mansions appear, changing the city and giving it a completely unique look.
Not far from the exit from Balaklava Bay, in a ravine, a vast beautiful ensemble of dachas “Priboy” by Count Matvey Aleksandrovich Apraksin is being built. The main building, in neo-Greek style, stood on a high artificial terrace in the form of an arcade of raw stone, which was the ground floor. A portico with a balcony - altan, Doric columns, combined with details and forms characteristic of rationalist architecture, created an original image of the dacha complex. It was built according to the design of the architect N.P. Krasnov - the author of the beautiful Livadia white-stone palace on the southern coast of Crimea. Until recently, little was known about the talented architect. In the former Yugoslavia, where Nikolai Petrovich Krasnov spent the last years of his life, they know much more about him.
After graduating from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Krasnov came to Yalta in 1888, where he worked as a city architect for eleven years. Engaged in private practice, he built several villas and so-called “hunting lodges” for the high society nobility. One of them has survived to this day in the village of Sokolin (formerly Kokkozy). It belonged to Prince F.F. Yusupov (one of the murderers of Grigory Rasputin), married to the niece of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Irina Alexandrovna. F. Yusupov had the same “hunting lodge” in Balaklava. The building, extensively rebuilt, remains on the West Bank of the bay. It is likely that the author of the project of this building is also N.P. Krasnov. Count M.A. Apraksin, a passionate yachtsman and a great lover of flowers, was the godfather of Nikolai I, who visited him in Balaklava. The Tsar mentioned this in 1913 in his diary, calling it “Motey”. But Apraksin’s dacha, unfortunately, has not survived: it was destroyed during the war.
The Kaliva estate of Prince K.D. appeared in Balaklava. Gagarin (on the site of the dacha, a boarding house of the Balaklava Mining Administration named after A.M. Gorky was built), the palace and “hunting lodge of Count Naryshkin - a relative of the Tsar, the dacha of the princesses Vera Leonidovna and Sofia Leonidovna Muravyov - designed in the stylized forms of the Italian Renaissance. The mansions of Rear Admiral P.P. appear. Feodosyev (he also had a house in Sevastopol - Sobornaya St., 15) and his wife Olga Timofeevna, who taught German, music and singing, actress Sokolova.
On the western shore of the bay rise the palaces of the industrialist Pshenichny and the engineer A.M. Zavadsky. The surviving dacha “Fata Morgana” by Zavadsky, despite the losses, still retains the main features of its bright exotic architecture, reminiscent of the image of a fabulous Arabian mirage palace.
In the northwestern part of Balaklava, back in 1873, entrepreneur I.P. built a dacha, whose originality still attracts attention in our time. Zusman. The presence in the town of the ruins of the Genoese fortress of Cembalo certainly determined the choice of motif for the architect - the architecture of northern Italy of the early Middle Ages. The building resembles a miniature fortress with a parapet in the form of fortress battlements. The retaining walls of the site are designed like the walls of a fortress and were previously completed with a complex parapet. The house was badly damaged during the war. In 1941-1942. it housed the headquarters of the 2nd battalion of the 456th Infantry Regiment (commander - Major A.V. Ruzhnikov), as evidenced by the memorial plaque installed in 1967 (Vasily Zhukov St., 9). The city surroundings were also transformed, where numerous estates and farmsteads began to appear. In the area of the sixth kilometer of the Balaklava highway there was the farm of General O.P. de Rossi, nearby is the Zolotaya Balka estate, and at the modern forestry agency - an honorary citizen of Balaklava - V.E. Shitta.
In February 1919, during the Anglo-French intervention in Sevastopol, his daughter Tamara Schitt married “an English subject, naval lieutenant Leslie Ashmore” (26). They got married in St. Nicholas Church (now the 12 Apostles). The witnesses were very eminent: on the groom’s side - the commander of the British fleet, Captain Persch Royderg, and staff captain N.A. Chirikov, brides - Colonel A.L. von Nolcken and Count M.A. Apraksin. In 1996, Balaklava was visited by the First Lord of the British Royal Navy, Admiral Edward Ashmore, and his brother, Master of the Royal Household, Vice Admiral Peter Ashmore, the sons of Leslie and Tamara Ashmore (Sheet), who were looking for traces of their parents on Balaklava soil.
