Alupka (
Ukrainian and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
: Алу́пка; crh, Alupka; gr, Ἀλώπηξ, Alòpex) is a resort
city located in the
Crimean peninsula
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
, a territory of
Ukraine currently annexed by
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
(see
2014 Crimean crisis). It is located to the west of
Yalta
Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...
. It is famous for the
Vorontsov Palace, designed by
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
architect
Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's back ...
in an extravagant mixture of
Scottish baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sco ...
and
Neo-Moorish
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...
styles and built in 1828–1846 for prince
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (russian: Князь Михаи́л Семёнович Воронцо́в, tr. ; ) was a Russian nobleman and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars and most famous for his participati ...
.
Population: 8,087 (2021).
Area: 4.2246 km
2.
Sister-city:
Apopka
Apopka is a city in Orange County, Florida. The city's population was 55,000 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ''Apopka'' comes from Seminole word ''Ahapopka'' for "Potato eatin ...
, Florida, USA.
Alupka and its surrounding area is full of resort hotels on the shore of the
Black Sea, where thousands of travelers (particularly from the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
) travel every year. Public transport to Alupka includes the bus system (bus routes #26 and #27 from Yalta) and other road vehicles.
Climate
Located in the subtropical climate of southern Crimea, Alupka has an average temperature of in January–February and an average temperature of in August. The average rainfall in the city is 400 mm per year, the average humidity is about 69%, and the average number of sunlight per year is 2,150 hours. The swimming season stretches from March until October, with an average water temperature of .
History
Alupka was first founded as a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
settlement. The name originates from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word for fox (''Alopex'') . After the Greeks, Alupka came under control of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. The first written mention of Alupka dates to 960 in a document about the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
Romanos II
Romanos II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Ρωμανός, 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His son Ba ...
. Later on, Alupka was controlled by the
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...
. After 1783 the city came into possession of
Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
,
governor-general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
of the
Novorossiya Krai. In 1798, the city had a population of 211, consisting mainly of farmers.
At the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Alupka was a famous resort. In the middle of 19th century it was more popular than Yalta, mostly because of the work of the Governor of Novorossia at the time, Mikhail Vorontsov, who built a Palace there (some call it a Castle).
Alupka is described by a French traveler in 1811 in his letters to a friend (starting at page127) "Voyage de Moscou à Vienne, par Kiow, Odessa, Constantinople, Bucharest et Hermanstadt; ou, Lettres adressées à Jules Griffith
Auguste de Lagarde" Jan 1824 · Treuttel et Würtz: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=p1THCvg9rVEC&rdid=book-p1THCvg9rVEC&rdot=1
Attractions
Alupka is not only a
resort town
A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...
, but also an important tourist attraction. Major attractions in the city include:
*
Vorontsov Palace
*Vorontsov's Park, located on the grounds of the Vorontsov Palace
*
Ai-Petri
Ai-Petri (, russian: Ай-Петри, uk, Ай-Петрі, sep=comma) is a peak in the Crimean Mountains. For administrative purposes it is in the Yalta municipality of Crimea. The name is of Greek origin, and translates as St. Peter ( el, Άγ� ...
Mountain
Vorontsovsky Palace and Park
The main attraction of Alupka is the
Scottish baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sco ...
and
Neo-Moorish
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...
style Vorontsov's Palace, which was designed by the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
architect
Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's back ...
built in 1828-1846 for prince
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (russian: Князь Михаи́л Семёнович Воронцо́в, tr. ; ) was a Russian nobleman and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars and most famous for his participati ...
. During the
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the pos ...
, the palace—spared by the Germans during
World War II — served as the residence of Sir
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
and his English delegation.
A large
English-style park was designed and built for prince Vorontsov on the territory of the Vorontsov's Palace. The park was constructed from December 1824 to April 1851, and was envisioned, designed, created, and maintained by Chief Botanist of the Southern Shore of the Crimea, Carolus Antonius Keebach. Plant material for the garden was supplied from the
Nikita Botanic Garden by its director,
Nicolai Anders von Hartwiss
Nicolai Anhorn von Hartwiss (Николай Андерс фон, ''де'' Гартвис, ''Николай Андреевич''; was a Livonian-born, Baltic German, Russian botanist, plant explorer and plant breeder. His education at the universi ...
.
There is also a selection of various Hotels and restaurants. There are many things to do in central Alupka such as look at Ai Petri mountain and even take a cable car there.
Ai-Petri Mountain
Alupka is located at the foot of the 1234 meter
Ai-Petri
Ai-Petri (, russian: Ай-Петри, uk, Ай-Петрі, sep=comma) is a peak in the Crimean Mountains. For administrative purposes it is in the Yalta municipality of Crimea. The name is of Greek origin, and translates as St. Peter ( el, Άγ� ...
(St Peter) Mount of the
Crimean Mountains chain. Since 1987, a three kilometer
Gondola lift
A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...
, one of the longest in Europe and split into two stages, carries passengers to and from the mountain, providing visitors with excellent views of the surrounding area and the
Black Sea.
People from Alupka
*
Amet-khan Sultan
Amet-khan Sultan ( Crimean Tatar: Amet-Han Sultan, Амет-Хан Султан, احمدخان سلطان; Russian: Амет-Хан Султан; 20 October 1920 – 1 February 1971) was a highly decorated Crimean Tatar flying ace in the Soviet ...
Crimean Tatar flying ace and test pilot
*
Alexander Khmelik
Alexander Grigorievich Khmelik (Russian: Александр Григорьевич Хмелик) (September 27, 1925 – December 12, 2001) was a Soviet-Russian screenwriter, playwright and director known for his creation of the children's sketch ...
Russian film producer, screenwriter
*
Evgeni Aldonin Russian footballer
References
External links
Vorontsov's Castle in Alupka— Pictures of Alupka Palace
* — Alupka: Vorontsov's Palace and Park
* — Webpage of the Alupka Castle
{{Subdivisions of Crimea
Seaside resorts in Russia
Seaside resorts in Ukraine
Cities of district significance in Ukraine
Cities in Crimea
Yalta Municipality