Choban-Kule - the ruins of a castle on a picturesque cape near Sudak. Choban-Kule - medieval tower in Crimea
The south-east of Taurida is hidden among the seaside cliffs and mouths of small rivers. And the region of Sudak is generally a curious in shape and relief coast in the Crimea. Cape Choban-Kule is the most unique in this regard. Photos and reviews of tourists say that it looks like a tower - that's why the Crimean Tatars called it "the fortress of the shepherds." At its top, the ruins of an ancient bastion are also really preserved. In addition to shepherds, artisans lived here - the remains of their necessary products are found everywhere.
Where is the cape located in Crimea?
The ledge of the seashore in question is part of the Sudak urban district, the territory between and the mouth of the Uskut River. downstream the last in the coastal part is a conditional administrative border with Bolshaya.
Choban-Kule on the map of Crimea
History of life on the Cape
Do not be deceived by the translation of this toponym - Choban-Kule was built not by local shepherds, but by Genoese merchants. The conversation is about the brothers di Guasco, who appeared near Soldaya (present-day Sudak) in the 15th century. A small castle built of raw bricks was called Tasili. Rumors reached the ears of medieval chroniclers about the violent temper of these provocative Italians.
In fact, they fought with neighboring rulers (Crimean Tatars, Greeks and other Genoese) for land, livestock and slaves. As for the slaves, everything is very understandable - locals were valued by the craftsmanship of making ceramics (round-bottomed ovoid amphoras, pithoi and flasks). Archaeologists have found dozens of remains of pottery kilns and thousands of fragments of various dishes.
This center of crafts goes back to the 8th century - the time of the settlement of multinational artels of artisans. The products of the potters briskly dispersed to Byzantine shops and bazaars. The last section of the ascent to the remnant of the citadel is not particularly convenient. For this reason, the cape was called Agira (“heavy”) in the old days. Today, it is safer to go to the tower a little bypass - through a gently sloping pine grove.
Features of visiting the tract with a tower
It is clearly visible on the map - in the east, the cape occupies the space from the place where R-29 turns sharply to the northwest. Therefore, to this historical "reserve" you need to start after crossing a rivulet, barely perceptible in the thickets. Travelers move along a quite tolerable road. On their way, they will cross a slope with a vineyard and a small grove located a little further, located, as it were, on the steps.
Below there will be, on the one hand, a small wasteland, on the other, several paths leading directly to the sea. Fans of local history at this point usually turn west - to the fort "Shepherd's Fortress" (Tasili). There is still quite a bit left of its largest donjon - 10 m. Di Guasco detachments from here went on robbery raids on many farms of the Soldai community.
In the above location, many human bones with obvious signs of damage were found. The tower and its surroundings are officially recognized historical monument. The complex is protected by the state. 
There is also a campsite on the local seaside patch, which is well known to all and many seasoned tourists. Car wanderers come here with trailers.
The coast is more large-pebbled, and in some places it is frankly rocky. There is no flat strip here even near the sea. Walking on the beach without shoes is not recommended. Previously, a tunnel led directly from the water to the castle of the di Guasco brothers. They say that it was blown up in the middle of the 20th century ... It should be borne in mind that Cape Choban-Kule is a wild beach. Here you can not worry about crowding or appearance her bathing suit, as well as her lack of clothes at all.
Under the eastern sole of the sights of Sudak, a stream of the same name runs. It flows into the sea just at the campsite. From the latter to the village of Morskoye, where you can replenish supplies, go 4.5 km along the coast (meaning the path to the bus station). There are almost the same amount of climbs along the shtetl road and the highway.
How to get to Choban-Kul?
It is easy to reach the described object. The road to the cape starts from R-29, after the first river bridge after the Marine bus station. You have to walk 450 m to the coastal slope of the cape. To the Choban-Kule tower - another 300 m of a winding dirt road running up.
For better orientation, we also offer a route on the map that will help you get to Choban-Kul:
Note to the tourist
- Address: Morskoye village, Sudak city district, Crimea, Russia.
