"Sights of Crimea - Yenikale fortress"

Sights of Crimea - Yenikale fortress

The Crimea is striking in its diversity. Kerch, the most ancient city of the Russian Federation, is located in the east of the peninsula.

Kerch is a unique city. Here are traces of ancient and medieval civilizations. He managed to visit both a rich Greek colony and an outpost of the Ottoman Empire. There are enough interesting places in this small town that are connected with the Great Patriotic War and other historical events. Yenikale fortress is one of such places.

The name of the Yenikale fortress is translated from Turkish and Crimean Tatar as “new fortress”. It was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries by order of the Turkish ruler. An Italian named Goloppo supervised the construction. Yenikale was of great strategic importance for the Ottoman Empire - the fortress, located in the narrowest part of the Kerch Strait and armed with powerful cannons, prevented the passage of Russian ships between the Azov and the Black Seas.

Yenikale occupied an area of about 2.5 hectares. The fortress had the shape of an irregular pentagon and was located on several levels. On the territory of Yenikale there were: two powder warehouses, an arsenal, residential buildings, a water tank, a bathhouse, a mosque. About 800 Ottoman and 300 Crimean Tatar soldiers formed the garrison of the fortress. In addition, Yenikale served as the residence of the Turkish Pasha.

• In the summer of 1771, during the Russian-Turkish war, Yenikale was taken without a fight by parts of the Second Army of Major General Borzov. In 1774, under the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty, Kerch and Yenikale were transferred to the Russian Empire.
• By the beginning of the 19th century, Yenikale lost its military significance, and in 1835 the buildings of a military hospital were located on its territory, which lasted until 1880. After the abolition of the military hospital, Yenikale was finally abandoned.
• During the Second World War, fierce battles were fought in the area of the Yenikale fortress, which practically destroyed those small remnants of the fortress that time did not destroy.

Despite the fact that in the second half of the 20th century a number of restoration works were carried out in Yenikale, almost the entire fortress is in ruins.

Directly through the territory of the fortress there is a single-track railway line connecting Kerch with the Kerch ferry crossing. The vibration that occurs during the movement of trains creates a threat of gradual destruction of the monument.

The commissioning of the Crimean bridge, the transfer of railway traffic to it and the closure of the branch passing through the fortress, will allow preserving the historical site.

Today, Yenikale is one of the sights of Kerch and the Crimea. The fortress was given the status of an architectural monument protected by the state. At the end of the 19th century, most of the underground passages of the fortress were filled up along with their contents, and there are also several legends about hidden treasures on the territory.    

Thank you for attention!