Cape Aya (
Ukrainian: Мис Айя,
Russian: Мыс Айя,
Crimean Tatar: Ayya) is a rocky
promontory
A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the soft ...
jutting out into the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...
southeast of
Balaklava. This 13-km-long offspur of the
Crimean Mountains separates Laspi Bay (to the east) from
Balaklava Bay
Balaklava Bay is a bay in the Black Sea near Balaklava, Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Blac ...
(to the west).
The name of the cape derives from “holy one" in
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 ...
, “Άγια”.
The highest point, Kokiya-Kiya (literally "Blue Cliff") is . The headland is full of
grotto
A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high ...
es; it is protected as a national ''
zakaznik''.
A storm off Cape Aya is the subject of one of
Aivazovsky's paintings. A Soviet guided missile system was located on Cape Aya.
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...
, the former
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
, ordered the construction of a luxurious private residence on Cape Aya. The "New
Mezhyhyria", or popularly known as "Mezhyhirya 2" closed locals off from the coast, and was still unfinished when the
Revolution of Dignity
The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, ousted Yanukovych from his post.
References
Landforms of Sevastopol
{{BlackSea-stub