- Coordinates: 44.811296, 34.746083.
The cape and the Choban-Kule tower in Crimea are interesting as a hidden place for swimming and a quiet tent camp, as a space with many historical sights and as a low observation platform. The picturesque landscape lying around and the clear azure sea are attractive. Near them you can find the ruins of underground passages and ancient wells of the 8th-15th centuries. Not far from the castle, enthusiasts built a small copy of rubble stone. Against its background, you will get excellent shots for a memorable photo collection. However, sometimes not so masterpieces of land art are also made here.
History has preserved the true names of the owners of the castle, the date of construction and other points. The correspondence of the Sudak consul with the metropolis has also been preserved. From this correspondence, we learn a lot about the history of these places, including the events associated with the owners of the castle, the Guasco brothers. These documents are stored in the museum, in Morskoy.
According to some reports (also confirmed by local residents) there was a passage from the tower to the foot of the cape, which was blown up in the middle of the twentieth century.
There was also an opinion that a military facility was located here, as evidenced by powerful cables near the cape. In fact, these cables were attached to a buoy, which at one time was torn off during a storm.
From Choban-Kule you can see Meganom, Chekan-Kaya, Ai-Foka - on the left, and a ridge of beautiful mountain ranges ending with Ayu-Dag - on the right. If you go around the field at the foot of the cape, you can see a wine storage built at the beginning of the century.
The tower of the Choban-Kule castle depicted on the coat of arms of the Morskoye village.
surrounding area
Leaving the Alushta Valley and moving further east, we are already leaving the “officially recognized” Southern coast of Crimea. The landscape is changing, the Demerdzhi and Tyrke mountain ranges, the vast gloomy highlands of Karabi are moving north of the highway, giving way to low foothill ridges and ridges separated from each other by deep ravines - channels of drying watercourses. It is clearly no longer subtropics here, the vegetation is depleting, evergreen Mediterranean species are disappearing. Settlements located much less often, between them there are several kilometers of completely pristine landscapes. Since ancient times, life here has been tied to the valleys of small rivers Ulu-Uzen, Kuru-Uzen, Kanaki and others.
Circling through the hills, now approaching the sea, then moving away, the road even manages to get fed up. Fifty kilometers from Alushta, passing the turn to the village of Privetnoye (former Uskut) and not reaching 5 kilometers to the village of Morskoye (former Kapsikhor), we overcome another low pass and turn again to the seashore. From here you can see Cape Tower, also known as Agira and Choban-Kule. The ruins of an imposing round tower at its eastern tip immediately attract attention. This is the Choban-Kule castle. Having turned onto the dirt road leading to the sea, and then onto the path, it is not difficult to climb to the foot of the tower.
Description of the fortress
The fortification consisted of the castle itself - the donjon tower and the walls surrounding it with corner towers and the lower courtyard adjoining it extended to the southeast, also surrounded by a massive wall, but not built so thoroughly, on clay. From the monumental donjon, the basement, first and partially second ground floors have been preserved. Now the height of the tower reaches nine meters, it must be assumed that it was at least three or four meters higher. In plan, it is rather ovoid rather than round; even more surprisingly, the thickness of its walls varies from less than two meters in the south to more than four meters in the northeast. In the basement of the tower there was a vaulted water cistern and a utility room. The walls of the first floor are completely blank, apparently, the room had a warehouse purpose. The remains of the entrance opening are visible only on the second floor; here, an embrasure and a fireplace have been preserved. Interfloor ceilings were made of wood, and the vault last floor, judging by the materials of the 19th century, had a domed ceiling similar to that preserved in the donjon of the Cembalo fortress.
Donjon Choban-Kule was surrounded by the perimeter of the fortress walls. Excavations fifteen years ago uncovered the eastern curtain wall, two corner towers and partly the northern curtain wall. Round corner towers against the background of the donjon do not give the impression of monumental buildings, their diameter did not even reach four meters. The defensive walls also did not differ in special power - a meter and a half. The corner turrets had loopholes for foot fighting with the possibility of firing along the walls. In general, the castle is being reconstructed as a square fortification with four towers at the corners and a massive donjon in the center of the fortification. The lower courtyard adjoined the castle - the lord's dwelling - where the servants lived and outbuildings were located.
