Tepe-Kerman is one of the largest cave cities in Crimea. By cave cities: Tepe-Kermen and Kachi-Kalyon Crimea cave city Tepe-Kermen

The ancient settlement of Tepe-Kermen (Fortress on the Mountain) is located in the valley of the Kachi River, 7 km southeast of Bakhchisaray. The settlement is located on a separate outcropping with an area of ​​1 hectare, at an altitude of 544 m above sea level. Above the Kachin Valley the plateau rises 225 m, with marl screes running down into it, and the height of the vertical cliffs is 10-12 m. The ascent to the plateau is only from the north-eastern side.

How to get there

The ancient settlement of Tepe-Kermen belongs to the Kachin group of “cave cities”. Tepe-Kermen is located in the Kachin Valley, about 5 km from Bakhchisaray.

From Simferopol

If you start your journey in Simferopol, then you first need to get to Bakhchisarai by bus or by train Simferopol-Sevastopol.

From Sevastopol

If you start your trip in Sevastopol, then you also need to first get to Bakhchisarai by bus or by train Sevastopol-Simferopol.

Next, you need to take a shuttle bus from the railway station to the final stop "Staroselye". And you need to get to Chufut-Kale on foot (see How to get to Chufut-Kale). Next, you need to go to the eastern outskirts of the Chufut-Kale settlement, through the Biyuk-Kapu gate (Eastern Gate). Beyond this gate you will immediately see a dirt road heading east. It is necessary to follow it. After traveling less than 1.5 km from the dirt road, a path will branch off to the left (in front of this path you should see a sign in the form of stones laid out in the shape of an arrow and the word TEPE-KERMEN). You should continue your journey along this path. It descends from the Chufut-Kale plateau into a gully. After walking about 1 km along a forest ravine along the Chufut-Kale plateau, you will find yourself in a pine forest. A little to the left is the equipped tourist parking lot "Sarabey". Here, if desired, you can spend the night.

Immediately behind the parking lot rises the Tepe-Kermen plateau in the form of a truncated cone. You are standing on the northeast side of the palto.

Coming out of the pine forest, you will see a path to the plateau. It is quite steep and, having overcome the last extreme sections, you find yourself in front of the eastern caves. Next you need to move to the right and up. The path will lead to the remains of a staircase carved into the rock with very clear steps. You need to climb up them to the plateau.

There is also another option:

You need to take the Bakhchisaray-Sinapnoye bus from the bus station in Bakhchisaray. The road passes through the picturesque Kachin Valley. First, behind the village of Preduschelnoye, you will pass the site of an ancient man - the Kachinsky canopy, then the Tash-Air canopy, famous for its rock paintings. This will be followed by the Kachi-Kalyon limestone massif in the form of the bow of a giant ship, heading downstream of the Kachi River. On its side, like portholes, gape rows of caves carved by human hands. On the bow of the “ship” a huge cross formed as a result of natural phenomena is clearly visible. Passing the Kachi-Kalyon monastery, a mountain range appears before your eyes, like a huge impregnable wall. This is Mount Kyz-Kermen (Maiden Fortress). The settlement of the same name is located on the Kyz-Kermen plateau. Immediately behind Kyz-Kermen you will see a remnant mountain in the form of a truncated cone - this is the goal of our journey - Tepe-Kermen. You need to get off at the Kudrino stop. After passing the field, you will find yourself in a pine forest, where the t/s "Sarabey" is located. Further behind a small clearing there is a path to the plateau. It is necessary to climb along it.

Site plan. Attractions

Tepe-Kermen - churches of the ancient settlement

A special feature of Tepe-kermen is the largest concentration of caves compared to other cave cities. There are more than 250 of them on an area of ​​about 1 hectare.

The overwhelming number of in-rock structures here (about 85%) were used for economic needs. Of these, about 88%, or 170-180 premises, were barns for animals. The rest of the utility rooms consisted of estate basements and water storage tanks. Non-economic caves were used for housing and burial.

Among the Tepe-kermen caves, two churches are of particular interest. One, a “church with a sacristy” (these names of cave churches were introduced into scientific circulation by N. Borovko (1913), is located in the northwestern cliff of the settlement. You can get into it without climbing the plateau. The second, a “church with a baptistery,” is located on the very plateau, on its northeastern edge.

The close proximity of Tepe-kermen to Bakhchisarai and the abundance of artificial caves have been around since the beginning of the 19th century. made it one of the most popular places to visit. Let us note the most interesting reports about the churches of the settlement found in the literature.

P. Sumarokov at the beginning of the 19th century. compiled the first small description of the “church with a baptistery” and published its visual plan.

Brief information about the church is found in the “Crimean Collection” by P. Keppen. The scientist’s remark is interesting: “What kind of work was it worth to destroy this house of God? What patience should have been possessed by those who, leaving this monument behind, were plunged into the darkness of oblivion.”

He left us a description and drawings of the church of Dubois de Montpere. V. Kondaraki mentions it.

Detailed information and drawings of the church were published by G. Karaulov. The author dated it to the first centuries of Christianity. In Karaulov’s review, the following points are noteworthy: a) he saw the fragments of collapsed columns from the altar; b) found no traces of wall painting. The description and plans of the church can also be found in the works of D. Strukov, A. Popov, E. Markov.

In 1890 a resident of Bakhchisarai, I. Puzatov, cleared the temple of debris, made windows and doors in it, invited a priest and served a prayer service. He noticed an inscription covered with lime on the wall opposite the entrance, copied it and handed it over to the Odessa Society for the History of Antiquities. V. Latyshev published the following translation: “This grave was dug up at my own request by Polit...om. The extension (made) by the servant of God, the most pious Manuel...”. It was not possible to completely restore the text; no exact copy was made, so the scientist did not consider it possible to date it.

