Cave Monasteries of Crimea
PHOTO GALLERY
We present here a photo tour of the cave monasteries of Shuldan and Chelter-Marmara and the cave city of Eski-Kermen in Crimea.
The Shuldan Monastery of Christ the Savior is located near the modern village of Ternovka in Sevastopol. The name “Shuldan” means “resounding echo” or “inaccessible place.” It consists of two cave churches and twenty rooms for religious and economic purposes, located in two tiers.
The monastery was founded in the eighth century by monastic iconodule refugees from Byzantium during the period of the battle against the icons by emperors from the Isaurian Dynasty of Leo and Constantine Copronymus. The monks who lived in Shuldan worked in viticulture and winemaking.
The cave monastery of Chelter-Marmara is located on a cliff of Chelter-Kaya Mountain, not far from the Shuldan Monastery, a mile northwest of the village of Ternovka on the territory of the city of Sevastopol. It is an object of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia of Federal significance.
Translated from Crimean Tatar, “Chelter” means “lattice” or “grid.” Marmara is the name of a medieval village at the foot of the mountain. There are more than fifty caves there located in four tiers. There are four churches, cells, a trapeza, and household and storage rooms. In antiquity, they were connected by wooden stairs, balconies, and galleries that resembled openwork lattice.
Not far from these monasteries is the medieval city-fortress of Eski-Kermen. Translated from Crimean Tatar, the name means “old fortress.” The city is built on a table-like mountain plateau, bounded by cliffs up to 100 feet deep. It is one of the most visited cave cities of Crimea and is part of the Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Reserve. Several cave churches existed in this city, carved into the rocks in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, with a multitude of frescoes.
Dawn on the Black Sea
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Along the road to Shuldan Monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Tower-chapel above Shuldan Monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
View from the tower-chapel
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
View of Sevastopol from the tower-chapel
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Panorama view from the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Entrance to the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Painting of the tower-chapel
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Entrance to the church
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Church bell
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the main church of the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the main church of the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
A cell
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Cliffs along the road to the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Along the road to the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Cliffs along the road to the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Panorama view from the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Church of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in the Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
View through a window in the St. Sabbas Church
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Icon of St. Nicholas
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Church of St. Nicholas
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Gift of the St. Andrew the First-Called Fund to the Monastery of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in Chelter–Marmara in memory of the bringing of the relics of St. Andrew from the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow to the Crimea on July 30-August 30, 2016.
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
The Chelter-Marmara monastery
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Ancient city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Ancient city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In the church of the cave city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Cave city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Cave city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In one of the Eski-Kermen caves, with the remains of frescoes
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In one of the Eski-Kermen caves
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
In one of the Eski-Kermen caves
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
View from an Eski-Kermen cave
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Panorama view from the city of Eski-Kermen
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
Evening on the southern coast of Crimea
Photo: Dmitry Kiryukhin / Pravoslavie.ru
