Kalamita Fortress and Inkerman Cave Monastery

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

In Inkerman, on the outskirts of Sevastopol, there are three noteworthy sights in one place at once: the Kalamita Fortress, the Inkerman St. Kliment Cave Monastery and the Inkerman quarry (Stone Park). All of them can be visited at one time, and for free. We will tell you in detail about each of these attractions, and at the end about how to visit them and how to get here.

Kalamita Fortress

This is a medieval Byzantine fortress built on a flat top of an impregnable Monastery rock. Today there are ruins of several towers and walls here, which you can freely inspect. Although this is part of the archaeological museum-reserve, there are no information plates here, and therefore here is a brief history of the fortress:

The first Byzantine fortification appeared here in the VI century to protect the city of Chersonesos from the north, and was intended not only for defense, but also for sheltering the inhabitants of the city. The place was chosen very well at first glance, since the steep, almost vertical walls of the rock made it impregnable. However, after the Khazars appeared in the Crimea of the VII – VIII centuries, the fortress ceased to exist.

In the XV century, the prince of Mangup (Mangup is the fortress of the city in the Bakhchisarai district) Alexei restored Kalamita, and presumably at the same time a Christian cave hermitage was founded in the rock, now part of the Increman monastery. To do this, numerous passages for monastic cells were cut right into the stone, some of which you can see and visit today. In particular, the passage from the top of the cliff to the monastery has been preserved, but it is closed to tourists. Also, partially destroyed passages can be seen from the south side of the cliff under the cross on the site of the destroyed St. Nicholas Church, but it is dangerous to go down them.

The XV century became eventful for the fortress. It was repeatedly attacked by the Genoese, and even captured and burned it in 1434. It was restored, but already in 1475 it was captured by the Turks and renamed Inkerman, which means "cave fortress". The monastery then ceased to exist, and the fortress itself was seriously rebuilt.

By the middle of the XVIII century, Kalamita had lost its military and commercial importance, and after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Inkerman St. Clement Monastery was revived.

Inkerman St. Klimentovsky Monastery

Unlike the ruins of the fortress, which are located on top of a cliff, the Monastery is located at the foot of the cliff and inside it. It consists of churches and fraternal buildings attached directly to the rock, but the rocky part is most interesting for tourists. You can go there freely and see everything yourself or with excursions for 600 rubles, which are offered at the ticket office at the entrance. Excursions are conducted by monks, and the money goes to maintain the monastery. Inside the rock there are also areas closed to tourists, because this is a monastery, so do not go behind the signs indicating the prohibition of entry. The passage through the rock up to the ruins of the fortress is also closed to visitors.

Inkerman quarry and "Stone Park"

On the opposite side of the cliff from the monastery is an old quarry for the extraction of stone, which was named "Stone Park". There are a couple of artificial lakes here, in which they even swim, and have a picnic on the shore. But given that the water in the lakes is stagnant, we would not recommend swimming.

How to visit Kalamita Fortress and cave monastery

And now we will tell you how to visit all this on your own, because you are probably already confused. First of all, all three attractions are visited for free, although if you wish, you can buy a tour of the monastery, which lasts about 30 minutes, but does not include a visit to the ruins of the fortress. Since the ruins and the monastery are located on different levels of the cliff, they are visited separately, the entrances to them are on different sides of the cliff. Here's how they can be inspected:

You can start the inspection from the monastery, the entrance and entrance there from the south side (from the side of the concrete plant No. 1, parking and entrance on the map). There is free parking, there is a sign on the road. Passing by the pavilion for the sale of excursions, you will get to the territory of the monastery, where you can move freely, and here you will also find a passage inside the rock into the cave passages.

After visiting the monastery, you need to get to the top of the cliff, where the ruins of the fortress are located. As we mentioned, this cannot be done through the cave passage, it is closed. Therefore, there are two options to bypass:

• Return to the parking lot, exit or exit onto Simferopol highway to go around the rock on the left side and get to the entrance to the trail leading to the ruins (the beginning of the trail on the map). On foot it is about one and a half kilometers, by car 2 kilometers. Here, by the way, you can also easily park your car in a parking lot on the side of the road.

  After inspecting the ruins, you can return to the beginning of the trail and go down the dirt road to the quarry to the lakes, although this is not necessary, since the quarry and the lakes look even better from above.

• Another option is to walk around the rock on the right. You need to walk about a kilometer, but this route is much more interesting.

  From the territory of the monastery you need to go to the railway, which runs close to its fence, you need to find a gate. If it (the gate) is closed, you will have to look for another way, for example, climb the hill to the railway from the main entrance. Next, you need to go along the railway (to the right, if you look at the fortress face), and turn left off the rail to bypass the rock.

  

  Here you will find dilapidated "balconies" on the walls and a ruined climb up the cliff wall to the very top on the south side, but you can not climb there. Then there will be a vertical passage cut for cars in the rock, through which you will get first to the bottom of the quarry and to the lakes, and then to the beginning of the trail. You can go back the same way, or exit as in the first case.

  

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