V. Yurgevich and A. Popandopulo-Keramevs, based on the same copy, according to paleographic data, nevertheless tried to establish the chronology of the inscription, but their opinions differed: the first considered it to be later, and the second considered it possible to attribute it to the 9th-10th centuries.

The first detailed and complete description of all the cave churches of the settlement was made by N. Borovko in the article “Tepe-kermen” (1913). He collected all the information he knew, made precise measurements, and copied the Greek inscription in the apse of the “church with a sacristy.”

In 1927, a brief overview of the cave churches of Tepe-kermen was compiled by I. Nikolsky. Referring to the “church with the baptistery,” he reported: “To the right of the altar, under the mortar, one can discern the outlines of Christ carved directly on the wall.” This seems strange, since neither the earlier nor the later works mention this. Most likely, the “image of Christ” is nothing more than a figment of N. Nikolsky’s imagination. Detailed information about the monuments in question can be found in the unpublished “Archaeological Map...” by N. Repnikov.

Referring to the aforementioned dating of the inscription proposed by Popandopoulo-Keramevs, he noted: “Such an early dating, based on the general character of the cave temple, seems incredible to us.”

In 1940 The churches of Tepe-kermen were examined by P. Babenchikov. The following conclusion seems interesting: “... In the old days, the entire eastern part of the cave (the church with the baptistery - Yu. M.) up to the altar was isolated from the temple, which fits with analogies in other cave temples... A further conclusion from this premise will assume that the orientation of the altar should be considered not to the north, as has been done until now, but to the east.The latter assumption, among other data, is supported by the fact that of the two entrances to the altar, the western one has a width of 0.68 m, and the southern one (considered until now to be the royal gates) is only 0.5 m. I think that the researchers were misled by the accidental good preservation of the altar barrier with crosses in the southern wall of the altar and its complete destruction in the western. My assumption is also supported by the existence of a large and a correctly quadrangular cut-out in the eastern wall, which is considered a “seat,” but which should be considered a subsequently converted throne.”

An interesting observation by P. Babenchikov regarding the analogy with the “temple with a baptismal chapel” in Inkerman: with all the architectural differences between these churches, the researcher drew attention to an important similarity - the location of baptisteries in the churches, which in ancient times were separated from the churches by a partition, and baptismal chapels with a step.

A. Jacobson devoted relatively much space to the “church with a baptistery” in his works, dating it to the 8th-9th centuries, practically without giving any arguments, with the exception of the transverse location of the nave. In addition to the above works, the cave churches of Tepe-kermen were repeatedly mentioned in the literature, but mostly they repeated the already known conclusions of N. Borovko and A. Yakobson.

To summarize, it can be noted that the underground temples of Tepe-kermen, despite their fame and popularity, have been poorly studied. With the exception of descriptions, no architectural analysis was made, and no serious arguments were given in favor of one or another dating.

Probably originally in the 11th-12th centuries. The “church with the baptistery”, located on the plateau, inside the fortress walls, was cut down, and the rest appeared later, as the settlement grew.

Obviously, after the end of life on Tepe-kermen at the end of the 13th-14th centuries. The cave churches continue to be used to some extent by residents of neighboring valleys and individual hermits. This is supported by the tombstone inscription of monk Nicholas, found here and dated by V. Latyshev in the 16th century. However, it is not possible to talk about the full life of these churches at this time.

Yu.M.Mogarichev

Tepe-Kermen - "Church with sacristy"

The “Church with the Sacristy” has dimensions of 4.9 x 2.2 x 2.1 m. In plan, it is a simple single-apse church. The apse is horseshoe-shaped, 1.85 x 1 x 2 m, in the upper part it is separated from the pump by a girth arch. Below you can see undercuts for the installation of the altar barrier and, probably, a later iconostasis. There is a square cut in the floor for the base of the throne. Niches were carved into the northern and southern walls of the apse - possibly an altar and a deacon. A four-line Greek inscription is carved into the apse conch.

The naos is rectangular, along the western and southern walls, at a height of 0.43 m, there is a bench. In the southern wall (western half) there is a grave 2.75 x 0.8 x 0.72 m. Above it, at a height of 1.5 m, there is an arched niche measuring 0.37 x 0.35 x 0.2 m. In the eastern part of the southern wall, a passage was cut into the sacristy, rounded in plan, measuring 2.1 x 2.3 x 1.7 m.

In the northern wall to the west of the entrance, at a height of 0.85 m, there is an arched niche (0.17 x 0.3 x 0.2 m). To the east of the entrance is another one, measuring 0.24 x 0.53 x 0.5 m, built at a height of 0.9 m. Next to it, two concentric circles are carved, inside of which four knitting needles are depicted in a cross shape. In the lower half of the circle four letters of the Hebrew alphabet are visible (preserved), which A. Gidalevich interpreted as the surname “Bakshi”.

Two graves with shoulders were cut into the floor of the church, measuring 2 x 0.57 x 0.5 m for the north and 2.1 x 0.8 x 0.5 m for the south.

Room treatment - smoothed T.2. The entrance to the church is rectangular (1.36 x 1.58 m). On its sides there are visible hems for fastening the doors.

In the architectural plan of a “church with a sacristy” it is difficult to find direct analogies among cave temples. The presence of recesses in the western part of the apse (northern and southern walls) brings it closer to the temple of the Southern Mangup Monastery and the main church of Shuldan, the sacristy - to the small temple in the area of ​​​​the Eski-kermen lift road. In terms of interior design, the “church with a sacristy” looks newer compared to the “church with a baptistery”.

