The Tsar's Mound
Kerch is considered to be one of the most interesting cities of the Crimea. For many years, numerous burial mounds located on the Kerch Peninsula, have attracted there travellers from different countries. The most famous and the best preserved is the Tsar Burial Mound, which was built in the 4th century BC.
The Tsar Burial Mound was discovered during excavations of 1837 in the village of Adzhymushkai, located not far from the city of Kerch. This monument of ancient architecture reminds of the Egyptian tombs and consists of a square burial vault and a corridor of about 36 meters long.
Mathematical calculations, which were used by Greeks for the construction of the burial mound, make it possible to create a visual illusion, so tourists, passing the narrow corridor, have sense of endlessness. It is amazing how stones and slabs of the corridor have been built without any mortar, instead layers of algae and clay used to be deposited on the outwalls in order to avoid damage.
Later, the method, when a burial vault of a square shape leads to a round overhead cover, was also used for Christian religious buildings. During the long history of its existence, the burial vault was repeatedly plundered, however archaeological finds have been excavating in its surroundings still confirm the fact that the tomb was built for Leukon I, a king of the Cimmerian Bosporus Kingdom.
Today this ruined burial vault surprises visitors with its grandeur, as well as a great number of secrets and mysteries of the history. Just a few years ago tourists could see tombstones found on the territory of the Bosporus Kingdom. Then they were carried to the Kerch History and Culture Reserve, located on 7, Sverdlova Street.
The Adzhymushkai Stone Quarries can be seen by you near the Tsar Burial Mound. They are famous due to the fact, in 1942 for five months they have heroically held the line of the Crimean front forces.
St John the Baptist Cathedral is another place of interest, which should be visited by tourists, who go sightseeing through the territory of Kerch. This church, built in the heart of the city, on Tavrychna Square, is a unique monument of Byzantine architecture. According to an ancient legend, St Apostle Andrew has blessed its building thereby starting the construction. Since June 1990 the cathedral has been the part of the Kerch Religious Community as an active Orthodox church.
You can get to the Tsar Burial Mound by minibus № 4 from the bus station of Kerch.