Not far from Balaklava, in Chorgun (now Chernorechenskoye), back in Potemkin times, the first commander of the Balaklava Greek battalion, Stefan (Stefan Bey) Mavromichali, who belonged to an ancient Greek family, received an estate. Their coat of arms depicted a Byzantine double-headed eagle against the background of a princely mantle. S. Mavromichali was married to the daughter of Count Ya.N. Bulgari. Their son, Pavel Stefanovich (1770-1822), served in the navy under the direct command of F.F. Ushakov, then transferred to the civil service, was an employee of Duke A.E. Richelieu was his friend. P.S. Mavramihali united his fate with the Greek K.M. Stamati (1785-1851), had seven children: son Constantine (born 1803), daughters Maria (1809), Elizabeth (1813), Alexandra (1816), who married K. N. Anastasyeva, A.F. Revelioti, I.A. Treasury, as well as Catherine (1810) and Elena (1811). The latter became the wives of cousins M.I. and I.F. Blarambergov.
Since 1786, the estate was owned by the prominent Russian scientist and statesman Karl Ivanovich Gablitz. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences sent Gablitz to Crimea to describe the peninsula. Arriving in Tavrida in 1784, he visited all its corners, including Balaklava, collecting scientific material about natural resources the edges. In 1785 he was tasked with compiling historical description Taurida. Prince G.A. Potemkin granted Gablitz an estate in Chorgun. In December 1784, the Senate appointed K.I. Gablitsa was an adviser to the criminal chamber of the Tauride regional administration; he was also the vice-governor of Crimea.
The house of Karl Gablitz, built “in Turkish taste,” was located near the now preserved Chorgun Tower. Having left Crimea in February 1797, Gablitz owned the Chorgun estate, which in the first half of the 19th century was called Karlovka, for another twelve years.
Gablitz's daughter, Anna Karlovna, was famous for her extraordinary beauty. The last Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey offered her his hand and heart, but was refused. From the marriage of Anna Karlovna with actual state councilor N.I. Serov, the future composer Alexander Nikolaevich Serov was born.
During his service in Crimea from 1845 to 1849. comrade of the chairman of the Tauride Criminal Chamber A.N. Serov visited his grandfather's former estate. In Crimea, he met and became interested in Maria Pavlovna Anastasyeva, the granddaughter of Stefan Mavromichali. Everyday obstacles encountered along the way interrupted their relationship, but they remained friends and corresponded for a long time.
Mavromichali had family ties with the famous scientist, topographer, and explorer of Central Asia I.P. Blaramberg (1800-1878). Then the estate passed to his son - composer Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg, author of five operas: “Tushintsy”, “Buffoon”, “Demon”, “Mary of Burgundy” and “Maiden-Mermaid”. His operas “Tushintsy” and “Mary of Burgundy” were performed at the Bolshoi Theater. His wife is Minna Karlovna (nee Baroness Wrangel), a gifted singer on stage, Chernova, who studied singing in Paris.
Having settled in Chorgun, Blaramberg took up farming, and his wife took up teaching. He died in 1907 in Italy. The urn with the ashes was buried in the family crypt on the Chorgun estate. Soon, in 1909, Minna Karlovna was also buried there, who could not bear loneliness and, according to the testimony of doctor S.A. Nikonova, who committed suicide. The house and family crypt were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. After their death, the estate passed to brother M.K. Blaramberg - to Alexander Karlovich Wrangel, whose life is closely connected with Balaklava. At 19 Kalicha Street there is a three-story mansion that belonged to his relative, the architect Mikhail Aleksandrovich Wrangel. After graduating from the Institute of Civil Engineers in Petrograd, he worked in Balaklava from 1918. On November 15, 1920, he was appointed “city engineer” of the Balaklava Revolutionary Committee, and in January 1922 - city architect of Sevastopol.
Balaklava continued to develop as a resort town. This was also facilitated by the fact that the town was part of the so-called Jewish Pale of Settlement.