It is quite possible that it appeared at the last stage of Tepe-kermen’s life as a roadside church located at the entrance to the site. Let us note that it was under it that the road leading to the Tepe-kermen plateau passed.

Yu.M.Mogarichev

Tepe-Kermen - "Church with a baptistery"

"Church with a baptistery" (N 1). The plan of the room is trapezoidal, measuring 10.5 x 4.5 x 2.6 m, the ceiling is slightly sloping towards the western wall. Functionally, the room is divided into two parts - the church itself and the baptismal sanctuary.

The temple, measuring 6.4 x 4.5 m, is located in the western part. Its altar, brought inside the room, occupies the north-eastern corner and is a square room 2.7 x 2.7 m fenced off with an altar barrier carved into the rock. It is raised 0.3 m above the pump. There are two entrances to it - the royal ones the gate (south) is 0.5 m wide and the side (west) is 0.7 m.

The slabs of the altar barrier from the side of the royal doors are 0.25 m thick, the height of the royal doors.

Rectangular naos. A bench 0.25 m wide and 0.35 m high was cut along the western, southern and partially northern walls. In the western wall there was a tomb 2 x 0.65 m, and two more, 1.75 x 0.65 m (eastern) and 1.9 x 0.75 (west), cut into the bench of the south wall. Above the western grave of the southern wall the mentioned eight-line inscription is scratched. Another grave is cut into the floor south of the altar. The entrance to the church, 0.8 m wide, led from the north and was located in the northwestern corner.

The baptismal chapel, measuring 4 x 4.2 m, rectangular in shape, is located in the eastern part of the room and rises 0.15 m above the pump. The cruciform font (1.25 x 0.9 x 0.8 m) is carved in the south-east half. It rises 0.35 m above the floor. There is a descent into the font of two steps, the first is 0.3 m deep, the second is 0.2 m. To the west of the font, a grave is carved into the floor, and another one is in the north-western corner , next to the wall of the altar. Along the southern wall there is a bench, above which there is a niche-tomb in the wall. Next to the baptistery in the wall there is a quadrangular recess 1.2 x 1 x 0.55 m. On the sides of the baptistery there are two niches 0.25 x 0.3 m, above one there is a carved monogram. A partially destroyed entrance 1 m wide led into the room from the north. To the south of it, another niche 1.4 x 0.9 m was built in the western wall.

To the north of the church, on the edge of the plateau, 9 tombs and 5 tombs were carved into the rock. There were probably more graves, but the area in front of the church entrance is partially covered with earth.

The "Church with the Baptistery" is a unique monument. Firstly, it has a transverse arrangement of the nave, secondly, an altar placed inside, thirdly, a baptistery, and, finally, fourthly, churches with such an architectural design are no longer known among the rocky religious buildings of Crimea.

The closest analogy to this monument is the Judgment complex (before expansion). Similar features appear: an altar brought inside, the presence of a high place, the location of the altar in the right corner farthest from the entrance. a baptismal chamber separated from the rest of the room by the wall of the altar barrier. The latter explains the architectural design of the altar.

The Tepe-Kermen church also has something in common with the “temple with baptism” in Inkerman, namely: the presence of baptisteries with steps.

Dating. There are no direct chronological signs that allow us to unambiguously date the church. The inscription above the grave on the south wall also does not contain a date.

Dating of A. Jacobson VIII-IX centuries. on the basis of the transverse position of the nave does not stand up to criticism. As noted, on Eski-Kermen, temples with such an architectural design date back no earlier than the end of the 10th century; similar structures among the cave churches of Cappadocia existed in the 10th-11th centuries. It would seem that the dating element could be the shapes of the crosses on the altar barrier, which look archaic; there are analogies for them on the early medieval altar barriers of Kherson. However, the same crosses are on the sarcophagus of the 11th century, on the ciborium depicted in the miniatures of the codex of conversations of the monk Jacob of the 11th century. and other later monuments.

Decor similar to the ornament on the capitals of the “church with baptistery” is found on the capitals of the Church of Halas Monastery in Cappadocia, which dates back to the 11th century.

Therefore, the entire complex of architectural features of the church allows us to date it no earlier than the 11th century.

An analysis of the archaeological situation at Tepe-kermen may be important in dating this monument. This is one of the most poorly studied "cave cities". Archaeological research here was carried out only by D. Talis in 1969-1972, who found out that the settlement existed from the 6th to the end of the 13th-14th centuries. However, “the entire cultural layer in the studied areas is divided into two chronologically different layers dating back to the time after the 10th century,” and dense buildings appeared only in the 12th-13th centuries.

This archaeological situation is a reflection of the historical processes that took place in the medieval mountainous Taurica.

Tepe-kermen appears, obviously, at the end of the 6th-7th centuries. like a fortress built on the border of the Byzantine possessions in Taurica. Probably, the construction of defensive walls took place at the same chronological stage with the construction of defenses at Eski-Kermen, Mangup and Chufut-Kale. Obviously, in the early Middle Ages, people lived on Tepe-kermen mainly during the enemy’s penetration into the mountainous South-Western Crimea. Period VIII-IX centuries. was not reflected in the archaeological material of the settlement. It is known that at this time life was concentrated in rural settlements located in the valleys. In the 10th century these settlements are dying.

From the 11th century the situation is changing. The weakening and death of the Khazar Kaganate, the entry of Taurica again into the sphere of influence of Byzantium, the development of feudalization processes lead to the formation of urban centers. Probably one of them was Tepe-kermen.

