Cafe where. History of Feodosia. Fortress on the map of Crimea

Kafa: Kafa is the name of the city of Feodosia in the 12th-15th centuries, in Russian sources until the 18th century. see Genoese fortress in Feodosia. Kafa people in Ethiopia Kafa is an ancient Kabardian folk mass dance ... Wikipedia

Name of the city of Feodosia in Crimea, other Russian. Cafe, Skaz. Mom. 49, Afan. Nikit., as well as Shambinago, PM 72 et seq.; Wed Greek Καφᾶς (Const. Bagr., De adm. imp. 53), it. Caffa (XIV century; see Vasmer, Iranier 72). Wed. Arab. tour. kafa skull (Radlov 2, 459) ... Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer

- (Kaffa) the name of the city of Feodosia in Crimea from the 2nd half. 13th century, renamed in 1783 ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

KAFA (Kaffa), the name of the city of Feodosia in Crimea from the 2nd half. 13th century, renamed in 1783 ... encyclopedic Dictionary

I Kafa is an ancient Kabardian folk mass dance. The pace is moderate. Musical time signature is 6/8 or 3/4. Performed in pairs. The dancers are accompanied by a woman on the harmonica. Without interrupting the game, she also joins in the dance. K. begins and... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Cafe- Kefe from the ancient Italian “skull”, the medieval name of Feodosia... Toponymic Dictionary of Crimea

"Kaffa" request is redirected here; see also other meanings. This article should be Wikified. Please format it according to the rules for formatting articles... Wikipedia

Landscapes of the city of Feodosia. Legend: Delta-marine plain ... Wikipedia

Ancient Feodosia fell in the 4th century. AD during the invasion of the Huns. In the centuries that followed, life barely glimmered here. In the XIII-XIV centuries. on the ruins of the ancient city of the Hellenes, a new one arose, called Cafe; for two centuries it was owned by the Genoese.

One of the tragic events in the history of Europe is connected with Kafa - the plague epidemic in 1347-1351. In 1347, a plague broke out among the Golden Horde troops of Dzhenibek, who were laying siege to Kafa, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. Unable to take possession of the fortress, the Tatars, using catapults, began to throw the corpses of the dead over the defensive walls into the city. The disease broke into Cafa, and the Genoese were forced to leave the fortress, fleeing on ships. Where they stopped on the way to Genoa, pockets of a terrible disease arose. The plague claimed 75 million human lives - a quarter of the population of Europe. This epidemic is mentioned in the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

In the Middle Ages, Kafa was the main trading port of the Northern Black Sea region. It was also notorious as the main center of the slave trade in Crimea.

During the heyday of the medieval city, the population was approximately the same as in today's Feodosia - about 70-100 thousand people.

It was a multinational city, distinguished by religious diversity: in the 15th century. there were 17 Catholic churches, 2 monasteries, more than 40 Armenian churches, Orthodox churches, synagogues, and Muslim mosques.

In the summer of 1475, Cafa was captured by the Ottoman Turks. The city was renamed Keffe and became the center of the Crimean province of the Turkish Sultan. Here was the residence of the Sultan's governor in Crimea.

The Turks, who destroyed many buildings during the capture of Kafa, thoroughly rebuilt the city in their own way, decorating it with mosques, minarets, and oriental bathhouse buildings.

Keffe was still the main slave market in Crimea. “Seagulls” of Zaporozhye Cossacks appeared more than once at the walls of Keffe. In 1616, for example, the Cossacks, under the leadership of Hetman Konashevich-Sagaidachny, captured Sinop and Trebizond, and then with a sudden blow destroyed the entire Turkish fleet stationed in the bay and, having taken Keffe by storm, freed several thousand slaves intended for sale into slavery. The Cossacks took possession of the fortress and later rescued their compatriots from captivity.

Although Feodosia itself is incomparably ancient, the Genoese fortress, located on its outskirts, is the oldest historical structure that has survived to this day. Outwardly, it is quite similar to, but they cannot be called twin sisters: the similarity is rather a tribute to the fortification traditions that were dominant at that time, largely progressive in the 14th century, when they were built.

The scale of the Feodosian fort was disproportionately large; it was assigned a much larger role in protecting the borders of the Genoese possessions in the Crimea, which it confidently coped with before the conquest of the peninsula by the Ottoman Turks. And yet it is known to others - it was from here, from Kafa, that in 1347, a plague epidemic called the Black Death entered Europe on Genoese ships and wiped out more than a third of the population on the continent in 4 years.

Where is the Cafe located in Feodosia?

The main structures are located on a hill, on the outskirts in the southern part of the resort city, along Portovaya Street. They rise some distance from the sea, above the coast of the Feodosia Gulf.