History of the fortress
According to successfully complementing each other evidence of surviving documents and excavation materials, it is known that he was given a short century, maximum between 1460 and 1475. But thanks to the same documents, we can tell something about its owners. In the XIV-XV centuries, the Choban-Kule district was part of the Genoese possessions and was the western outskirts of the Sudak consulate. The old names of nearby villages are repeatedly mentioned in medieval documents Skuti - Uskut (now Privetnoye), Sili - Shelen (now Gromovka), Karpaty - Arpat (now Zelenogorie), Volli (now Raven). The local settlement was known as Tassili.
Often in the colony from Genoa there were characters, on the one hand, of an active mode of action, and on the other, of a scandalous disposition. They continued to muddy the waters here as well. On the eve of the Turkish invasion, the Sudak consulate became the scene of a rather vulgar conflict. Its details are known from surviving correspondence. A certain family of di Guasco entered into a frank confrontation with the consul himself. Let us note that the consul of Soldaia, the venerable Christoforo di Negro, judging by the documents, appears as an example of the responsibility of an administrator and the valor of a knight, although somewhat boring in his complaints. In general, he remains a very sympathetic character of that unsympathetic era.
Probably Antonio di Guasco Sr., the founder of the Seignory of Tassili, showed up here in the late 1450s. In any case, by 1474, the locals who had been beaten by him still perfectly remembered the times when there was still no smell of a newly-made master here. How he got control of this area remains a dark question. He began to build a castle under the pretext of protection from the increasing attacks of Turkish pirates. According to the authorities, the fortress was also designed to restrain the rulers of Theodoro in their appetites for the outlying possessions of the Sudak consulate. In 1474, Antonio di Guasco appears as the head of a family clan with three adult sons - Andreolo, Teodoro and Demetrio.
So, papa di Guasco, with his three scumbags, openly encroached on the powers of the consul, made a gang of forty people, appropriated the right to the judiciary, began to extort taxes and fines from the inhabitants of the surrounding villages in his favor, beat the guards sent to exhort him by the consul of Sudak. By the way, di Guasco did not differ in gentleness towards the villagers, and if they erected a gallows at the village of Scuti, then, presumably, it was not empty. It got to the point that di Guasco burned down several sheepfolds of the mentioned Derbiberdi, the ruler of Alushta, a vassal of the Mangup princes, and this was already an interstate border incident with unpredictable consequences. More precisely, on the contrary, with very predictable ones: the victim hinted to the Genoese authorities that, of course, he would wait for damages, and if he didn’t wait, he would put it on the counter and sort it out by concepts.
Going on their predatory attacks, di Guasco did not even leave guards in the castle, about which the Sudak consul wrote to the Caffinian consul di Cabella, complaining that he could not rein in these scoundrels and always felt the danger that the castle would be captured either by Theodorites, or, God save , Turks.
At the same time, the owners of the castle, naturally, did not want to feed the soldiers, whom he could send as a permanent garrison. Somehow, the di Guascos took to their castle a state-owned bombard, so necessary in Sudak itself, and were in no hurry to return it. To this were added the repeatedly witnessed facts of giving bribes to Sudak and Caffa officials and constant intrigues against the consul himself. In general, the episodes of the case were enough for all four of them for a good time with the confiscation of the castle. The most piquant thing is that the consul of Caffa took the side of di Guasco and the consul of Sudak remained unsatisfied in his rights.