One must think that it was from the 11th century. Cave churches begin to be built in the settlement. In addition to them, one above-ground temple is known here - a single-nave chapel with a semicircular apse, dimensions 5.5 x 2.2 m, dated by D. Talis from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Based on the massiveness of the walls, the scientist considered it part of some large complex, perhaps a large estate.

There is no doubt that the construction of a “church with a baptistery,” currently the largest religious building known here, was associated with the beginning of the development of the settlement, since only this can explain the presence of a baptistery and the abundance of funeral structures in the church and its surroundings. The latter also indicates the relatively long functioning of the temple.

Perhaps it was the “church with the baptistery” that was the main religious building of Tepe-kermen.

Thus, all the arguments - architectural features, analysis of the archaeological situation - allow us to attribute the appearance of the church to the 11th-12th centuries.

Yu.M.Mogarichev

Tepe Kerman - other churches

“Church with sacristy”, “church with baptistery” - the most famous rock religious buildings of the settlement. However, in our opinion, there could have been other in-rock temples at the site. In historiography, attempts have been made to highlight them.

One church on the southwestern cliff was found by N. Borovko, however, in the course of reflection, he abandoned this idea. Some cave churches are mentioned in the guide to Crimea by M. Sosnogorova.

In our opinion, the complex located to the east of the “church with the sacristy” is a cult complex. Currently, these premises are almost or completely destroyed; in particular, only the southern and western walls have been preserved. In the south wall are two rectangular niches, one of which shows traces of a poorly preserved Greek inscription. There are four graves carved into the floor. In the south wall there is an entrance to a small room, possibly a sacristy, with the treatment T.2.

It is quite possible that this church was the predecessor of the “church with a sacristy”, and for some time it could have formed a cult-funeral complex with it at the entrance to the Tepe-kermen plateau.

Yu.M.Mogarichev

Neighborhood

In the village of Kudrino there is an architectural monument - the remains of the Archangel Church, 1328.

The next day of our hike through the cave cities of Crimea. Morning found us in Tepe-Kermen, which we examined leisurely and just as leisurely made a short trek through the Kachin Valley to the beautiful cave monastery of Kachi-Kalyon. Towards evening we made an unsuccessful attempt to find Tash-Air, a caveman site with rock paintings.

Pre-dawn fog near Tepe-Kerman.

Photo by fattyj99
Finally, Tolstoy posted his photographs and you can insert the bows of your loved one here, against the backdrop of various miracles. This photo is actually from the evening of the previous day. At sunset we reached the Dragon's Tooth and decided to have a little snack here. There were thoughts of spending the night here, but changed our minds. It’s beautiful here, but somehow uncomfortable - it’s not very close to fly down)

As a result, Bogach and I ended up sleeping on the street anyway. We laid down the foam not far from the edge of the plateau and climbed into our sleeping bags. In case of rain, it was possible to quickly and without much hassle move to one of the caves, since there were many of them in the vicinity. The entrance to the nearest one was literally ten meters from us.

Early in the morning it became a little cool, which most likely woke me up. I turned over to the other side, pulled the hood tighter and inadvertently opened my eye... Then I jerked up and sat down on the foam. The sun had not yet risen, but it was already dawning. Overhead there was a blue and already starless sky, and below it there was nothing. A small island of rock on which our sleeping bags lay, behind a bush behind which Tolstoy’s tent should have stood, and all this seemed to float in the clouds in milk. There was no valley more than two hundred meters deep. There wasn't even Kyz-kermen on the opposite side of the gorge.

Meanwhile, Cape Kyz-Kermen appeared. For a while the clouds continued to roll over it like waves over a stubborn rock.

But the sun was gradually beginning to rise and everything around began to change quickly. While I was taking the camera out of my backpack and trying to lift Bogach, gradually the surrounding peaks began to rise from the clouds like islands. The rich man said in a sleepy voice that he had a camera in the tent and didn’t want to go get it, turned over on his other side and fell asleep.

But the cape survived and rose higher and higher above the sea of ​​fog every minute.

After taking photographs for some time, I climbed back into the sleeping bag. However, I didn’t have long to sleep; the rising sun, having dispersed the fog, began to heat up quite early. Over time, I crawled closer to Tolstoy’s tent. She stood in a small recess carved into the rock, which probably served as the basement of some building, and lay down in the shade under the wall. But soon the sun got to me here too.

For comparison, this is what this place looks like without fog. The so-called Dragon's Tooth was once the wall of a cave room, apparently a utility room. Now three walls of this room are destroyed, the Dragon Tooth was part of one of them.

Between Kyz and Tepe-Kermen in the gorge there is one interesting establishment.

Photo by fattyj99
On old Soviet maps it is marked as a pioneer camp. This is not a simple pioneer camp, but a strict regime one. To prevent the pioneers from wandering off into the surrounding forests, a sentry with a machine gun is constantly on duty on the tower. And the set of toys in the camp is assembled in a harsh way. There are no bicycles or scooters here, and no one seems to be playing Zarnitsa either.

But let’s take a little break from post-Soviet romance and take a little walk around the cave city. The name Tepe-Kermen itself, translated from Tatar, and Turkish too, means “Top-Fortress”; this name was given to the settlement after the inhabitants left it and reflects a purely visual idea of ​​this place. It is unknown what the inhabitants called the settlement. Tepe-Kermen is a rock outcrop towering above the Kachin Valley to a height of about 250 meters. Its flat top, with an area of ​​only about 1 hectare, served as a natural refuge for residents of surrounding settlements.

