Akkerman fortress is a medieval fortress in the city of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky. It is one of the largest in Ukraine, and is perfectly preserved.
The fortress was founded on the remains of
the ancient city of Thera, and the history of its construction is connected with the need to protect the city from the constant attacks of numerous enemies. There are different versions about the construction of the fortress, but the fortress was built for 200 years. Some consider it Turkish, others - Moldavian, and the castle-citadel - Genoese. At that time, the fortress was a fairly powerful military-defensive structure. It was built on a high rocky shore of the Dniester estuary from local limestone. It is an irregular polygon with an area of just over 9 hectares. The length of the defensive walls is about 2.5 km, the height of the walls and towers is from 5 to 15 m, the thickness is from 1.5 to 5 m. The fortress is surrounded on three sides by a moat, which is filled with water, its width is up to 14 m, the initial depth is 22 m. From the north it is washed by the waters of the Dniester Estuary.
For many centuries, the fortress played an important role in the history of our state, more than once defended the city from enemy attacks. In the XV century. The Ottoman Empire makes a number of attempts to capture the city and fortress. The heaviest was in August 1484, when the 300,000th army of the Turkish Sultan Bayazet II and the 50,000th army of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray besieged the fortress from the land and estuary. After a 16-day siege, the defenders of the fortress were forced to surrender it to the enemy. Turkish domination was established for a long 328 years, the city received a new name Akkerman (White Stone) and became part of the Turkish lands.
During the XVI - XVII centuries. Ukrainian Cossacks under the leadership of Hetmans G. Loboda, I. Sirko and Colonel S. Paliy repeatedly made campaigns to the walls of the Akkerman fortress. In the XVIII century. Russia has become a major world power, occupying an important place in the system of international relations. The events of the three Russian-Turkish wars affected the territory of the southern part of Russia at that time. In 1770, 1779 and 1806, Russian troops liberated the city and the fortress from the Turks, but only in 1812 was the Treaty of Bucharest signed between Russia and Turkey, under the terms of which the territory of southern Bessarabia was annexed to Russia. In 1832, the fortress was abolished as a military defensive structure, in 1896 it was declared a historical and architectural monument
At different times, the city and the fortress were visited by A. Pushkin, L. Ukrainka, A. Gorky, I. Nechuy-Levitsky, M. Kropyvnytsky, K. Paustovsky, V. Kataev, A. Mickiewicz and others. Restoration robots operate in the fortress. On August 2, 1963, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine, a decision was made to protect the Belgorod-Dniester fortress and the architectural monument. Despite numerous historical events, repairs and reconstructions, the fortress has retained its original structure, is one of the best preserved monuments of the Middle Ages, and, in contact with this history, people will be surprised at its uniqueness.