In 1887, on the Embankment, in house No. 23, the first Balaklava hotel K.S. opened. Ginali “Grand Hotel” with 45 rooms (now Embankment Nazukina, 3), the owner of which A. Akhobadze lured guests with the cheapness of the rooms: one ruble per day, 25 per month. A restaurant-float was built on the shore opposite it. Later, the Rossiya Hotel appeared - Naberezhnaya, 28 (now Nazukina Embankment, 21), with a pavilion on the shore of the bay. The owner of the hotel was L.G. Bisti - grandfather of Dmitry Spiridonovich Bisti; a native of Balaklava - People's Artist of Russia, designer of the "Library of World Literature" including Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". On the Embankment there were also furnished rooms “Monplaisir” (the building has not survived).
In 1888 K.A. Skirmunt begins to build a mud bath at the end of the Balaklava bay. Near the baths that belonged to K.S. Ginali, in 1904 a building with 12 rooms for sea baths appeared (now there is a rescue station in this building).
There was a zemstvo hospital and a pharmacy in the city. Zolotnitsky (Nazukina Embankment, 1), three doctors: city - A.S. Kushul, K.G. Golbershteidt (lived in the house of Afanasy Christopoulo), zemsky - V.A. Glinka (rented an apartment in New Town at Turchaninova’s dacha) and paramedic E.M. Aspiz (lived on Bazarnaya Street in Vasilkioti's house). Doctors also practiced in the city: V.L. Pedkov, M.M. Kostrov, B.D. Kogan and midwife A.I. Alexandrova.
In 1896, a library was opened in Balaklava, in 1910 - a city club and city meeting.
In the same year, a power station was built (Kalich St., 3). The building is a particularly typical structure of industrial architecture of the early 20th century.
Balaklava was supplied with water in a very curious way: it flowed by gravity from a spring on the mountain hanging over the town from the east, filling four reservoirs located on the shore of the bay in the area of Pushkin Square. From these reservoirs it was pumped back up the mountain to the basin. And already from the pool, from a height of about 110 meters, the water again spread by gravity through the pipes of the water supply network.
In 1911, for a population of 2,500 people in the city and nearby villages, there were four churches: St. Nicholas (now the 12 Apostles), Mariinskaya - in the village. Kamary, Trinity in Kadykoy and Konstantino-Eleninskaya in Karan. There was a 1-class zemstvo school in the city government building, a zemstvo school in the village of Karan, and a zemstvo school in the village. Kamary - a 1-grade primary rural school, a parochial school in Kadykoy, as well as a private school L.V. Sinelnikova. A cinema "Monpepos" (my vacation) appeared in the city. Angelova. The building, designed in early modernist forms, has been preserved. Nowadays it is the Rodina cinema.
By 1890, the Progress Theater was built in Balaklava, in which, in addition to the permanent troupe, visiting celebrities played: M. and V. Petipa, P. Orlenev...
Balaklava residents loved their city. It was distinguished by its cleanliness: the streets were swept and watered daily.
Pushkinsky Square was laid out along the bay, which was a continuation best street city - Embankment.
A road was built to the Utes, a favorite walking place for Balaklava residents and visitors, a buffet was set up there, and benches were installed.
In August 1896 they organized and telephone communication, installed 10 telephone sets in Balaklava. On May 4, 1901, the movement of malposts (mail carriages) began between Sevastopol and Balaklava. They departed from Balaklava at 6:30 am and 8 pm, from Sevastopol - at 7 am and 3 pm. Travel in the first class cost 50 kopecks, in the second - 40. In June 1912, the first car (taxi) of Balaklava resident Korvin-Krukovsky began to operate. The rulers of the Greek Paschal were also available to visitors.
On church holidays, the Belbek ferry went from Sevastopol to the St. George Monastery, and from Balaklava to the same monastery there was a boat number 90. In 1914, the Balaklava skiffs had a competitor: a small steamer that went every two hours to the nearest beach. This pleasure cost 15 kopecks.