It is assumed that in the construction of the castle in 1473, a professional fortifier Antonio de Bonino, sent from Genoa to inspect local fortifications, could participate or, at least, give valuable recommendations that contributed to the improvement of its defensive qualities. Researchers believe that during the construction of Choban-Kule, opposition to artillery fire was already taken into account, and the castle itself was already explicitly adapted to the use of early models of firearms. This is evidenced by the plan of the castle itself, which is very typical for the European fortification construction of the 15th-16th centuries. The walls of the donjon are significantly thickened in the direction of possible shelling. The corner towers were probably made squat, flush with the outer walls. The rock foundation of the fortress site contributed to the stability of the structures. Its outer walls are almost a quarter of the height - cladding of a rocky monolith. They tried to bring the combat move along the wall on the same level and achieve safety of movement along the entire perimeter of the fortifications. The loopholes of the foot battle could well have been used for firing from a sarbatan - a primitive sample of hand firearms. During the excavations, the tips of crossbow arrows, metal plates of armor, stone ballista ballistics were found. The discovery of several cores, obviously not intended for throwing machines, makes us recall the episode with the Sudak bombard known from documents. But until the fateful summer of 1475, the castle in Tassili, apparently, was never fully completed. It was not for nothing that Christophero di Negro was worried about this, accusing the owners of the castle of stubbornness and laziness, who had not turned it into a full-fledged fortress, useful on the troubled western border of the consulate.
There is reason to believe that during the Turkish invasion, di Guasco did not take much care to protect the fortification, which, however, in those circumstances was a completely hopeless matter, and, without waiting for the enemy to approach, they left it.
Archaeological evidence of the total destruction of the fortress is absent; a single tip of a Turkish arrow was found, which stuck into stone block combat parapet of the tower. After the Ottoman pogrom, one of the younger di Guasco survived, who managed to get out of the peninsula captured by the Turks. Later, he showed up at the royal court in Poland and tried to enlist the support of Khan Mengli Giray in order to start an anti-Turkish rebellion in the Crimea. The notorious adventure did not find supporters, and on this the traces of the last representative of the scandalous family are lost.
How to get there?
The fortification of Choban-Kule is located on Cape Tower, between the turn to the village of Privetnoye and the village of Morskoy. You can get to it by regular bus Alushta - Sudak.
Four kilometers to the south-west of the village of Morskoy there is a steep, steep Cape Agir. Several campsites and tent camps located at the foot. The top of the cape is crowned with the ruins of the medieval Shepherd's Tower of Choban-Kule. Some sources claim that the first fortifications were built on the cape by the Byzantines two thousand years ago. However, first things first.
Photos from users:
Useful information:
- The tower is clearly visible from Cape Ai-Fok, the village of Morskoye and coastal campsites near Privetnoye. The height of the remains is 9-10 meters.
- Researchers believe that the construction of the castle took place in the middle of the 15th century.
Medieval manners and customs
The tower became famous during the time of the Genoese owners, dad and three brothers di Guasco (their names were Andreollo, Dimitri, Teodoro). In the middle of the 15th century, they captured the surrounding villages of Tassili and Gromovka and established extremely cruel orders. To intimidate the inhabitants, a gallows was placed in the center of Privetnoye, and a pillory was placed on the border of the property. Even the Consul of Sudak could not calm the brothers down. The confrontation was resolved in the hot July 1475: the Turks captured the coast and the cruelty of the former owners was quickly forgotten.
The appearance of the building in the Middle Ages
The castle had a square shape and was small in area. In the center stood the donjon, the tower in which the di Guasco brothers lived. It is built from massive boulders brought from the seashore and pieces of rock. Fortress walls with loopholes at the corners stretched along the outer perimeter. The thickness of the walls was from 2 to 4 meters, outbuildings made of clay were molded to them from the inside. In the western part stood a small temple. From the castle, an underground chord led to the foot of Cape Aghir.
Video review Choban kule
Choban-Kule tower today
Now you can get inside the tower from the southwest side. The basement, first and partially second floor are well preserved. Inside, you can see a niche in the wall (archaeologists speculate about its purpose). In the basement there is a pool for collecting fresh water and business premises. The blank walls of the first floor suggest that there were storage rooms here. Living rooms were higher, on the level of the second floor a fireplace and an embrasure were well preserved.
