Karaite Kenas in Yevpatoria

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

Karaite Kenas - this is one of the most interesting and large-scale sights of Yevpatoria, a unique monument of culture, religion and history of the Karaites throughout the world. Karaites are adherents of karaism, a special branch of Judaism based on the Tanakh (Old Testament). In Soviet times, adherents of this religion were even classified as a separate nationality – Karaites, although there was no nationality as such. Today there are only about 2000 Karaites left in the world, mostly they live in Russia and the CIS countries, and most of all in the Crimea and Yevpatoria.

The complex of Karaite Kenas is an architectural monument of the 18th century. There are several courtyards for various purposes that tell about the life of the people: grape, marble, prayer hall, ritual, Memorial, farmstead. You can learn about the religion of the Karaites in the Karaite temple and religious school, and about the origin of the people in the Ethnographic Museum. In the cafe working at the complex you can taste the original Karaite cuisine.

A visit to Kenas should be included in your program of stay in Yevpatoria, but keep in mind that without an excursion it will be completely uninteresting and uninformative to visit the complex. The tour lasts 40 minutes, is held according to the schedule at a certain time.