We welcome you to the ancient city of Chersonesos and would
like to present you this familiarization tour of the medieval exposition in the
National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos! You will have unique opportunity to
get a closer look at the culture of Byzantium, one of the greatest vanished
civilizations.
With the help of this audio guide you can listen
to the whole excursion or get information about the sections of the display
that are most interesting to you. Vitrines and display sections are numbered.
Enter the desired number via the keyboard. You will see the number on the
display. Then press PLAY button. At the end of each story, audio guide will
switch to the new section automatically; you should only press PLAY button to
listen.
It was twenty-five centuries ago when the Creeks
founded their new city of Tauric Chersonesos in this land. For two thousands
years Chersonesos had being a pioneer of the best achievements of Greek and,
later, Byzantine cultures.
It is hard to overestimate the significance of
Byzantium for the history of humankind. It played an outstanding part as the
heir and the custodian of scientific and cultural heritage of antiquity. That
is the reason why Byzantine culture could rightly claim to be called the
"golden bridge" between the ancient and modern history.
Let us remind you that at the peak of its power
the Byzantine Empire included the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Aegean islands,
Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Crete and Cyprus islands, a part of
Mesopotamia and Armenia, some regions in Arabia, and established its
strongholds in Caucasus and in the Crimean Peninsula.
The history of mediaeval Chersonesos from the
fifth to the mid-fifteenth century was in close relation with Byzantium. The
beginning of this complicated and interesting stage in the history of Taurica,
or the Crimea, coincided with the Great Migration period. At the turn of the
fourth and fifth century, the Huns penetrated to the Crimean Peninsula. They
occupied the steppes and destroyed Theodosia. After that, the importance of
Chersonesos increased greatly as the only fortress at the peninsula that
protected the northern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.
Byzantine emperors settled their allies, the
Goths and Alans, at the approaches to Chersonesos. There were fortresses built
on high mountain plateaux as a protection against barbarians. Today they are
referred to as "cave towns"; among them, there are sites named Eski-Kermen and
Mangup-Kale, Chufut-Kale and Kalamita.
The map near the entrance to the hall shows the
location of Byzantine fortresses in the mountains of the south-western part of
the Crimea.
Below the map, there is horizontal vitrine
presenting bronze and silver details of costumes that were worn by Goths and
Alans: various clasps, or fibulae, buckles, earrings, pendants, and bracelets
dated back to the sixth and seventh
centuries.