What to visit in the area
In the village of Morskoe there is a branch of the museum. Here are kept original documents that shed light on the history of the fortress. The correspondence of the Sudak consul Soldaya, the venerable Christoforo di Negro, with the metropolis is interesting. It contains complaints about the scandalous temper and tyranny of the di Guasco brothers, their unwillingness to obey the Sudak community. According to this meager information, one can imagine part of the events of that harsh era.
You can stop overnight in neighboring villages, put up a tent at the Privetnoe campsite or the Livecamp tent camp.
How to get to Choban-Kule and Cape Agir
On the regular bus Alushta-Sudak, you need to get to the stop. It is located between the villages of Privetnoe and Morskoe. Then you will have to walk a couple of kilometers along a dirt road to Cape Agir. The tower will be visible from afar.
With your own car, the route is similar, only you can drive almost to the tower itself.
Choban-Kule on the map of Crimea
GPS Coordinates: 44°48’40″N 34°44’45″E Latitude/Longitude
On the way, in the navigator we saw a marked landmark - the Choban-Kule tower. We read that it offers gorgeous views, a kind of observation deck. We decided to see this for ourselves and hit the road.
Choban-Kule. History reference.
Choban-Kule is translated as "shepherd's tower". There is a variant of the name Choban-Kale, which means a shepherd's fortress. It is generally accepted that the Choban-Kule tower belongs to the complex of towers left from the Tasili fortress, which belonged to the Genoese feudal lords - the brothers of Guasco. The tower is built from massive stones and pieces of rock. The walls are up to three meters thick. Height today is about ten meters.
In the nineteenth century, there was a large pottery center near Choban-Kul. This is evidenced by a large number of fragments of burnt clay and ceramics left near the furnaces. Manufactured dishes dispersed throughout Taurica and beyond.
After the Tatar Khan recognized himself as a vassal of the Turkish Sultan, the right of the Genoese granted by the Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh ceased to be valid. The lands and wealth of the Genoese in the Crimea were declared the property of the Sultan. The Guasco brothers decided to fight, hoping for the height of the walls of their fortress, but after a long siege they were forced to surrender.
Choban-Kule. Overview.
On the way from the Morskoye village, we turned onto a country road towards the sea. We drove past an abandoned well. We saw a small forest where people stood with tents. They brought it into the navigator as a place for camping. We drove a little further quiet place parked the car and got ready for the ascent to Choban-Kul. A horse blocked our way.
Then we saw another one:
Here they are together:
After talking with the animals, we went on the ascent. A quite good road also leads to Choban-Kul, the minus is that it makes the path longer straight. We decided to climb straight, the Choban-Kule tower itself was a landmark. Barely visible from below. The path was uphill, it's good that we rested the previous two days. Do not forget to turn around in order to admire the views:
We mastered the path with one respite. Although the height is not very high, but the joy of achieving the goal was still there, here in all its glory Choban-Kul:
According to the Slavic custom, everyone wants to leave a memory of himself and write his name or the name of the city on an ancient structure:
The views are really amazing:
It's time to climb the tower itself:
Let's take a picture from another angle:
An interesting moment, being near Choban-Kule, a shepherd's tower, we met a shepherd with a flock of sheep:
After the study, we went downhill to the car.
Choban-Kule. Outcome.
Our morning exercises in the form of an ascent to the Choban-Kul tower came to an end. Climbing will not be a big work and will not take time, but it will give pleasure. Especially since it's close to the highway. Recommended to visit. And in the meantime, we headed for, indescribable beauty awaited us Mountain Lake, surrounded by mountains and hiking through the gorge to the Arpat waterfalls, this will be the next issue! Thank you for your attention, see you soon! Don't forget to watch the video for the best performance and subscribe to channel if you haven't already:
Not far from the village of Marine, the attention of tourists is attracted by the remains of an old tower on a high cliff overlooking the sea. This is the Chaban-Kale tower and a wonderful mountain range called Agira, which are an interesting landmark of the southeastern part of the Crimean peninsula and an excellent place to relax by the sea.