The attention of enterprising people was also attracted by the nearest areas from Balaklava, lying near the sea. Near Cape Fiolent, on the initiative of entrepreneur G.I. Aparin, on the lands of the St. George Monastery, dacha villages appear: the farms of Dzhanshiev, Alexandriada, Maloe Zhemsi, and all together - the Aparinsky farms. G.I. Aparin, with his like-minded people, dreamed of building a “sanatorium” and a “climatic winter station” here. They organized the Dzhanshiev Village society, which had its own charter and administration, located in Moscow. By 1904, tenants had cultivated 30 acres of land, planted orchards and vineyards, built several houses, cut passages and descents to the sea in the rocks, and then built a highway for carriages to travel to it.
In 1912, in Batiliman, covering Cape Aya like a fort from Balaklava, lawyer V.P. Planson and the Kulakov couple - Lyudmila Sergeevna - daughter of a doctor and public figure in Crimea S.Ya. Elpatievsky and the managing editor of the book publishing house “Public Benefit” - Pyotr Efimovich, organized the Batiliman resort community. There were 28 shareholders. Among them were V.G. Korolenko, E.N. Chirikov, V.I. Vernadsky, A. f. Ioffe, G.F. Morozov, artist I.Ya. Bilibin, artists of the Moscow Art Theater: K.S. Stanislavsky, O.L. Knipper-Chekhova, L.A. Sulerzhitsky, P.N. Miliukov - one of the leaders of the Cadet Party, V.A. Kravtsov and other famous representatives of the Russian creative and technical intelligentsia.
Having purchased for forty thousand rubles from the Tatars of the village of Khaytu (now Tylovoe) a mountain slope and part of the coast in the northern part of the Laspinsky tract, they divided them into plots and, dividing them by lot, began to build. Bilibin was the luckiest of all: on his land, near the sea, stood a small house built by Balaklava fishermen - the artel of Georgy Konstantinovich Paratino. Soon the fishing hut turned into a cozy cottage, near which the artist planted magnolias and roses and planted a vineyard.
“The construction of houses did not proceed as quickly as we would like. By 1918, the dachas were built by S.Ya. Elpatievsky, P.E. Kulakov, I.Ya. Bilibin, E.N. Chirikov, V.D. Derviz, V.G. Korolenko, G.F. Morozov, V.A. Kravtsov, P.N. Miliukov, Redko. Some of these houses were not completed, and many shareholders did not have time to build at all” (27). The events of the seventeenth year interfered. Some Batiliman residents found themselves far from their homeland, in a foreign land. In 1927 in the south of France; reminding emigrants South coast Crimea, in the town of La Favière, they acquire a small piece of land by the sea. Among the shareholders we again meet Batilimanians: P.N. Milyukov, Kravtsov, L.S. Elpatievskaya, I.Ya. Bilibin, Titov. They were joined by: poet Sasha Cherny (Klikberg), professor S.I. Metalnikov, writer Grebenshchikov, O.N. Mechnikov - wife of I.I. Mechnikov, composer N.N. Cherepnin... (28).
Lack of money prevented A.I. from buying a plot there. Kuprin. His daughter Ksenia writes in her memoirs about her father: “My father, who always dreamed of settling on earth, caught fire. He writes to Wrangel-Yelpatyevskaya: “Sasha and Masha, it seems, have given up the land, they promised to sell me their plot. But the question is, will I strain to buy 600 fathoms? Soon there will be a general meeting where the land will be divided, and then the money will have to be paid within 10 days. Anyone who doesn't contribute is out of the game. I'm waiting for the raven to come down from the sky with credit notes in his beak." Unfortunately, the raven did not arrive, but Sasha and Masha Cherny still bought a plot of land with a tiny vineyard.
Those who had the means built houses reminiscent of Batiliman's dachas, others, and they were the majority, built huts (29). The dacha village in Batiliman was unlucky: V.G.’s dachas were damaged by the fire. Korolenko and V.I. Vernadsky, a landslide destroyed the house of V.A. Planson, several dachas burned down during the war.
In 1948, they decided to build a sanatorium in Batiliman for scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences, but due to a lack of fresh water, the idea was abandoned. Only one dacha was restored - V.A. Kravtsova.
