Sudak

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Shortened history of the castle:

The Fortress was built by the Genoese after their troops seized the town in 1365. The Genoese and the Venetians competed for a lucrative trade in slaves and spices, taking slaves from eastern europe via Crimea to Egypt and buying spices, silk and linen there brought in by traders from India and Ceylan.

At this time Sudak had a population of over 10,000, consisting of Turks, Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Tatars, Italians and others. The town was under control of the Tatar Khans, who extracted often severe taxes from the town when they were not occupied fighting eachother.

Sudak remained in Genoese hands for just over 100 years, but in 1475 their fortress was not strong enough to withstand the onslaught of the Ottoman Turkish invasion of Crimea. The Genoese lost control of all their towns in the region and never regained them. The focus of trade shifted to Kaffa, Sudak went into decline and the fortress fell into disuse until the mid-eighteenth century, when imperial Russia invaded to take Crimea from the Turks. In 1771 Russian forces took over the fortress, and a garrison was stationed there until 1816.

During the Soviet era the fortress was restored and is open to the public.

Opening times and additional information:

Visiting the fortress is free.
Watch out because this area is quite steep and rocky.

One particular building of the fortress remains in the Dome Tower. When the Genoese seized the town in 1365, it was under construction as a mosque, and the Genoese completed it, but turned it into a Catholic church. A century later the invading Turks turned it back into a mosque. During the time of the Russian garrison it was used as an Orthodox church, and from 1883 it became a chapel of the Armenian Catholic church. After the revolution it was turned into a museum by the Soviet government, which is what it is today.