Judging by individual finds, people have lived here since the 5th century AD. But the settlement reached its greatest development in the 11th-14th centuries. At this time, Tepe-Kermen most likely was the castle of a feudal lord who owned the surrounding lands. The surface of the plateau was densely built up with residential and utility buildings. In the lower tiers, many rocky rooms were also carved out, which served as pens for livestock and had defensive functions. There were monastery hermitages and separate temples in the rocks.

An interesting cave temple has been preserved in the southeastern part of the plateau.

It is quite unusual for Tavrika.

The internal volume of this small temple (11x5.4 meters) is elongated not along the axis directed towards the altar, but along the north-south axis. The altar barrier is pushed far forward and occupies a significant part of the temple.

Temples with such a layout were widespread in Byzantium during the time of iconoclasm - 8th-9th centuries AD. In those days, icon-worshipping monks who did not agree with the policies of the church tried to hide away from the metropolis and founded many cave monasteries on the periphery of the empire. Many similar temples are known in. Such a characteristic layout of the temple allows us to date it to those very centuries of iconoclasm and connects it with the influence of Byzantium on these places. But there are also nuances.

For example, this baptismal font. Usually in early Christian churches the fonts were quite impressive in size, so that the adult population could be baptized in them, sometimes not one by one. Small fonts are typical for the period when the entire local population has already been en masse Christianized and only newborn members of the community can be baptized.

Photo by fattyj99
Against the background of the font. Yes, for scale)

Collapsed cave structures on the edge of a cliff.

Photo by fattyj99
And this little hole is located a few meters from the place where we slept and leads to one of the lower tiers of the caves. At night we had every chance of snoring not only from the cliff, but right into it! By the way, in this cave, to which a staircase led on the edge of a cliff, it was great to hide from the heat of the day.

Economic complex of the lower caves.

Some of them are several rooms deep.

After walking among them, we went to the monastery complex at the lower edge of the cliff.

We sat here for some time, dangling our legs and admiring the view of the Kachin Valley in general and the village of Kudrino in particular. They decided not to go to Kyz-Kermen, since, judging by the literature we had, there was nothing special to see there, but it would have been a hell of a climb there. Kachi-Kalyon seemed to us a much more attractive option. There will be no reason to return.

Rock of Tepe-Kerman. Somewhere up there is a city.

The descent to the village of Mashino ran along such loose terrain. It would probably be quite sad to climb up.

Tepe-Kerman. If you look closely, you can see a small pip on the top left side of the plateau - this is the so-called Dragon’s Tooth.

Pit stop in the village not far from the bus stop, which also doubles as a store. Behind us is the Kyz-Kermen plateau. In the morning the fog reached its top!

While we were drinking beer, a couple of cyclists rode past us, waving their arms. They were equipped to the best of their abilities: helmets, gloves, goggles, cycling clothing, and on their bicycles whistles and fakes of all kinds of shapes and purposes gleamed merrily. They looked like tough athletes, and for a moment I even felt a little envious that in just a couple of minutes they would be near Kachi-Kalyon, and we would remain sitting here and drinking beer. However, after about 15 minutes we met them sitting in the shade of trees with the same beer in their hands!

On the way we met such a reptile. Apparently - a runner. Or more precisely, the carcass of a snake. The beast grew to such an unimaginable size that it did not manage to crawl across the road in time and its tail was run over. While photographing the lizard, the merry pedists caught up with us.

One of the eastern grottoes near Kachi-Kalyon somewhat resembles the open mouth of a shark!

Kachi-Kalyon in one of the translations means “Ship of the Goddess” and indeed, if you look at the Kachi-Kalyon rock from the side of Predushchelny, it vaguely resembles a ship with a huge cross on board. There are four huge grottoes in the rock, among which there was once a monastic-craft settlement.

View of the first grotto and the cross on the wall. A normal path equipped with steps made from old car tires leads to this very grotto. But we only used it to descend; we probably climbed along the steepest and most inconvenient path that leads to the fourth grotto.

Actually, this is the beginning of this rise!

And the view of the path is already from above. Closer to the top, Bogach and I slightly left the path and climbed the steep slope head-on for the last few tens of meters. Under the scorching sun and with a backpack, the sensations were not the most positive, especially after I stopped and for some reason looked down...

Be that as it may, we quickly found ourselves in one of the most beautiful places in Kachi-Kalyon. In this grotto there is a spring with once clear water, which local residents considered healing. Now the spring is littered, and the famous cherry tree that grew nearby has dried up.

You can also look for little people in this photo, not for fun, but for scale. And pay attention to the dried tree in the grotto.

Actually, here it is close. When I was here in 2007, the cherry tree was still alive.

The settlement of Kachi-Kalona was quite large; the main product produced here was wine. The peak of production occurred in the 8th-9th centuries. At that time, the entire northern Black Sea region, as well as almost the entire Crimea, was under the rule of the Khazar Kaganate, which made trade safer. Within Kachi-Kalon and on the slopes of the plateau, scientists discovered over 120 grape presses; at the same time they could process over 250 tons of grapes. This clearly exceeded the demand for wine products from the surrounding area, but since Kachi-Kalyon was located on a busy trade route leading from the coastal regions to the steppe Crimea, there were no problems with selling the surplus. Also, at the turn of the first millennium, pottery was widely developed in the Kachin Valley, as evidenced by the finds of numerous pottery kilns on the banks of the Kacha.

Over time, winemaking fell into decline and by the late Middle Ages the settlement became an ordinary monastery, which in turn became empty after the resettlement of the Orthodox population from Crimea in 1778. During the Orthodox recolonization in the mid-19th century, the monastery briefly came back to life and functioned as a metochion of the Assumption Monastery, but after the liquidation of the latter in 1921, it was completely empty.

