- Type
- Fortress
- Origins
- 3rd century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine
- Coordinates
- 44.5931°, 33.8014°
History
The Mangup plateau, ringed by sheer cliffs, was already inhabited in late antiquity, and in the 6th century the Byzantines probably gave it its first walls. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was the capital of the Orthodox Principality of Theodoro, ruled by a dynasty of Greek and Byzantine-Armenian descent. In 1475 Ottoman troops under Gedik Ahmed Pasha took the town after a siege of several months and carried its rulers off to Istanbul. The Ottomans kept a garrison here until the 18th century, and a Karaite community also lived on the plateau. After Russia annexed Crimea in 1783 the site was abandoned.
What to see
A footpath climbs to the plateau from the valley, and at the top you can see stretches of the defensive walls, the ruins of a 15th-century citadel, the foundations of a basilica and dozens of rooms carved into the rock. An old Karaite cemetery lies on the slope. The cliff edges command wide views over the valleys and ridges of the Crimean Mountains.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q988400
Popularity: articles about this site in 37 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).