Castle of the Recalcitrant Brothers
The tower is over 600 years old. In the fifteenth century, it was part of the castle built by the Genoese feudal lords, the Guasco brothers. They did not want to depend on the consul of Soldaya, who was in a fortress on the territory of modern Sudak, so they started building their own castle, which they called Tasili. The strained relations between them and the consul are evidenced to this day by the so-called “Case of the Guasco Brothers”, preserved in the archives of Genoa, consisting of twenty-two documents prepared in 1474-1475. The brothers were accused of declaring their independence together with the construction of the castle, ceased to obey the consuls of Soldaya, and committed arbitrariness and lawlessness.
For the castle, a place was chosen on the top of a cliff by the sea, from which a good view opened.
In good weather, the sentinels could observe not only everything that happens in the waters of the bay, near Cape Meganom and next to Mount Ayu-Dag, but also see the ships that sail from the pier of Soldaya. The fortress was built in strict accordance with all the canons of medieval fortification art. The entrance to it in all likelihood was from the northwest. The walls of the fortress towered over steep rocky cliffs, seemed impregnable and instilled fear in those who approached the castle with evil intentions. Inside the castle there were barracks, houses for officers, an arsenal, warehouses and even a church. Heating of residential premises was carried out with the help of fireplaces. From the castle to the foot of the mountain led a secret underground passage. The convenience was added by the presence of a small stream on the mountain, which fully provided the garrison of the fortress with drinking water. The fortress was even equipped with a water pipe made of ceramic pipes. Today you can see the pool for water and a fireplace preserved in the basement of the tower.
Unlike the Genoese fortress of Sudak, the brothers built their castle in the absence of central funding from Genoa, exclusively at their own expense and, as they say, from scratch, in the absence of a base that previously belonged to the Alans, Khazars, Byzantines or Genoese. Therefore, Tasili Castle came out much more modest. Later, during the Tatar rule, the castle was generally rebaptized into the Chaban-Kale fort, which means "shepherd's tower". At the same time, according to archaeologists, the fortifications were quite powerful.
The dilapidated main tower of the donjon has survived to this day - the dominant tower of the castle, with the preserved entrance and small loophole windows, fragments of the fortress wall, a small tunnel and the remains of even more ancient pottery kilns of the eighth-ninth centuries, which are located a little lower towards the sea.
The thickness of the tower wall is about two to three meters, the height is up to ten, and the outer diameter is fourteen meters. The walls are made of practically unworked limestone blocks on a limestone bonding mortar, to which crushed ceramics are added. Sufficiently powerful wooden beams were used as floors. From the northern, eastern and western sides, the fortress was protected by a wall 230 meters long.
It must be said that, on the whole, the Guasco brothers succeeded in carrying out their plan. They established control over part of the flow of wine, grain, and other goods sent from the steppe regions of Crimea to seaports. In addition, pottery was produced here, which was in demand in various cities of the southern coast of Crimea. Evidence of the prosperity of the castle and the residential village that quickly grew near it are numerous amphoras, pithoi, flasks and other pottery items of the Middle Ages.
The path to the tower is not difficult, although it runs along a rather steep mountain slope, so even the most unprepared person for the journey can overcome it. From here, the entire southern coast of Crimea is perfectly visible, starting from Cape Megonom and up to famous mountain Ayu-Dag, and this is a little bit about a hundred kilometers.
The views from here are simply amazing. After all, it is not for nothing that Chaban-Kale is rightfully considered one of the best viewing platforms Crimean peninsula.
Chaban-Kale is often chosen by photographers looking for interesting panoramic views, lovers of historical reconstructions of medieval knight tournaments, newlyweds who want to spend a few days in romantic place on the seashore. In the village itself, you can rent a private house or a room in one of the cottages. Directly in the Chaban-Kale area there is a long spacious beach without a characteristic for large Black Sea resorts overcrowding, a wonderful grove at the foot of the mountain with a large number of pines and thujas, convenient camping. All this makes a trip to the Chaban-Kale tower an exciting walk with the opportunity to spend several days by the sea.
