Yevpatoriya
Yevpatoriya is situated on the Black Sea Coast of the Western Crimea. It is a city-monument of many historical epochs. Yevpatoriya is a cultural center of the Western Crime and the children’s resort.
In the 5th century BC ancient Greeks founded Kerkinitida near a bay and salt lakes. In the 15th century the Turks consolidated their position in the place by building a town fortified with walls and towers, which they called Ghezlev (known in Russian as Kozlov). In 1784 after the annexation of Crimea the town got the name of Yevpatoriya in memory of the ancient town named after the Tsar of Pontus Mithridates VI Eupator.
The town began to grow as a trade port and a resort at the end of 19th century. It has now turned into a major resort centre. In Yevpatoriya there are many monuments of history and architecture. The Djuma-Djami Mosque in Yevpatoria is a unique architectural landmark of the medieval Crimea. The mosque was of great state significance, it was here that a ceremony of the declaration of rights of the Crimean Khans was held at their enthronement. Only after that they went to their capital, the city of Bakhchisaray.
After the annexation of Crimea by Russia Yevpatoriya became a residence of the spiritual ruler of the Karaites, the Gakhan. In this connection here a complex of two praying houses was built in which forms of the Renaissance and Moslem architecture mixed in a most unusual manner. The ensemble organically incorporates three courtyards. The entrance to it is marked by the gates, built in 1900, which look like a refined triumphal arch.
In the central square of Yevpatoriya there is the monumental building of the city theatre. The building was constructed in 1908–1910 by the architects A. Henrich and P. Seferov. The facades were executed in the spirit of a modernized classical style. The auditorium with a seating capacity of 800 has good acoustics.
In Yevpatoriya there is the monument to the Seamen of the amphibious force operation of January 5, 1942.
In the Theatre Square there is the monument to Hero of the Soviet Union N. A. Tokarev (1907–1944) who fell in action on January 31, 1944. He became a pilot of the Kacha pilot school near Sevastopol in 1932. The pilots and seamen of Sevastopol died the death of Heroes for Yevpatoriya, which was liberated on April 13, 1944.
In Yevpatoriya there is the Temple of the Sainted Hierarch St. Nicolas the Miracle-Worker, built in the Byzantine style, and St. Glorious Prophet Elijah Temple, where there is the saint’s icon, on the glass of which there have appeared the contours, reproducing the Glorious Prophet’s image on the icon.
