Alupka
Encyclopedia
Alupka is a resort city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 located in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, situated 17 km (10.6 mi) to the west of Yalta
Yalta
Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...

. It is famous for the Vorontsov's Palace
Vorontsov's Palace (Alupka)
The Vorontsov Palace is an historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea, located in southern Ukraine...

, designed by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 architect Edward Blore
Edward Blore
Edward Blore was a 19th century British landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland ....

 in an extravagant mixture of Scottish baronial and Neo-Moorish styles and built in 1828–1846 for prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov , was a Russian prince and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars, and most famous for his participation in the Caucasian War from 1844 to 1853....

.

Alupka and its surrounding area is full of resort hotels on the shore of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

, where thousands of travelers (particularly from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

) travel every year. Public transport to Alupka can include the bus system (bus routes #26 and #27 from Yalta) and other road vehicles.

Climate

Located in the warm climate of southern Crimea, Alupka has an average temperature of +3-4°С in January–February and an average temperature of +24.6°С in August. The average rainfall in the city is 400 mm per year, the average humidity is about 69%, and the average number of sunlight per year is 2,150 hours. The swimming season streaches from March until October, with an average water temperature of 22–28 °C (71.6–82.4 ).

History

Alupka was first founded as an Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 settlement. The name originates from Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 for Alepu or fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...

. After the Greeks, Alupka came under control of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

. The first written mention of Alupka dates to 960 in a document about the Byzantine Emperor Romanos II
Romanos II
Romanos  II was a Byzantine emperor. He succeeded his father Constantine VII in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died suddenly in 963.-Life:...

. Later on, Alupka was controlled by the Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

. After the Crimean campaigns
Crimean campaigns
Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689 were two military campaigns of the Russian army against the Crimean Khanate. They were a part of the Russo-Turkish War and Russo-Crimean Wars. These were the first Russian forces to come close to Crimea since 1569...

, the city came into possession of Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin
Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favorite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen....

, governor-general
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...

 of the Novorossiya Krai
Novorossiya
Novorossiya is a historic area of lands which established itself solidly after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, but was introduced with the establishment of Novorossiysk Governorate with the capital in Kremenchuk in the mid 18th century. Until that time in both Polish...

. In 1798, the city had a population of 211, consisting mainly of farmers.
At the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Alupka was a famous resort. In the middle of 19th century it was even more popular, than Yalta, mostly because of the work of Governor of NovoRossia - Mikhail Vorontsov, who build here a Palace (or even better say, Castle).

Attractions

Alupka is not only a resort town, but also an important tourist attraction. Major attractions in the city include:
  • Vorontsov's Palace
    Vorontsov's Palace (Alupka)
    The Vorontsov Palace is an historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea, located in southern Ukraine...

  • Vorontsov's Park, located on the grounds of the Vorontsov's Palace
  • Ai-Petri
    Ai-Petri
    Ai-Petri ; is a peak in the Crimean Mountains. For administrative purposes it is in the Yalta municipality of Crimea....

     Mountain

Vorontsovsky Palace and Park

The main attraction of Alupka is the Scottish baronial and Neo-Moorish style Vorontsov's Palace
Vorontsov's Palace (Alupka)
The Vorontsov Palace is an historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea, located in southern Ukraine...

, which was designed by the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 architect Edward Blore
Edward Blore
Edward Blore was a 19th century British landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland ....

 built in 1828-1846 for prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov , was a Russian prince and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars, and most famous for his participation in the Caucasian War from 1844 to 1853....

. During the Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...

, the palace — spared by the Germans during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 — served as the residence of Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 and his English delegation.

A large English-style
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...

 park was designed and built for prince Vorontsov on the territory of the Vorontsov's Palace. The park was constructed from December 1824 to April 1851, and was envisioned, designed, created, and maintained by Chief Botanist of the Southern Shore of the Crimea, Carolus Antonius Keebach.

Ai-Petri Mountain

Alupka is located at the foot of the 1234 meter Ai-Petri (St Peter) Mountain of the Crimean Mountain Chain. Since 1987, a three kilometer gondola lift, one of the longest in Europe and split into two stages, carries passengers to and from the mountain, providing visitors with excellent views of the surrounding area and the Black Sea.

Famous people

  • Amet-Han Sultan
    Amet-Han Sultan
    Amet-khan Sultan was a Soviet fighter and test pilot whose mother was Crimean Tatar and father was an ethnic Lak. Alternative spellings of his name include Ahmed Khan Sultan, Amet-Han Soultan, Ahmet-Han Sultan, Amet-Han Sultan, and Sultan Amet-Han....

     — a Crimean Tatar
    Crimean Tatars
    Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

     fighter and test pilot
  • Evgeni Aldonin
    Evgeni Aldonin
    Evgeni Valerievich Aldonin is an association footballer who plies his trade with CSKA Moscow. The defensive midfielder makes defense his top priority and he is strong in the tackle with a rugged nature. Aldonin started out with SC Rotor Volgograd...

    - a Russian footballer

External links

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