Swallow's Nest - a Symbol of the Crimea

Hanging over the sea, stands on the Aurora rock stunningly beautiful castle. It is a symbol of Crimea - Swallow's Nest. There is an amazing architectural monument in the village of Gaspra, twenty kilometers from Yalta. The castle is really like a swallow's nest: it bravely hovered over the waves, adhering to the very edge of a 40-meter steep rock rising above the coast between Livadia and Miskhor.

The Gothic building attracts countless tourists. Holidaymakers, with bated breath, admire the magnificent views, opening at a dizzying height, capture themselves in the wonderful background of the castle. It seems that the Swallow's Nest exists without a land between the sky and the sea - this is a feeling of incredibility and gives the structure such an attraction.

The history of the castle is intertwined with many legends. Local guides with rapture tell them, and tourists with equal ecstasy listen, glancing with a sinking heart down. However, the real history of the castle Lastochkino nest is also very interesting. For the first time it is mentioned in 1895, so the building by that time already existed. Initially it was a dacha: a wooden one-story house, boldly built on a rocky patch. The name of the creator, unfortunately, did not survive. It is known only that he was a romantic general and called his dacha the Castle of Love (second name - Generalife). Then the owner of the house was the doctor AK Tobin. In the inheritance the dacha passed to his wife, who in 1903 sold it to the merchant Rachmanina. At that time, the name "Swallow's Nest" was fixed behind the structure.

Then the dacha became owned by the German baron von Stengel. He decided to erect a miniature castle in 1912 on the site of the house. So on the Black Sea coast appeared as if transferred from the banks of the Rhine palace, reminiscent of knightly medieval buildings. The construction with a three-tier high tower is amazing. It is so well located on the edge of the rock that you can not even immediately determine its very small size: 10 meters wide, 20 long and 12 high.

When the First World War began, the baron left for Germany, providently selling the building. The new owner - the merchant Shelaputin - re-equipped the Swallow's Nest for a restaurant. Then the castle was nationalized by the Soviet authorities. During the powerful earthquake of 1927, the structure was partially damaged, and after the new earthquake in 1966, it began to sink completely. Because of the danger of collapse, Swallow's nest was closed for visits.

Restoration of the castle began in 1968. The work was difficult, dangerous. It is necessary to have great courage to work on a precipice in a suspended cradle, so only volunteers were involved in the case. The cracks were laid with stones, poured with concrete. We carried a reinforced concrete monolithic slab under the base , surrounded the structure with anti-seismic belts, and then carried out the restoration of the building.

Today this structure is a well-known landmark, a historical monument. Inside the castle there is a restaurant. Around the park is broken, there are two sanatoriums here. The viewing platform opens a magical view of Ayu-Dag, Yalta Bay and Yalta itself. Here is such an amazing place - Swallow's Nest. How to get here? There are several ways: on a minibus, trolley, car or a voyage.