Source of St. Anastasia.

A complex of utility caves between the first and second grottoes. During our last visit here, we lived in one of them.

The traditional resting place is in the first grotto.

View of the Kachin Valley.

However, the monks are gradually approaching Kachi-Kalyon. In the gorge, just a few tens of meters from the first grotto, there is a monastery of St. Anastasia.

Altar of the Church of St. We looked at Anastasia (not the one that is functioning) on ​​the way back. They are carved into one of the stones at the foot of the fourth grotto. There are several similar temples here.

After Kachi-Kalyon, we decided to walk another half a kilometer towards Preduschelny and try to find a caveman site famous for its rock paintings. We tried but didn't find it. The guidebook says that the parking lot is located right behind the spring in a grotto formed by a huge fallen stone. They say the name Tash-Air itself literally translates as “The stone fell and separated,” but well, that was it.

Here is a spring, behind which there seems to be a parking lot very close.

This is the same Tash who is Air. But damn, no parking. Only a little in the depths is the camp of modern cavemen, with all its characteristic attributes: firewood, a fire pit, soot on the walls and empty bottles. Even further research with the help of Wikimapia brought little results, since the photographs marked there do not quite correspond to the real picture. What became clear from all this was that we were enchanting cormorants and did not notice this wonderful monument of Mesolithic creativity, literally from a few meters away.

But let's not talk about sad things. The day was coming to an end and it was time for us to take care of our overnight stay. We spent the night near the pond at the Bashtanovka tourist camp, near the village of the same name.

Horses in Bashtanovka.

But there is such a summer cinema in one of the cafes in Bashtanovka. In the evenings, films are shown here, and on this day (according to the program) there was supposed to be a broadcast of the Europa League final! But we did not stay among the local population, which was already flooding Victory Day in the morning, and, after having a snack, we went to the place of our future overnight stay.

In the next part: a day's trek to the village of Kuibyshevo, crossing of Belbek, ascent to the Syuren fortress and the Chelter-Koba cave monastery.

The cave fortress in the vicinity of Bakhchisarai is a monument of medieval architecture and urban planning.

Geographic coordinates of Tepe-Kermen on the map of Crimea GPS N 44.715895 E 33.931037

Today Tepe-Kerman is open like an open air museum. Visiting in summer is paid. Ticket price for adults is 100 rubles, for children - 50 rubles. There is no telephone number for inquiries in Tepe-Kermen. Consultation can only be obtained at the entrance from the forester. During the off-season, admission is free.

How to get to the cave city of Tepe-Kermen

Getting to Tepe Kermen You can from Bakhchisarai: go to the street. Stroitelnaya, along it you move towards the exit from Bakhchisarai, to the village of Predushchelnoye, then Bashtanovka, Mashino and the final point - Kudrino. In the village of Kudrino you are looking for a tourist stop. It won't be difficult to find it along the highway. The distance from Bakhchisaray to Tepe-Kermen is 10.7 km. If you want to get there without your own transport, then a minibus runs from the city center to Kudrino and you can also get there by taxi.

From the tourist parking lot the ascent along the trail to Tepe-Kermen begins. The rise time is on average 30-40 minutes. The trail is marked and it is practically impossible to stray from it. Also, from the tourist parking lot you will be offered to climb to Tepe-Kermen by SUV. Price from 500 to 1000 rubles. depending on the time of year and vehicle load.
The second option to get to Tepe-Kermen is from Bakhchisarai on foot. From Bakhchisarai you head towards the Assumption Monastery, then go up to the Chufut-Kale fortress, cross Chufut-Kale all the way through, exit through the Eastern Gate, follow the path for about 4.5 km. and you also find yourself at a tourist parking lot and a checkpoint (a forester’s booth who collects money for entry).

History of Tepe-Kerman

History of Tepe-Kerman originates from the split of the Roman Empire, from the emergence of Byzantium. The northern border of Byzantium ran along part of the Crimean Peninsula, from the South of Crimea to the territory of the future Bakhchisarai. In the 4th-5th centuries, it was on these borders that the first guard posts began to appear, which in the 5th-6th centuries would become fortified cities: Chufut-Kale, Tepe-Kermen and Eski-Kermen.
Since the Tepe-Kermen fortress served as a guard post on the border of Byzantium, the city was formed as a fortress according to all the rules of that time. The city was located in a remote place, in our case on the mountain of the same name Tepe-Kermen. The height is 246 m or 540 above sea level. Also, not only the height of the mountain but also its inaccessibility played an important role.

It has a rather steep slope on three sides, which is not easy to climb. It is quite difficult to carry out military maneuvers or a siege. It is for these reasons that a small outpost becomes a fortress by the 6th century, and later, from the 11th to the 13th centuries, it turns into a large city, by the standards of that time.

Cave city Tepe-Kermen located on the plateau of the mountain of the same name. The area of ​​the plateau is 1.1 hectares. The city is built in several tiers. At the very foot of the mountain, small caves begin, which were previously connected with wooden structures to the middle of the mountain. In the middle part of the mountain, all the caves were adapted for the defense of the city. They housed archers and other city defenders. The lower part served mainly. for a subsidiary farm - premises for livestock and for stocking feed. But the upper plateau was intended for living quarters, small cells for monks and directly for temples. So, for example, in the North-East of the plateau there is the largest Christian temple of the 7-9 centuries AD. According to archaeologists, the temple was founded by fugitive preachers from the Roman Empire during the time of iconoclasm in Rome. Unfortunately, more accurate information about the temple has not been preserved, as well as the name of this city.