The main occupation of Balaklava residents remained agriculture and fishing. Skillful fishermen - the Greeks caught mullet, mackerel, redfish, beluga, herring, and flounder. In 1892, the canning factory of Joseph Semenovich Kefeli opened in Balaklava.
In fifteen quarries, from 55 to 80 workers worked, extracting about 1,500 cubic fathoms of stone per year. The Greeks Athanasius Christopoulo and Christopher Lioli had lime kilns. Until recently, the remains of the latter remained near Gasfortovaya Mountain.
Tobacco growing and viticulture developed. Tobacco plantations occupied about 200 acres of land. The largest vineyards were owned by K.A. Skirmunt, brothers Georgy Fedorovich and Nikolai Fedorovich Aroni, Major General Alexander Nikolaevich Vitmer - honorary citizen of Balaklava.
A native of St. Petersburg, he graduated from the Nikolaev Military Academy and taught there. In 1878, due to illness, on the advice of surgeon N.I. Pirogov, moves to Crimea, becomes a prominent entrepreneur: he is engaged in construction, viticulture, winemaking, grows high grades of tobacco, for which he receives a Gold Medal, and establishes the first oyster plant in Russia, “New Holland”, in Sevastopol. With Witmer's funds, the buildings of the city government and an elementary school (now the House of Children's Creativity) are being built in Balaklava. He gives the city his estate “Grace”. Three months before the death of A.N. Witmer writes to his son Boris in St. Petersburg: “Dear friend Boris! I decided irrevocably, during my lifetime, to donate my hotel “Oreanda” to Yalta, as a fund for the capital of the society for the promotion of inventions and disabled people” (30). A passionate theatergoer and music lover, collector and hunter, writer and scientist, he died in 1916 in Yalta. The museums of Sevastopol and Yalta contain paintings collected by him; in Yalta and Balaklava there are still paintings built by Major General A.N. Witmer has beautiful buildings. According to the memoirs of M.K. Kuprina-Iordanskaya, his son B.A. Witmer, journalist, employee of the magazine “World of God”, later a member of the editorial board of “ Modern world", was close to the group of legal Marxists: P.B. Struve, M. I, Tugan-Baranovsky. Boris Vitmer's wife, Olga Konstantinovna Grigorieva, once studied with N.K. Krupskaya. Nadezhda Konstantinovna became the godmother of the Witmers' youngest daughter, Nina.
For many years, communication with Sevastopol remained a sore point for Balaklava residents. On July 17, 1914, the Krymsky Vestnik newspaper wrote: “We have trouble with our means of transportation: Noah's ark- that is, the rulers are cheap, to be sure, but who has the courage to shake in the current heat for two and a half hours in clouds of dust from Sevastopol - this is already a feat. Trying to establish a decent transport connection was undertaken, oddly enough, by the French. “In March 1900, the French company, represented by its representative, the French vice-consul Gue, proposed to the mayor to organize a bus service between both cities, with 12 flights per day (6 flights there and 6 back). She asked for a concession for 25 years. The Balaklava city administration in June of the same year agreed and set the one-way fare for the entire line at 30 kopecks. The Sevastopol Duma, although it agreed to this, demanded the abolition of the exclusive right to operate this line by the French company” (31). The deal did not take place; the French abandoned this transport venture.
However, the road serpentines still began to stretch towards Balaklava. On the eve of the First World War, construction of fortifications began in the area of the town - the Southern (Balaklava) group of land fortifications. It consisted of two “dismembered” type forts. The author of the project is military engineer Polyansky. The forts were named “Northern” at an altitude of 212.1 (above Krestovsky Street) and “Southern” on Mount Spilia (386.0). The forts have approximately the same structure. They consist of a system of rock-cut, partially concreted ditches, reinforced concrete casemates and open positions for field guns. The Northern Fort has a huge underground shelter, and the Southern Fort has two armored observation posts. They did not have time to complete the construction. On the Western Cape, where A. Suvorov once founded the battery, and in the area of Cape Fiolent, they began construction of two more batteries (later BS-18 and BS-19). Roads were built to all these structures. One of them received a curious and as yet undeciphered name from local residents: “The Road of the Three Ambassadors.” She also passed by the Balaklava St. George Monastery.
