The Genoese fortress

This a fortress is located into Sudak city and built by the Genoese between 1371 and 1469 years. Construction was almost 100 years. Sudak fortress is a unique historical monument.

The Genoese fortress is located on an ancient coral reef, which is a cone-shaped mountain (Kyz-Kul-Burun or Serpostnaya Mountain), near the Sudak bay of the Black Sea. 


All the structures of the fortress cover an area of ​​more than 30 hectares. At the moment the fortress is one of the most visited places of tourists in the Crimea. On the territory of the fortress, various festivals and events are often held. Also there is a small museum, with archaeological finds found during excavations on the territory of the fortress.

In the second half of the 12th century in Sudak there are messengers of the Byzantine state - Venetians, Pisans and Genoese. They are actively beginning to trade with Russian, Polovtsian and Central Asian merchants. Gradually it was the Genoese who seized the whole coast from Bosporus (Kerch) to Chersonesos (the present district of Sevastopol). Kafa (Feodosia) became the capital of their colony in the Crimea, and Sudak - the military base. We started with the construction of the now famous Genoa fortress.

At the Sudak fortress were more ancient defensive structures of the 6th century, which were completed and united into a single fortress by the Genoese in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The fortunate location of the Genoese fortress and powerful fortifications made the fortress almost impregnable: from the west the fortress is difficult to access, from the south and east the fortress is protected by the steep walls of the mountain descending to the sea; From the northeast a deep moat has been dug

There is two tiers of defense - the lower and upper in the Genoese fortress. The lower tier is protected by a wall 6-8 meters high and 1.5-2 meters thick. The wall is fortified with fourteen battle towers 15 meters high and a complex of Main Gates. Each tower was called the name of the consul, in which it was built, the slabs with heraldic symbols and inscriptions on medieval Latin preserved on some towers say this.

The upper tier of defense included the towers and the Consular Castle, connected in one complex by a wall running along the very ridge of the mountain, and also the complex of the Watchtower. The sentinel tower stands on the very top of the mountain and from it a magnificent panorama of the entire Sudak valley opens. And with good visibility, you can see the distant mountain Ayu-Dag and even - behind it - the silhouette of the teeth of Ai-Petri. This tower is very interesting in terms of engineering solutions. First - a fairly narrow corridor about 5 meters in length. Then - a high threshold and traces of several doorways.

Between the upper and lower tiers of defense there was a city that was always in the position of enhanced protection. The Consul had no right to spend a single night outside the city. He simultaneously held the posts of the commandant of the fortress, the head of the garrison and the manager of finances.

Survey of the fortress should start from the main gate and go further to the east. Inside, the eyes are scattered: picturesque ruins, exotic buildings. The breathing of time is clearly felt everywhere. Attention, of course, immediately entrench the fortress towers. To the west of the gate is the tower of Jakob Torcelo. From the east to the gate adjoins the tower of Beriabo di Franci di Pagano. An ancient mosque is sustained in noble proportions and creates a feeling of lightness and spaciousness inside.

For the ancient mosque you will see a consular castle. This is a whole complex of buildings, the most interesting of the surviving fortresses. The main tower - the dungeon - occupies the entire transverse space until the cliff breaks. The second powerful battle tower is in the northeast corner of the castle. Both towers are connected by thick walls, between them lies the inner courtyard. In one of the walls (western) - a series of loopholes, along which there was a wooden platform for the riflemen.

Inside the donjon - the Consular Tower - you can get on a stone staircase, built later. In the basement there are two rooms. The western one has a loophole above it. The eastern premise from the inside is skilfully laid out with hewn stones, believe that it is a water tank. From the main (Consular) tower to the south-west stretches a wall, to which adjoins the St. George's Tower with a portico attached to it. In several places crosses cut into the walls are visible. On the first floor there is a niche with a round top of the altar type. A small stove above it was adorned with a bas-relief image of a rider on horseback. The bas-relief is smoothed by time, but by tradition it is believed that this is an image of St. George the Victorious, hence the name of the tower is St. George's.

Currently, the Genoese fortress is under the protection of the state; It is a branch of the Kiev architectural and historical reserve "Sofia Museum". Scientific and research and restoration work is carried out on its territory.

Time and wars have not spared the fortress itself. Many of its fortifications have been destroyed in the course of numerous assaults or have become dilapidated and collapsed. Now in the fortress of Sudak you can see only part of the buildings that speak of its former invincibility and greatness. These are the main gate, several towers (including the St. George Tower, the tower of Corrado Chicalo, Torcelello Tower), the mosque temple, the Temple of the Twelve Apostles, the warehouse and the remains of the barracks.

In addition, the remains of two barracks of the Kirillovka regiment, built in the XVIII century by order of Potemkin, were preserved in the fortress. In front of them are two ancient cannons.

Outside the fortress walls is another tower - Frederico Astagvera (Portovaya). At the time of the Genoese, it was connected by a wall, with a corner tower of the fortress and with a tower on Mount Palvani-Oba. This defensive line protected the territory of the old port of Soldaya.