Fortress Kerch is probably the most underestimated Crimean landmark. The fortification was erected 4 km south of the city on the Ak-Burun and Pavlovsky capes, as well as the adjacent environs. The total territory of the fortress was 400 hectares, the garrison provided for the accommodation of five thousand people, and the number of structures and buildings exceeded three hundred. Kilometers of underground passages, hundreds of casemates. The fortress of Kerch was built in 1857-1877 by order of Alexander II, who thus wished to strengthen the borders of the Russian Empire on the Black Sea, which became vulnerable after the defeat in the Crimean War.
Instructions
Step 1
The main author of the fortress project was an outstanding Russian engineer, founder of the Russian fortification school, hero of the Sevastopol defense, Adjutant General E. I. Totleben. Appreciating the genius, power and reliability of the erected fortification, Alexander II ordered to call it "Fort Totleben". In a turbulent time, when many of the country's military achievements of past years on the approaches to the sea could have been lost, for Russia it became the only support of the state in the Black Sea. Together with Kronstadt, the emperor considered the Kerch fortress as one of the two most important outposts of the state at the outlets to the seas.
Step 2
Fortifications, almost imperceptible from the sea, completely controlled the entrance to the Sea of Azov. The fortress was designed so that not a single enemy ship could pass under the fire of its 587 cannons, any ship that would try to enter the Sea of Azov would invariably come under fire. From the shore, the military engineering structure looks like a large hill - a kind of pyramid growing out of the ground. The fort was specially built so that it could not be seen either from land or from the sea. The fortress is almost invisible even from above, from the air. Some even call it underground, although most of the object is ground structures, just after construction they were covered with a multi-meter layer of earth. It was assumed that the fortress would bring down fire from 587 guns - cannons, mortars and howitzers - on the enemy who had approached the Kerch Strait.
Step 3
Despite the fact that she failed to take full part in hostilities and fully show herself in the defense of the borders of our Motherland, she is an important witness to the tragic events of the Civil and Great Patriotic War. During the Soviet era, the fortress was undeservedly forgotten and was rarely considered a historical monument. Only after the transfer of its territory to the jurisdiction of the museum-reserve, a grandiose complex of aboveground and underground structures appeared before researchers and visitors.
