Museum "Tauric Chersonesos"

Museum-Reserve "Tauric Chersonesos" is the main historical landmark of Sevastopol. Moreover, this is one of the largest historical and archaeological sites in the whole Crimea, and therefore it must be visited, even if you stop for a rest not in Sevastopol itself, but in neighboring resorts. For this purpose, ready-made one-day tours to Sevastopol with a visit to Chersonesos are offered from almost all major resorts of the peninsula and from distant beach villages of Sevastopol. It will also not be difficult to travel here on your own by public or private transport, even, for example, from Yalta or Yevpatoria. We will tell you about everything in detail:

A bit of history

Chersonesos is an ancient Greek city, was founded in 424-421 BC as an ancient Greek colony by immigrants from Asia Minor Heraclea Pontic. There are versions about the presence of an earlier settlement at this place. The city existed until the end of the XIV century, having experienced ups and downs, numerous invasions and wars during this time. At the peak of its heyday, the Chersonese state with its capital in Chersonesos occupied almost the entire territory of the western Crimea, and at the same time almost continuously waged wars. But this did not last long, and the city lost its independence, changing owners and patrons in the person of the Bosporus Kingdom, the Romans, the Byzantine Empire. In general, the history of this city is very rich and interesting, and you can touch it by visiting this amazing open-air museum.

About the museum and how to visit

The State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve "Tauric Chersonesos" is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It occupies a huge territory, which will have to be walked, and therefore you need to stock up on time, we recommend at least 3 hours. Of course, during a cursory inspection with group excursions you will spend no more than an hour, but you will not see everything, and therefore our opinion is that it is better to visit it yourself and not rush anywhere.

On the territory there are many ruins of residential buildings and whole palaces of different centuries, estates of wealthy residents and artisans, an exhibition of mosaics, an exhibition of ancient amphorae, a complex of baths, chapels and tombs, and all this is available with one entrance ticket. There are also two permanent exhibitions in the buildings, which are visited by additional tickets, but to get into them, you still have to buy a general entrance ticket. To navigate between objects, you can use the territory pointers or maps in your smartphone. And even before visiting, you can get acquainted with the interactive map of the museum with objects on official website. And here are the most iconic places on the territory:

• Bronze panorama of Chersonesos is a bronze model of historical reconstruction "Map of Chersonesos" and "History of Chersonesos".
• Zeno's Tower is the most powerful tower of the southeastern defense sector on the southern flank of the port district. It got this name because it is assumed that the inscription about the restoration of the walls in the 5th century under the Byzantine emperor Zeno refers to it.
• St. Vladimir's Cathedral and Belfry is an important Orthodox shrine that perpetuated the adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir. It was laid in 1861, and the foundation stone of the cathedral was laid by Emperor Alexander II.
• Ancient theater – the ruins of the city's open-air theater, originally erected in the second half of the IV – beginning of the III centuries BC and subsequently rebuilt several times. During the excavations, many details of the architectural design were found here, fragments of a marble armchair: the altars of Nemesis, a relief depicting Hercules, a fragment of a statuette of Apollo, a black-skinned vessel with a drain in the form of a lion's head.
• Open-air exhibition of artifacts – here you can see stone elements of architecture from different periods. Located on the site between the building of the Antique exposition and the antique theater.
• Church of the Seven Chersonese Holy Martyrs - built in the 50s of the XIX century. During the Crimean War, it was used to store gunpowder depots by the French and was severely damaged. It was restored and rebuilt in its present stone form in 1881.
• Basilica of 1935 – ruins of an ancient Christian church of the basilica type. The year of construction is not exactly known, and therefore the year of its discovery by archaeologists is used in the name.
• Fog (signal) bell is one of the symbols of the museum, although it is not related to the history of the city. It was cast from Turkish captured cannons at the end of the XVIII century in Taganrog by order of Emperor Alexander I, but it did not stay in Sevastopol for very long, because after the end of the Crimean War, the French troops took it as a trophy. For more than half a century, the bell decorated the belfry of Notre-Dame de Paris, and returned to Chersonesos only in 1913.
• Baptismal room (baptistery) is the ruins of a building intended for baptismal rites (baptistery - font).
• Antique exposition (visited by separate tickets) is an exposition of objects from the history of Chersonesos from its foundation in the 5th century BC to the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD in two halls of the building of the former refectory of St. Vladimir's Monastery.
• Byzantine exposition (visited by separate tickets) – another exposition in the building, revealing the history of the medieval period of the city, is located in two halls on the second floor of the Byzantine building. Includes 3050 exhibits.

Some tips for visiting Chersonesos

• There is no free toilet inside Chersonesos, a paid one costs 25 rubles.
• There are two ticket offices at the entrance, so if in the first place, go a little bit to the second, there are usually no queues there.
• To slowly and carefully inspect everything here, it is worth laying at least two hours, and together with the museums at least four.
• Be sure to take drinking water and sun protection with you when visiting in the summer (panama hat, you can use sunscreen). After all, even if the weather is cloudy, it can quickly change to sunny.

We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Sevastopol with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites:

• 📷 Search for excursions in Sevastopol on Sputnik8.com
• 📷 Search for excursions in Sevastopol on Tripster.ru