<펌> Syuyren Fortress (Crimea)

Syuyren' fortress This fortress is located on the outskirts of Malosadovoye village. It existed from the Early Middle Ages (presumably from the 8th century) till the Ottoman annexation of the Crimea in 1475. Today one may ascend the plateau with ruins of two-story defensive tower and wall, which cuts a promontory named Kule-Burun (Tartar for "fortress promontory") with the fortress off the main hill. To the right from the tower was arched gateway in the wall, to the left was a wicket. The tower was about 8 m in diameter and about 10 m high. Its second floor houses a chapel, of which remained doming with fragments of the 13th - 14th centuries fresco wall-paintings. Square sockets for beams indicate that there was wooden floor in between of two stories. 1978 excavation of this site uncovered remains of stone houses, household pottery, and pithoi, or barrels for wine and grain. Several presses for crushing grapes preserved under the north-east steep of the cliff where the fortress stood. © T. Yashaeva