Borrow any guidebook illustrating the sights of Crimea, and you will realize that many of the archaeological monuments described in it are lurking in the grasses and forests of the Bear Mountain, which is packed with footprints of bygone times. One of these imprints is Isar Gorzuvita, in other words The Fortress of Gorzuvita.
In different centuries this fortress, the ruins of which have survived to our times, had completely different functions. For example, from VI to VIII century Gorzuvity Fortress, the remains of which rest peacefully on the famous rock called Dzhenevez-Kaja, was a Byzantine seaside fortification, in the XIII century it served as a feudal castle, from the end of the XIV and up to the XV century — Genoese factor, and in the XVII century Isar Gorzuvity was a Turkish guard fort.
In fact, if we are honest to the end, we must admit that with Gorzuvity Fortress, in fact, and began the history of the now famous resort called Gurzuf. I wonder what would have happened if in the VI century Emperor Justinian would not have ordered to erect this fortress? Fortunately, the past is beyond our control. In those distant times under the newly erected fortress the port was buzzing, and at the foot of Bear Mountain, which then probably had a different name, the first residents of Gurzuf built their houses.
If one could get into a time machine and make a trip to Gurzuf, starting from antiquity and ending with our time, many different peoples would flash before our eyes. Over the centuries, Gurzuf was a shelter for the Taurians and Greeks, Goths, Khazars and Genoese. In the XIV century, built by order of Justinian citadel Tatars almost leveled to the ground, but the Fortress Gorzuvita was incredibly resistant and survivable. However, a century later, Turkish troops «finished» the citadel, and the stones left from it were used by local aborigines as building material for their abodes. Probably, there is no such attractions of Ukraine today, which would have survived so much, endured so much and seen so much in its lifetime …
Now the ruins, which long ago were a fortress and for many centuries guarded and protected different nations, are located on the territory of the International Children’s Center «Artek». Next to the Gorzuvita Fortress today stands the Skalnaya Hotel. I wonder what these stones are silent about, what secrets they keep, and what they could tell if they could talk…?