My Application

The Swallow's Nest is built on a steep cliff of Ai-Todor Cape. The structure resembles a medieval knight's castle like the Portuguese Belem Tower or Villa Miramare near Trieste, Italy. "Swallow's Nest" has become a kind of emblem of the Southern coast of Crimea.

First owners

The estate on Aurorina Rock has been known since the 70s of the 19th century. We do not know the name of the first owner. According to legend, he was a general, and his summer house called "Castle of Love". From here young people with broken hearts jumped into the sea, and he himself entertained himself by jumping off the cliff on a horse. Not from love, but for the sake of excitement.

The first credible owner of the rock and the structure on it - Livadia doctor Adalbert Karlovich Tobin. After his death in 1902, the dacha passed to his wife, and from her to a certain Rakhmanova, about whom also reliable information is not found. Perhaps it was Olga Vladimirovna Rakhmanova, actress, founder of the School of Stage Art in Odessa. Other sources call her a "Moscow merchant". There were indeed Rakhmanov merchants living in Moscow. The most famous of them - Georgy Karpovich - was at the beginning of the 20th century no longer a merchant, but a private associate professor at the Faculty of History and Philology, and was a member of the most cultural circles of Moscow. In Moscow and the Moscow suburbs have preserved several estates and dachas that belonged to the Rakhmanovs, but nothing is known about their Crimean possessions.

Anyway, here, on a rock, by the beginning of the 20th century already stood a romantic wooden house. It was already called "Swallow's Nest", painted and photographed. A unique colour photo by S. Proskudin-Gorsky, 1904 has been preserved. Two paintings by the famous artist L. Lagorio (1901 and 1903) depicting this place have been preserved. ) depicting this place.

The Steingel family

In 1910 the castle passed into the hands of the Steingel family. The family of barons Steingels appeared in Russia since the 18th century. To one of the branches of this family belonged Decembrist, a member of the Northern Society - Vladimir Ivanovich Steingel.

Here we are again waiting for a mystery. In Russia of this time lived several Steingels and as the owner of the "Swallow's Nest" are named several of them. According to one source, it was Vladimir Rudolfovich Steingel, the son of a famous railway builder. Vladimir Rudolfovich was engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, in his Kuban estate raised sheep and pigs, built a huge distillery equipped with the latest technology. The products of his estate "Khutorok" participated in the 1900 Paris World Exhibition and received several awards. After the revolution he managed to emigrate and died in Paris.

Other, more reliable, sources give us Pavel Leonardovich Steingel, a cousin of Vladimir Rudolfovich. He was a petroleum engineer in Vladikavkaz. We know about him that after the revolution he joined the White Guard, fought and died in exile in France, just like Vladimir Ivanovich. Most likely, it was he who was the owner of the Swallow's Nest until 1914 and it was under him that the famous castle, which has been admired for generations, was built.

The Sherwood family

The mysteries continue. We know the architect's surname is Sherwood. This too is a famous family, and also connected with the Decembrists. One of the Sherwoods was the author of a denunciation of the Decembrists, and received for this an addition to his surname - "Faithful". Among the people he immediately became "Skverny", and simply Sherwoods did not often communicate with Sherwoods-Faithful.

The author of "Swallow's Nest" is often called Vladimir Osipovich Sherwood, the same one who built the Historical Museum in Moscow. He also owns the monument to the heroes of Plevna.

Sometimes the construction of the Crimean castle is attributed to his son Leonid Vladimirovich, who after the revolution became a Soviet sculptor. He is known for monuments to A. Radishchev, and I. Mechkin, a bust of Stalin and a book of memoirs "The Way of the Sculptor". Another representative of the Sherwood dynasty of architects - Sergei Vladimirovich - became famous mainly for his cathedrals built in the Neo-Russian style. For example, he owns the Kazan Cathedral in Shamordino.

The third brother - Vladimir Vladimirovich - was actively engaged in the rebuilding of Zaryadya, built profitable houses and merchant mansions. He is the author of the building that now houses the presidential administration.

But most likely, the Swallow's Nest belongs to Alexander Vladimirovich, the fourth brother. About himself and his other creations nothing more is known. Even the name remains not in the official documents. We know simply the remaining plaque on the house from Soviet times. "A.V. Sherwood." Probably in those times, when the plaque was installed, there was more information. All we know about him are the years of his life: 1869-1919. Judging by the first date, he was the third brother - the sculptor Leonid Vladimirovich younger. And judging by the second date, most likely died in the revolutionary turmoil.

