Description of the attraction
"Swallow's Nest" was built on a steep cliff Ai-Todor Cape … The building resembles a medieval knight's castle like the Portuguese Tower of Belem or the Villa Miramare near Trieste, Italy. "Swallow's Nest" has become a kind of emblem of the southern coast of Crimea.
First owners
Estate on Aurora rock has been known since the 70s of the XIX century. We do not know the name of the first owner. According to legend, he was a general, and called his dacha "The Castle of Love". From here, young people with a broken heart jumped into the sea, and he himself amused himself by jumping off a cliff on a horse. Not out of love, but for the sake of excitement.
The first reliable owner of the rock and the structure on it is the Livadian physician Adalbert Karlovich Tobin … After his death in 1902, the dacha passed to his wife, and from her to a certain Rakhmanova, about which no reliable information was found either. Perhaps it was Olga Vladimirovna Rakhmanova, an actress, founder of the School of Performing Arts in Odessa. Other sources call her the "Moscow merchant's wife". The merchants Rakhmanovs really lived in Moscow. The most famous of them - Georgy Karpovich - at the beginning of the 20th century was no longer a merchant, but an assistant professor of the Faculty of History and Philology, and moved in the most cultural circles of Moscow. In Moscow and the Moscow region, several estates and dachas that belonged to the Rakhmanovs have survived, but nothing is known about their Crimean possessions.
One way or another, here, on the rock, by the beginning of the 20th century, there was already a romantic wooden house. It was already called "Swallow's Nest", painted and photographed. A unique color photograph of S. Proskudin-Gorsky, 1904, has survived. Two paintings by the famous artist L. Lagorio (1901 and 1903), depicting this place, have been preserved.
Steingel family
In 1910 the castle passed into the hands of the Steingel family. Genus Barons Steingel appeared in Russia since the 18th century. One of the branches of this family belonged to the Decembrist, a member of the Northern Society - Vladimir Ivanovich Shteingel.
Here again a riddle awaits us. Several Steingels lived in Russia at that time, and several of them are named as the owner of "Swallow's Nest". According to some sources, it was Vladimir Rudolfovich Steingel, the son of a famous railroad builder. Vladimir Rudolfovich was engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, in his Kuban estate he raised sheep and pigs, built a huge distillery equipped with the latest technology. The products of his estate "Khutorok" participated in the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris and received several awards. After the revolution, he managed to emigrate and he died in Paris.
Other, more reliable sources call us Pavel Leonardovich Shteingel, cousin of Vladimir Rudolfovich. He was an oil industrial engineer in Vladikavkaz. We know about him that after the revolution he went to the White Guard, fought and died in exile in France, just like Vladimir Ivanovich. Most likely, it was he who was the owner of the "Swallow's Nest" until 1914, and it was under him that the famous castle was built, which has been admired for several generations.
The Sherwood family
The mysteries continue. We know the name of the architect - Sherwood. This is also a famous family, and also associated with the Decembrists. One of the Sherwoods was the author of the denunciation of the Decembrists, and for this he received an addition to his surname - "Faithful". He immediately became "Bad" among the people, and it was just that the Sherwoods did not often communicate with the Sherwoods-Faithful.
The author of "Swallow's Nest" is often called Vladimir Osipovich Sherwood, the same one who built the Historical Museum in Moscow. He also owns a monument to the heroes of Plevna.
Sometimes the construction of the Crimean castle is attributed to his son Leonid Vladimirovich, who after the revolution became a Soviet sculptor. It is known for the monuments to A. Radishchev and I. Mechkin, the bust of I. Stalin and the book of memoirs "The Sculptor's Way". Another representative of the dynasty of Sherwood architects - Sergey Vladimirovich - became famous mainly for its cathedrals built in the neo-Russian style. For example, he owns the Kazan Cathedral in Shamordino.
Third brother - Vladimir Vladimirovich - was actively involved in the restructuring of Zaryadye, built tenement houses and merchant mansions. He is the author of the building that currently houses the presidential administration.
But, most likely, "Swallow's Nest" belongs Alexander Vladimirovich, the fourth brother. About himself and his other creations, nothing else is known. Even the name did not remain in official documents. We just know a plaque left over from Soviet times on the house. "A. V. Sherwood ". Probably, in those days when the sign was installed, there was more information. All that is known about him is the years of his life: 1869-1919. Judging by the first date, he was the third brother - a sculptor Leonid Vladimirovich younger. And judging by the second date, he most likely died in the revolutionary turmoil.