Fortress on the map of Crimea

History of origin

In the middle of the 13th century, the merchants of Genoa bought a small Greek town from Berke, khan of the Golden Horde - this was their first possession in Crimea, from where influence soon spread to the entire south-eastern part of the peninsula.

On the site of the polis, which was in complete decline, a colony founded by the Genoese grew, which soon turned into the richest and most prosperous city in the northern part of the Black Sea. This was facilitated by its favorable geographical location, thanks to which Kafa became a kind of bridge between Europe and Asia, where all the wealth of the Caucasus, Horde, Rus' and the Northern Black Sea region flowed.

Along with the volume of trade, the settlement also grew, and in 1320 it became a kind of capital of the Crimean possessions of Genoa. Its population during this period was approximately 70 thousand people, the same number living in London at that time. The influence and power of Kafa was so great that starting from the 14th century, they began to mint their own coins, which circulated far beyond the borders of Taurida.

Naturally, having such wealth, Kafa needed reliable protection, and in 1340 the construction of fortifications began on the shore of the bay, capable of securing the approaches from the sea and land. The construction of the fortification took only 3 years, but it became the largest and most powerful in Europe - the total length of its walls exceeded 5.5 km, and their height reached 11 m with a thickness of 2 m, it had more than 30 towers and about 10 gates.

The tragic fate of the bastion

It’s strange, but throughout its entire existence, some kind of fate seemed to hover over the Genoese fortress in Feodosia. Already two years after its construction, in 1345, the Horde khan Janibek tried to capture Kafa, but he could not take it right away, the new phot became an insurmountable obstacle, and a long, grueling siege began. As a result, both the townspeople and the defenders of the fortress suffered incredible hardships, but the besiegers themselves suffered no less - in the summer of 1346, a plague broke out in their camp.

To force the garrison to surrender, the Tatars began to throw the bodies of dead soldiers behind the fortress walls - the pestilence spread among the besieged. Without waiting for capitulation, the Horde left, but the terrible infection grew into an epidemic, the victims of which were more than half of the inhabitants of Kafa, and soon a significant part of Europe.

In 1475, like Feodosia itself, the Genoese fortress fell under the blows of the Ottoman Empire, the majority of the population was either killed or sold into slavery, and the city itself was destroyed to the ground. During the time of Turkish rule, the largest slave market in Crimea was located here.

The fate of the bastion also affected the Turks, when in 1616 the Cossacks, under the leadership of Hetman Peter Sagaidachny, captured the fortifications and completely exterminated the numerous Ottoman garrison. When Crimea became part of the Russian Empire, the Kafa fortress lost its defensive and strategic significance; it was abandoned, gradually destroyed and stolen for building materials by residents of the growing Feodosia.

Tour of the Genoese fortress

Now the preservation of the medieval fortress in Feodosia leaves much to be desired; by and large, little remains of it. However, it is one of the most interesting places to visit in the resort, as evidenced by the numerous rave reviews from those who have visited it. Romantic ruins have an amazing attractive force that acts on tourists like a magnet.

It's all about the unique spirit of antiquity, like an invisible aura, hovering over the ancient, dilapidated walls of the once powerful Genoese stronghold.
It may seem strange, but it is the current state of the fort that attracts travelers here, fascinated primarily by the fact that during all this time not a single stone has been touched by the tools of restorers. Until today, virtually nothing remains of the outer ring of fortifications, except for individual elements in the form of small sections of the fortress wall and the remains of towers scattered throughout the city limits quite far from each other.

The citadel is much better preserved, especially its southwestern section, represented by a 470 m long wall with completely intact towers of St. Clement and Crisco. This area often appears in numerous photos dedicated to. The bridge leading to the fortification, as well as impressive fragments of the fortress moat, Turkish baths and five 14th-century churches next to it, are well preserved.

How to get to the fortress?

Don’t know how to get to the Genoese fortress of Feodosia? The easiest way is by minibus No. 1, departing from Goncharova Street. You should get off at the stop “Gor. Hospital”, from here to the attraction is about 500 m, a map will not hurt.

By car from the center of Feodosia you can get to the fortress in this way:

Note to tourists

• Address: Portovaya street, Feodosia, Crimea, Russia.
• Coordinates: 45.023089, 35.400766.

In the city of Feodosia, the Genoese fortress of Kafa presents an unforgettable sight: you should not trust the comments where it is called a “sad place.” There are also such, but not many - they are left by people with not the best taste, devoid of an adventurous streak and romantic trends. The most eloquent evidence of the opposite is the status of the fortification, and it, by the way, is a historical reserve! Below is a video about this monument of the past in Feodosia. Enjoy watching!