The name Tepe-Kermen appeared in the 16th century and is translated from Turkic as Fortress on the Top, but historians do not yet know what this place was called during Byzantine times.
On the territory of Tepe-Kermen, according to today, there are about 246 buildings. But this figure is very figurative, due to the fact that this area, although known since ancient times, is still little studied. The approximate date of the disappearance of the city is known - 1299, during the raid of the Golden Horde. But this is not confirmed by historical facts and has no historical justification.
So, for example, the German archaeologist Johann Erich Thunmann writes that at the turn of the 16th century life in Tepe-Kermen was practically. quieted down. That is, it turns out that 300 years of the city’s history are simply not known.

Excursions to Tepe-Kermen.

When thinking about whether it is worth visiting Tepe-Kermen with a guide or on your own, you can answer this way: it depends on what you expect from a trip to the fortress. If you want to take good pictures and walk around, then most likely you shouldn’t take a tour. You won’t lose your way off the trail, all attractions are signed and have a brief history on boards near significant places, and most importantly, your cost will be at least 100 rubles. for entry. If you want -1000 rub. for the ascent in an SUV. But you will not be limited by time for photos and a walk.

But if you decide to choose the option with a guide, you will get a fairly high-quality excursion into history, starting from Byzantium to the kingdom of Theodore and the devastation of these lands during the time of the Golden Horde. The excursion lasts on average 1-2 hours, and the amount of information will be very extensive, and in most cases visual. In general, the choice is yours.

Tepe-Kerman on the map of Crimea

The record holder of the Crimean book of records, Mount Tepe-Kermen is not only an interesting geological object, but also an outstanding archaeological monument, which includes a unique cave city.

Trickster Mountain

In the Kachin Valley between the villages of Mashino and Kudrino there is an unusual mountain called Tepe-Kermen. The truncated cone of regular shape has a height of 544 meters and is the only example of such formations in Crimea. It is no coincidence that in 1999 the mountain was included in the book “Crimea. Book of Records." The outlines of the rock formation are exactly the same as those of the active volcanoes of Kamchatka, Indonesia and Japan. In fact, Tepe-Kermen is not a volcano, but a remnant mountain, isolated from the Inner Ridge. Because of its deceptive shape, the mountain was nicknamed the deceiver.

The geometric outlines of the Tepe-Kermen peak resemble a triangle. One side of the stone prism is a rectangular cliff in the north-east direction, the second is a cliff in the north-west direction. Interestingly, each of them coincides with a fault in the earth’s crust.

The rock formation is amazingly picturesque. Against the backdrop of the mountains of the Main Range, Tepe-Kermen resembles a mysterious island, drowning in the foggy lilac distances, but up close, the imagination is struck by the contrasting combination of forested slopes and steep cliffs.

The romantic outlines of the mountain once inspired the famous Russian painter K.F. Bogaevsky. Sketches from life by Tepe-Kermen served as the basis for his painting “Altars.” One of the sketches depicts two pyramidal peaks of Tepe-Kerman and, in the background, Kyz-Kerman. The drawing was called “Altars in the Desert”, as well as a section of the poetry collection of the poet M.A. Voloshin and the poem of the same name. It contains these lines

I will build an altar in the wilderness

On the broad crown of the mountain.

The poet described the pagan worship of the Sun, and the artist saw in the strict outlines of Tepe-Kerman a resemblance to an ancient altar. In the final version of the painting, the artist significantly departed from the initial sketches. He depicted not two, but three identical peaks, similar to volcano-shaped pyramids. Thus, the real landscape served as the basis for creating a fantasy world.

Fortress on the mountain

Translated from Crimean Tatar, Tepe-Kermen means “Fortress on the Mountain.” The ruins of a medieval city, covering the upper part of the mountain in several tiers, bear the same name. Once upon a time it was an impregnable castle, behind the walls of which the local population took refuge from enemy troops.

The numerous religious buildings of Tepe-Kermen gave researchers reason to consider the fortress a monastery. However, today the prevailing opinion is that Tepe-Kerman is a typical feudal castle. According to some researchers, it has the features of so-called “small cities”.

The settlement existed from the 6th to the 14th centuries. It reached its greatest prosperity in the 12th-13th centuries. The death of the settlement is associated with the raid of the Golden Horde in 1299.

Exploring the cave city is very interesting. Like a honeycomb, various sized holes were perforated into the rocky peak. There are one-room, two-room, three-room and even four-room “apartments”. The upper caves, located at the edge of Tepe-Kermen, served as combat casemates. Through the hollowed-out embrasures, the defenders of the fortress fired arrows and threw stones at the enemy. On the plateau there are cisterns carved into the rock for storing water and cellars. The caves on the lower floor were used for economic purposes and as pens for livestock.

The caves have an oval or round shape. On the walls you can see crisscrossing cutting grooves made with a pickaxe.

In ancient times, caves had an entrance with a wooden door and windows. Some of them were connected by stairs and passages. Inside you can find pits for the hearth and something like beds.

On the southwestern side, the rock has a ledge overhanging the forested mountainside. Moving in a southerly direction, you will come across the largest cave. In front of it there is a terrace leading to the entrance in the form of a doorway. Opposite the entrance there is a ledge with a niche, on both sides there are two thread-like recesses. Researchers believe that this cave was a pre-Christian temple, later converted into a Christian one.

Having plucked up courage and walked along the very edge of the rock, you can get to neatly carved caves with an entrance in the form of a doorway. Most likely, they served mysterious cult purposes.