In any case, we know one thing - in the 1910s, the most famous building of Crimea was built on the rock. The castle was created in the neo-Gothic style, which was fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century. Its closest analogies are the Shekhtel mansion of Savva Morozov, the Bazhenov Vladimir Church in the village of Bykovo or the Apraksins estate in Uspensky. Even in Crimea, the Gothic style was in vogue - this is how the not-preserved Ascension Church in Koreiz was built. The "Swallow's Nest" has everything that distinguishes Gothic architecture: lancet windows, crenellated "castle" walls, and finally a magnificent three-tiered tower topped with spiers. It is completely miniature: only twelve meters in height, ten in width and twenty in length. But its location is so good, and the view from the sea is so advantageous that it seems much more significant.
In 1914 Steingel sells the mansion. Usually the purchase is attributed to no one merchant Shelaputinwho seems to have opened a restaurant here. But this is a confusion - such a merchant really was in the Crimea and really kept a restaurant. But it was not "Swallow's Nest", but "White Swallow" on Ai-Todor.
But here there is a completely reliable Rokhmanova. Information about this was found not so long ago by local ethnographers in the Yalta archives. It was Maria Sergeevna Kyuleva, nee Rokhmanova … It was she who owned the dacha until 1921, until the estate was nationalized.
Under her, the interior was completed (it remained poor, but interesting) and a garden was laid out near the house. Oddly enough, even such a beautiful and original dacha was somewhat similar to our modern ones: the owner did not run electricity, and all the plumbing amenities were not in this building, but in the neighboring one.
Soviet time
In 1921 the estate was nationalized. At this moment, Rokhmanova had not lived there for a long time. The house was abandoned. At one time there was a restaurant here.
From 11 to 12 September 1927 the Crimea suffered a catastrophe: an earthquake happened. Such phenomena on the Black Sea coast are not so rare. But this was unprecedented in the force and scale of the destruction: after all, over the past fifty calm years, the southern coast managed to set up palaces, estates, set up parks and improve the embankments. Knowing this, they tried to build firmly in the Crimea - for example, the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka survived in 1927, but the palace of the Bukhara Emir, in which the Oriental Museum was located, suffered greatly. The Crimea was shaking both in the 19th century and in the 20th: in 1802, in 1838, in 1875, 1908 … The last earthquake hit Yalta in 1919. But the earthquake of 1927 was the most powerful.
On the evening of September 11, the animals became worried. In completely calm weather, the sea swayed. And almost immediately after midnight tremors began. There was panic in Yalta. The dogs howled, the walls of houses collapsed. The sea retreated and again washed over the coast in a destructive wave. The most terrible thing seemed to be the "burning sea": flashes visible for many kilometers and pillars of fire. Until now, researchers do not know the exact reason for this phenomenon - either methane was burning, or hydrogen sulfide, but it looked creepy. In Yalta, two thirds of all buildings were destroyed.
By some miracle, the "Swallow's Nest" survived, but also actually turned into ruins. A deep crack broke the rock, part of it collapsed into the sea. The battlements of the castle collapsed.
The whole world collected money for the restoration of Crimea. Postcards were issued with types of destruction, including "Swallow's Nest". It was rebuilt and set up there sanatorium library … The repair was only enough until the post-war period. Then the building was closed again as an emergency.
The new restoration began in 1967. It was difficult: it is impossible to drive normal construction equipment onto an unstable rock. Still, the castle was almost completely rebuilt. The restoration was supervised by two architectural engineers - Vladimir Timofeev and Irakly Tatiev.
After restoration, an expensive restaurant was reopened here. Already in the 21st century, the restaurant was closed. Now there are exhibition halls.
This is a very complex structure: it is still rather unstable, the rock continues to collapse, so it periodically requires restoration. They renovated it in 2002, and in 2013 they began to strengthen not the castle, but the rock itself.
The temptation to jump into the sea from a height still haunts some people. But now it has been turned into a sport: in 2011, international competitions in acrobatic diving.
Many films have been filmed here. There are shots with the castle in Govorukhin's "Ten Little Indians", in "Myo my Mio" and "The Academy of Mrs. Klyaksa". Somewhere under this rock lived Ichthyander from the "Amphibian Man". In 2011, Yuri Kara filmed his "Hamlet of the XXI Century" here: his Ophelia jumps into the sea from this very cliff.
On a note
- Location: Yalta, Gaspra village, Alupkinskoe highway, 9
- How to get there: by car along the T2703 highway (Sevastopol - Yalta - Simferopol - Feodosia) to the stop "Swallow's Gnezdo". By buses No. 102 and 27 from Yalta. By boat from the Yalta embankment.
- Official website:
- Opening hours: in summer 10: 00-19: 00 seven days a week, in winter 10: 00-16: 00, closed. Monday.
- Tickets: adults: from 50 to 200 rubles, children - from 25 to 100 rubles.
Description added:
Lyuba Mozgovaya 2016-20-03
It is believed that having visited the Swallow's Nest, lonely people will soon find their soul mate.
