Aluston Fortress

Aluston is a Byzantine (later Genoese) fortress in the Crimea, an architectural monument now located in the center of the city of Alushta. The ruins of the fortress became one of the main attractions of the city. It is an object of cultural heritage of federal importance. Aluston Fortress was built in the VI century by order of Justinian I. It is mentioned by the Byzantine historian of the time of Justinian Procopius of Caesarea in the famous treatise “On Buildings”. As the historian testifies, in Aluston there was a garrison of Ostrogoths-federates, who were in the service of the Byzantine emperor. Soldiers exercised control over the cabotage navigation of sea vessels and monitored order in the vicinity.

Aluston was located 200 meters from the sea on the top of a 44-meter hill. The line of the fortress walls of Aluston was a quadrangle of irregular shape. At the junctions of the curtain were built 3 towers: Ashaga-Kule ("Lower Tower"), preserved in the city center to this day, Orta-Kule ("Middle Tower") and completely destroyed Chatal-Kule ("Horn Tower"). Although in Byzantine times the fortress occupied only 0.25 hectares, it is considered one of the most powerfully fortified Byzantine structures in the Northern Black Sea region. The thickness of the walls of Aluston reached 2-3 meters, and the height was 9.5 meters. If you look closely at the stonework, you can see the voids in it. They had wooden logs in them. They performed not only a connecting function, but also served as a kind of shock absorber during earthquakes. By the end of the seventh century, Aluston was abandoned by the Byzantines. These difficult years for Byzantium, the burden of economic and political hardships: plague epidemics, long wars with the Persians and Arabs led to the depletion of the human resources of the empire. In addition, about the middle of the VII century, part of the Eastern Crimea falls under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. A new, “Khazar” stage in Aluston’s history begins. By the second half of the X century, the area of the fortification doubles and is 0.5 hectares. The population of Aluston was Christian, as evidenced by the presence on the territory of the citadel of a Christian temple built in the VIII century. In the tenth century, after the fall of the Khazar Khaganate, Aluston was destroyed, perhaps by the Pechenegs. His decline began. But since the XII century, after the stabilization of the situation on the peninsula, Aluston is experiencing a new heyday. The total area of the settlement increased to 3 hectares, two-storey houses created a close network of urban quarters. In 1381-1382, the Genoese bought from the Crimean Khan a section of the coast from Sudak to Balaklava, including Aluston (Lusta). In the history of the fortress began a new stage. Alushta becomes the trading station of the “Captain of Gothia”, its population increases to 1-1.5 thousand people. In the second half of the XV century around Aluston built a new line of defense with 3 towers on the northern and eastern flanks. In June 1475, the Italian possessions in Crimea were attacked by the Turkish fleet. Aluston was also attacked. Archaeological studies have shown that the city died from a fire, after which the fortress of Aluston was no longer restored. At the end of the XIX century, it was restored by patron N. D. Stakheev, as the lower tower by that time threatened to collapse. Since October 2015, the Aluston Archaeological Complex has been a federal cultural heritage site.