Tepe-Kerman holds the record for the number of excavated cave structures. There are about 300 of them, which is extremely large for a small mountain (about 18,500 sq.m.). This phenomenon is due to the relative ease of processing the limestones that make up the mountain. Numerous cracks and decompaction of limestones in the zone of tectonic disturbance weakened the strength of the rocks and thereby facilitated the cutting down of caves.

Despite the huge number of caves on the mountain top, life in the medieval castle was concentrated on the Tepe-Kermen plateau. Today, the residential area of ​​the castle is densely overgrown with thorny bushes and trees, and the ancient buildings are barely visible. Once on the plateau there were two-story buildings with extensions and sheds. Nearby there were grain pits, pools for collecting and storing water, and there were several churches and chapels. In confirmation of this, during archaeological excavations, fragments of tiles, fragments of pithoi, amphoras, watering plates and bowls of the 12th - 14th centuries were found. Tepe-Kermen was inhabited by medieval Crimean Greeks.

In the northeastern part of the Tepe-Kermen peak, a Christian church with three surviving columns was cut down. The temple arose approximately in the 8th - 9th centuries. This is a relatively large cave temple. Its length is 10.5 meters, width - from 4.2 to 5.4 meters. The shape of the room is interesting; it is not elongated towards the altar, but along the north-south axis. The altar barrier occupies almost the entire central part of the room. Worshipers were seated in a semicircle in front of the altar, surrounded by six roughly hewn columns. Relief crosses are carved on the outer walls of the pre-altar barrier. A ledge at the back of the altar served as an altar. At the south-eastern wall of the temple you can find two tombs carved into the floor, above them are the remains of a Greek inscription, in the corner is the baptistery (baptistery), which is a stone box with a cross-shaped notch. In the cave located below the church, researchers at the beginning of the century found many human bones. Most likely, in this place there was a tomb or, as it is also called, an ossuary. Following ancient tradition, bones taken from tombs were placed here.

The cave temple has its own mysteries. For a long time, researchers could not explain the purpose of the irregularly shaped window opening. The secret was revealed by accident. On the day of Easter, when the rising sun illuminated the opposite wall of the cave, a clear shadow of a cross appeared on it.

There are several other cave and above-ground churches on the plateau. One of them, located at the southern end of the site, is a small chapel with a semicircular altar apse. Its walls are made of massive stone slabs up to 2.5 meters long and up to 1.3 meters wide. D.L., who studied it in 1969 Talis believed that it was part of a monumental religious complex.

) we looked at the previous two days. And for today we planned smaller objects (we also need to catch the train in the evening!), but they turned out to be no less spectacular.

Located very close to Bakhchisarai. For example, from Chufut-Kale there is a walking trail connecting these two cave cities. But since we are by car, we are driving along the valley of the Kacha River on the road to Verkhorechye. Here on the left the ship Kachi-Kalyon looms over us. But we will return here on the way back. We pass Mashino and soon turn onto a dirt road that goes between fields to the left. After driving for a few minutes, we already see it - the majestic Tepe-Kermen.

Turn after turn, closer and closer, and now we have already entered the forest at the foot of the mountain. From here, along its northern slope there is the only road leading to the top. Leaving our four-wheeled friend in the shade under a pine tree, along a well-trodden (even rolled) road, inhaling the morning aroma of the forest, we begin the climb to Tepe-Kermen. The colors of autumn landscapes set the mood for contemplative admiration of this world...

But after about fifteen minutes of walking, the tracks from the cars go to the side, and the road turns into a path that rises sharply. And then our legs suddenly became stone - sore throat! They reminded us that yesterday they stormed Mangup in exactly the same way. The next twenty minutes seemed like an eternity: “It’s not far from the house, but you can’t get there!”

But the path ends at the first caves.

In total there are about 250 caves on Tepe-Kermen. There are many large caves, two floors high. They are located in several tiers along the perimeter of the plateau. The purpose of the caves is mainly economic: sheds for livestock, rooms for utensils and food, a few caves of a defensive nature and a few of a religious nature.

Tepe-Kermen, unlike Mangup and Eski-Kermen, has been little studied. It has been determined that people lived here from approximately the 6th to the 13th centuries. But still, much about this place is said with a question mark. Was Tepe-Kermen part of the Byzantine fortification system? Was this a military fortification or just a residential settlement? How did people live here if there is no water on the mountain and a well has not yet been found? Why active life stopped here is also only a matter of speculation...

Well, we begin to go around the plateau, gradually climbing in a spiral to its top. Since the area of ​​Tepe-Kermen is several times smaller than Eski-Kermen, and even more so Mangup-Kale, our exploration of the city took no more than an hour.
Here is a very beautiful cave, multi-room with steps to the second floor.

Having climbed to the top of the plateau, we enjoy the space.

Here is another attraction of Tepe-Kerman - the so-called cave “church with a baptistery”. It has a well-preserved altar part, supported by several columns.

The uniqueness of this church is also in the transverse arrangement of the nave.

There is also a baptismal font and several ossuaries in the room. The sizes of the ossuaries found here in large numbers are very small - a meter and a half. It is impossible to bury a person in them. The guide told us that according to the traditions of that time, the deceased were buried in traditional graves, and after a while their remains were transferred to ossuaries carved into stones.
And not far from the cave church there is a stone with a cross. Perhaps he's from here.

At the top, the foundations of a large estate (possibly a local feudal lord - the medieval owner of Tepe-Kermen) were found. But now the entire plateau is overgrown with thorny thorn bushes. Finally, we found out what kind of thorn bush it is, where Brother Rabbit didn’t want to end up. Sloe berries are edible, slightly sour-tart, with a large seed.

Another boulder hung on one of the ledges, waiting for free flight. It looks like there used to be a church here too.

It's good at the top, but there's still more to come