In the section on the question What city is this?? photo given by the author Abyrvalg the best answer is Feodosia (Crimea)
Feodosia is one of the most ancient cities on the territory of the Russian Empire - USSR - CIS. Moreover, it is one of the most ancient cities in the world.
The city stands in the same place where it was founded by immigrants from Greek Miletus in the 6th century BC.
The name of the city has changed more than once.
Theodosius: The most widely accepted version of the literal translation from the Greek is “given by God.”
The new name of the city Kaffa (or Kafa, in Latin transcription most often Caffa) appears in the works of Byzantine authors. The exact origin of the term is not known.
Beginning in the 1450s, the Black Sea Genoese colonies began to rapidly weaken, which was caused by the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the corresponding restrictions on shipping through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. June 6, 1475 Kaffa fell. The Ottoman Turks became its new owners. Kaffa was renamed Kefe.
The Turks called the city both Kuchuk-Istanbul (“little Istanbul”) and Yarym-Istanbul (“Half-Istanbul”), but these names did not really take root.
Kefe again turned into Feodosia only in 1787, on the eve of Catherine II's trip to Crimea.
Konstantin Fedorovich Bogaevsky
Kaffa (Old Feodosia)

Kafa is a city that has experienced its rise and fall, sheltering representatives of different nations on its land, having a rich history and very beautiful nature. It was originally called Theodosia, references to which can be found in Homer’s poem “The Odyssey”. In different historical periods, the cafe was a center of trade and was repeatedly drowned in blood... The city, like a phoenix, rose from the ashes and was rebuilt in spite of all its enemies. Today Feodosia is a wonderful resort that receives a huge number of tourists.

Ancient history of the city

There is practically no reliable information left about the first settlers of Kafa, only myths and legends. It is known that at the end of the 6th century BC. e. from Miletus they came to the bay. The colonists liked the area, so they stopped here and founded a trading port. Thanks to trade, Kafa grew and became rich in a short time. The city already in the 4th century BC. e. competed with the influential Panticapaeum. Of course, it wasn't without troubles. For several decades, the Bosporan kingdom attacked Feodosia, trying to subjugate it. The city experienced ups and downs, it suffered greatly in the middle of the 4th century AD. e. after the invasion of the Huns. Up to the XII century. the future Kafa lay in ruins.

Settlement of the Genoese

In the 13th century, Kafa came into the possession of merchants from Genoa. Feodosia at that time belonged to the Tatars. The merchants bought a piece of land from them and named it Kafa. They very quickly rebuilt the city, defending it with a powerful fortification with high walls and towers, as well as a huge moat filled with water. The favorable geographical position allowed the Cafe to become a major port; it was here that trade routes leading to the West and East intersected. Merchants transported furs, wheat, jewelry, salt, wax, oriental spices and, of course, slaves. Here was the largest slave market in Crimea.

Life in the Cafe could not be called calm: the Genoese were constantly at war with the Tatars and their competitors - the Venetian merchants. Despite well-planned attacks by enemies, the city survived, rebuilt and continued trading. People of various nationalities lived here: Greeks, Armenians, Russians, Tatars, Jews and others.

War with the Turks

In 1475, Kafa completely passed to the Turks. The city was first devastated, but as soon as the conquerors realized how profitable it could be, they immediately rebuilt it. Kafa continued to be a major trading port; up to four hundred ships could stop here at the same time. The main commodity was slaves. In 1616, an army of Cossacks came here, freed their compatriots from captivity and completely defeated the Turkish fleet. There were also raids in 1628 and 1675.

Joining Russia

In 1783, Kafa passed to the Russians. The city, which had been considered Turkish for three centuries, now belonged to Empress Catherine II and again renamed it Feodosia. From that time on, a period of devastation began. The former great and rich port could no longer recover, the buildings were destroyed, trade with other countries was stopped. The Russians freed the city from duties, but this did little to save it. Only at the end of the 19th century did Feodosia begin to come to life and develop a resort area.

At first, the city suffered from the consequences of the First World War, but then, during the formation of Soviet power, it was no easier. But gradually the former Kafa began to turn into an industrial center. A brick and hydro-lime factory, a meat processing plant, a tobacco and knitting factory appeared here. The city of Feodosia suffered greatly during the Second World War; only in 1944 did people begin to rebuild it little by little.

Modern Feodosia

Today the city is a major cultural and industrial center of Crimea. Feodosia is visited annually by tourists from Asia and Europe, who are attracted by the local health resorts, good beaches, and also very tasty wines.