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Kerch
Kerch is the town in the east of Crimea, that spreads picturesquely on the shore of the Kerch Peninsula, between two seas the Black and the Sea of Azov. It attracts numerous visitors with its interesting monuments of ancient times and medieval architecture.
In the 7th c. BC the settlement of Panticapaion was founded here, which subsequently became the largest ancient Greek city in the Eastern Crimea. Over 800 years Panticapaion was the capital of the mighty Bosporos slave-owning state. In the 4th c. AD it shared the fate of othertowns - it was completely destroyed by the Huns who flooded the Crimea. The same century the city revived under the name of Bosporos and became a Byzantine fortress. In the 8th c. it was seized by the Khazars which named it Karsha.
Numerous devastating wars and inexorable time destroyed the unique majestic monuments. Only some of them have survived, in particular burials of Bosporan and Scythian aristocracy in the form of huge barrows with burial chambers. Among these, special mention should be made of the Tsars'kyi Kurhan (Royal Barrow), the grandiose burial vault built in the 4th c. BC, the famous Kul'-Oba, Zolotyi (Golden), and MelekChesmens'kyi barrows with their invaluable treasures. For one and a half centuries (14th - 15th c.), Kerch, renamed Cerchio, belonged to the Genoese. In 1476 the Turks seized the town. They turned Kerch into their stronghold and later built another fortress - Eni-Kale (1703).
Kerch has a number of memorable places associated with the events of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In the near future this town, where the traces of different epochs and historical events have intertwined, will become a national archaeological preserve and an international tourist centre.
Heroivs'ke. 0-8. This remote part of Kerch, which was previously called El'tihen, went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 as the Fiery Land. In May 1985 the Museum of the History of the El'tihen Landing Operation was opened here.
On the eminence near the settlement you can see the excavations of the ancient Greek town Nyniphaion.
State Historico-Cultural Preserve in Kerch.
The preserve comprises the Historico-Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the History of the Adzhymushkai Quarries Defence, The Heroes of Adzhymushkai Picture Gallery, and the Museum of the Eltigen Landing Operation History.
Historico-Archaeo/ogical Museum. It is one of the oldest museums in the country that was founded in 1826 as the museum of antiquities based on the archaeological finds of 1816-1817.
Numerous wonderful masterpieces of art made of precious metals, especially of gold, were found during the excavations of necropolises and burial mounds. They are kept in the Hermitage in S1. Petersburg. At present, the museum has more than 130,000 exhibits including excellent archaeological collections and a unique gathering of lapidary monuments of world importance. The original stone chronicle comprises about 2,000 steles, tombstones, and monuments.
Museum of the Heroic Defence of the Adzhymushkai Quarries in 1942. The underground museum was inaugurated in 1967 in honour of the heroes of the Adzhymushkai Quarries. In the years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the quarries became the base of the partisans. The soidiers of the underground garrisons accomplished the legendary exploit, which is evidenced in numerous exhibits of the underground museum. The memorial in honour of the Adzhymushkai heroes is erected at the entrance to the museum.
The Heroes of Adzhymushkai Picture Gallery. It exhibits paintings and sketches by N. Y But, winner of the Shevchenko State Prize of Ukraine, in all about 100 canvases. For a quarter of a century, till the end of his life, the artist worked on the themes dedicated to the courage of the warriors of the underground Adzhymushkai.