On the edge of the 40-meter high Aurora cliff, overhanging the sea, perched a miniature snow-white building called the Swallow's Nest. This monument of architecture and history, immortalized on the coat of arms of the village of Gaspra, is rightfully considered a symbol of the South Coast of Crimea.
Short description
The swallow's nest, built in a pseudo-Gothic style, resembles a knight's castle. Battlements with lancet windows rise with ledges to the top of the entire structure, a round three-tiered tower with spiers.
The interior decoration of the "Swallow's Nest" cannot be called luxurious, there are no decorations here, except for ancient fireplaces and ebony beams with supports in the form of frogs. The dimensions of the castle are not large: width - 10 meters, length - 20 meters and height - 12 meters, but it impresses with its favorable location - between the sea and the sky.
Love nest of Aurora and Poseidon
There is a romantic legend about this castle: the lord of the sea, Poseidon, fell in love with the goddess of the morning dawn, Aurora, but his passion was not mutual. The god of the sea planned to bewitch Aurora with a magic diadem.
He resorted to a trick, persuading the lord of the winds Aeolus to obscure the sky with black clouds so that Aurora could not brighten the morning with a wonderful dawn. The lady of the dawn fell asleep in agonizing anticipation, and Poseidon crept up to her with a magic diadem in his hands, but dropped the crown into the crevice. The clouds cleared away, and Aurora lit up the sky with rays. One of the rays flashed into the gorge where the fragments of Poseidon's crown rested, and, lit up with a bright light, turned into a beautiful castle.
A Brief History of the Swallow's Nest
The first wooden structure on the ledge of the cape appeared at the end of the 19th century, when a retired general who participated in the Russian-Turkish war was granted land in the Crimea, and he built a country house here. The second owner of the estate was the court physician and zemstvo vowel A. K. Tobin.
After his death, the widow sold the estate to the Moscow merchant Rachmanina. Own The Swallow's Nest acquired its modern look thanks to the German oil industrialist and Baron Rudolf von Stengel.
On the site of a wooden house, he erected a stone structure, taking medieval castles as an example. Of Germany... To implement his plan, the Baron invited the talented Soviet architect L. V. Sherwood, the son of the famous V. I. Sherwood, who designed the building of the Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow. At the beginning of the First World War, Stengel prudently sold the estate to the merchant Shelaputin. In Soviet times, the Swallow's Nest housed the reading room of the Zhemchuzhina holiday home.
The earthquake of 1927 spared the castle, it almost did not suffer, except for the torn off spiers and the collapsed lower balcony. During the reconstruction, the building was surrounded by anti-seismic belts.
Swallow's nest - a source of inspiration
For the past twenty years, there has been an Italian restaurant within the walls of the castle. Hot drinks and magnificent landscapes inspired the visitors to feats - jumping into the sea from the "nest". In 2011, the Crimean authorities closed the restaurant and placed exhibition halls in the building. The exposition includes lithographs, drawings and prints telling about the history of the South Coast of Crimea. In September 2011, an international championship in cliff diving - acrobatic diving was held on the Swallow's Nest rock.
The romantic castle was recognized by the organizers as an ideal backdrop for spectacular stunts. People who are not involved in extreme sports can go up to the observation deck and enjoy the enchanting views of Yalta and the Yalta Bay.
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