Anyway, we know one thing - in the 1910s on the rock was built the most famous building of the Crimea. The castle was created in neo-Gothic style, fashionable in the early 20th century. Its closest analogies are the Shekhtelevsky mansion of Savva Morozov, Bazhenov's Vladimir Church in the village of Bykovo or the Apraksin estate in Uspenskoye. Even in the Crimea the Gothic style was in fashion - it was the way the Ascension Church in Koreiz, which has not survived, was built. The Swallow's Nest has everything that distinguishes Gothic architecture: lancet windows, crenellated "castle" walls, and finally a magnificent three-tier tower topped with spires. It is quite tiny: only twelve metres high, ten wide and twenty long. But its location is so fortunate, and the view from the sea so winning, that it seems much more significant.

In 1914 Steingel sells the mansion. The purchase is usually attributed to a certain merchant Shelaputin, who seems to have opened a restaurant here. But this is a confusion - such a merchant really in the Crimea was and the restaurant really kept. But it was not "Swallow's Nest", but "White Swallow" on Ai-Todor.

But here comes a completely reliable Rohmanova. Information about it not so long ago found local local historians in the Yalta archives. It was Maria Sergeevna Kyuleva, in maidenhood Rohmanova. It was she who owned the dacha until 1921, when the estate was nationalised.

Under her, the interior was finished (it remained poor, but interesting) and the garden near the house was laid out. Strange as it may seem, even such a beautiful and original dacha was in some ways similar to our modern ones: the owner did not have electricity, and all sanitary facilities were not in this building, but in a neighbouring one.

Soviet times

In 1921 the estate was nationalised. At this point, Rohmanova had not lived there for a long time. The house stood abandoned. At one time there was a restaurant.

From 11 to 12 September 1927 the Crimea suffered a catastrophe: there was an earthquake. Such phenomena on the Black Sea coast are not so rare. But this one was unprecedented in strength and scale of destruction: after all, for the last fifty quiet years, the southern coast has managed to put palaces, estates, break parks and improve the embankments. Knowing this, in the Crimea tried to build strong - for example, Vorontsov Palace in Alupka in 1927 survived, but the palace of the Bukhara Emir, which was the Museum of the East, suffered very badly. Crimea shook and in the XIX century and in the XX: in 1802, in 1838, in 1875, 1908 ... The last earthquake befell Yalta in 1919. But the 1927 earthquake was the most powerful.

In the evening of 11 September, the animals were worried. With absolutely windless weather rippled sea. And almost immediately after midnight the tremors began. There was panic in Yalta. Dogs howled, the walls of houses collapsed. The sea retreated and again came upon the shore with a destructive wave. The most terrible seemed "burning sea": visible for many kilometres flashes and fire columns. Until now, researchers do not know the exact cause of this phenomenon - whether burning methane, or hydrogen sulphide, but it looked terrible. In Yalta was destroyed two-thirds of all buildings.

"Swallow's Nest" somehow miraculously survived, but also actually turned into a ruin. The rock was broken by a deep crack, part of it collapsed into the sea. Collapsed crenellated tower of the castle.

On the restoration of the Crimea money was collected by the whole world. Postcards were issued with views of the destruction, including the "Swallow's Nest". It was rebuilt and arranged there sanatorium library. Repairs were enough only until the post-war time. Then the building was closed again as an emergency.

A new restoration began in 1967. It was difficult: it was impossible to drive normal construction equipment on the unstable rock. Nevertheless, the castle was almost completely rebuilt. The restoration was led by two architectural engineers - Vladimir Timofeev and Irakli Tatiev.

After the restoration, an expensive restaurant was reopened here. Already in the 21th century the restaurant was closed. Now it is an exhibition hall.

This is a very complex structure: it is still quite unstable, the rock continues to erode, so it periodically requires restoration. It was renovated in 2002, and in 2013 they started to strengthen the rock itself, not the castle.

The temptation to jump into the sea from a height still haunts some people. But now it has been turned into a sport: in 2011, international competitions in acrobatic diving were held here.

Many films have been shot here. Images with the castle are in Govorukhin's "Ten Negroes", in "Mio moi Mio" and "Pana Klyaksa Academy". Somewhere under this rock lived Ichthyander from "The Amphibian Man". In 2011, filmed here his "Hamlet of the XXI century" Yuri Kara: his Ophelia jumps into the sea from this rock.

On a side note

  • Location: Yalta, Gaspra, Alupkinskoye sh, d.9

  • How to get there: by motor transport on the road T2703 (Sevastopol - Yalta - Simferopol - Feodosia) to the stop "Swallow's Nest". By buses № 102 and 27 from Yalta. By boat from the seafront of Yalta.

  • Official website: https://замок-ласточкино-гнездо.рф

  • Opening hours: in summer time 10:00-19:00 without days off, in winter time 10:00-16:00, off. Monday.

  • Tickets: adult: from 50 to 200 rubles, children - from 25 to 100 rubles