In Kerch, along with the ruins of ancient cities, ancient crypts and other unique sights you can admire and ancient fortresses. For many tourists who are partial to the mesmerizing romance of such places, one of the most interesting structures in Kerch is Yeni-Kale Fortress, built three centuries ago.
To some extent, the appearance of a beautiful and powerful fortress on the steep shore of the Kerch Strait, the city owes not to the Ottomans, but to the first Emperor of Russia — Peter the Great. It was his idea to demonstrate to the Turkish garrison the growing naval power of Russia. It was done very cleverly: under the pretext of seeing off the warship «Fortress» in Constantinople, Peter I demonstrated his entire fleet of 10 ships, which were accompanied by galleys and other less impressive, but convincing by their numbers of ships. After that, the Turkish Sultan decided to fortify the Kerch coast.
The construction of the fortification was entrusted to the Italian architect Goloppo, French engineers also participated in the design of the fortress. The French system of bastion front was taken as a basis for its design. The erection of Yeni-Kale began in 1699 and was fully completed in 1709. Repeating the ornate forms of relief (the fortress was built on a rock), Yeni-Kale acquired the form of a complex pentagon, arranged in three tiers. The walls of the fortress have broken lines, in height reach 7-15 meters. A deep moat was dug around it, except for the coastal side.
The entrance to Yeni-Kale from the sea, from the north-east and from the side of Dzhankoy passed through three powerful gates with towers. The corners of the fortress were reinforced by bastions with combat dome towers in the form of overhanging bay windows. It is from one of these bastions that one starts to familiarize with the ancient fortress — from the south-western one, located today near the bus stop and the most famous one. This bastion is one of the main symbols of Kerch.
The fortress, erected three centuries ago, has been perfectly preserved up to our time. Its walls are still powerful and imposing, combat towers look picturesque, they are real decorations of the whole construction, making it romantic and fabulous. The crenellated decoration on many parts of the walls has been preserved, which also gives the fortress a touch of fantasy, as well as the massive stone gates. Many buildings scattered over the spacious territory of the fortress of 2.5 hectares have survived partially or completely to our days, among which there were powder warehouses, dwelling houses, arsenal, mosque, baths, water tank. Spending holidays in Kerch, Vase has a unique opportunity to discover the whole world of ancient construction.
From the highest points of the fortification opens a magnificent panorama of the Kerch Strait, a view of the port of Crimea, Cape Lantern, belonging already to the Russian possessions spit Chushka. A walk along Yeni-Kale is an immersion not only into the past, into the history steeped in legends and legends, but also into the fantastic world of beauty of Crimean nature and sea panoramas.
Despite all the power and reliability, Yeni-Kale was surrendered to Russian troops without a fight in 1771, until 1880 it hosted fairs and a hospital, then it was abandoned. But today it is experiencing a new chapter of its history — with awe of its solid age, picturesqueness, beauty it is discovered by adventure-hungry, interested in history and simply wishing to plunge into the depths of centuries tourists from all over the country and abroad. This attractions of the Crimea is known far beyond its borders due to the amazing atmosphere reigning in it, which gives incomparable emotions.