KALIMATA - CRIMEA

George Page
Micha Jelisavcic
John Sloan

Here we show some photos of the Feodorite fortress covering access to the seacoast at the head of Sevastopol harbor from our educational visit in summer 1997. It is located on bluff overlooking the mouth of the Tcherniya River and became the site of a Byzantine Orthodox cave monastery. Kalimata was the Greek name. When the region fell to the Ottoman Turks it was renamed Inkerman. Please go here for a discussion with illustrations of Feodoro and its captial on Mangup-kale.

History

The date of the founding of the Kalimata catecomb monastery is in dispute. As one writer noted, when you have many similar archeological sites and only a few fragmentary literary sources it can be difficult to match them. The monastery may have been founded as early as the 5-6th or as late as the 8-9th centuries. It was to be an outpost to help cover the approaches to Chersonesse. The original walls were built of gigantic stones. During the 14th century a new fortress was built by the Feodorite princes on the ruin of the Byzantine installation to stand against the Genoese fortress at Chembalo. The new, small fortress consisted of a curtain wall with five irregularly spaced, two story, rectangular, open towers and a separate tower - along the heights from south to west. It was not monumental, the walls were not more than a meter thick, therefore during warfare the garrison stood on scafolding built at the top, out from the wall. In 1433 the fortress was destroyed by the Genoese, but quickly rebuilt. The same sequence occured at the Genoese fortress at Chembalo. In 1475 the Ottoman Turks took it with all Crimea. They renamed the area Inkerman. In the 16th-17th centuries theTurks modernized the fortress to accomodate artillery. They strengthened the walls and towers and built a new, round bastion. The Turks ruled Inkerman until Crimea became Russian. After Russia took Crimea the fortress lost its importance. Now there remains only towers 1(the gate) - 2 and 4 (Turkish construction), the foundations of towers 3, 5 and 6, and the partial remains of some walls.
The monastery was located in the cliff under the fortress. All levels were man-made. It contained 8 cave churches connected by passage ways and stairs. A stairway leads up into the fortress. Only part of the catecombs and monk's quarters have survived. The Church of St Clement was carved into the stone cliffside in the form of a three apse basilica. The nave was divided by three pairs of columns. The nave ended in a semi-circular vault. The walls were covered with carved high relief and religious frescos. The attached Church of St. Martin stands against the cliff. When visited in 1997 the monastery was again in church control and being rennovated. (See photos)

	Map

Illustrations

	Number	Description
		B/W photo from 19th century
		From bridge on Tcherniya River
		View from path outside the fortress
		Inside castle by entrance tower
		Telephoto from across river
		View up from monastery at base of cliff
		Another view of the monastery and tower above.

For information or to learn about future tours to Crimea please contact Xenophon.