A photo from open sources
Exactly a year ago, archaeologists of the Institute of Archeology of the Crimea RAS ran into fragments of ancient masonry in a forest near Sudak buildings, presumably a Byzantine temple. It was sensational find, since there is no mention of such a temple in one written source.
The unique find really turned out to be a Byzantine temple, with the largest Christian cathedral in Crimea. At present the temple has been excavated completely, its area is more than two hundred square meters, however, scientists suggest that this is not a single the cathedral, and the whole cult complex, most likely, of the oldest the monastery.
A photo from open sources
Archaeologists have determined that the monastery is abandoned (and the temple is abandoned) in 1475, that is, during the conquest of Crimea by the Turks. About it fire traces, Turkish arrows, fragments eloquently speak pottery and even coins found. But to determine when the cathedral was built until not possible. Moreover, geoscanning conducted by Russian specialists geographical society, showed that the Byzantine temple was erected on the foundation of an even more ancient structure. Also underground other structures were discovered near the temple, possibly monastery cells. Hence, scientists made another assumption – this the cult complex may be the ancient monastery of John Chrysostom.
According to the director of the Institute of Crimean Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vadim Mayko, in the second half of the nineteenth century a detailed a list of all Christian churches of Crimea, including Sudak. However this cult complex is not even mentioned in it. But this is the largest Christian church on the Crimean peninsula. Is he, for example, much more medieval Armenian churches near Old Crimea, say, Surb-Khach, which were previously considered the largest such facilities in the Crimea. True, the archbishop Kherson and Tauride Gabriel, who then composed that list, mentioned some ruins of an ancient cathedral in seven versts from today’s village Bogatovka (then Tokluk), but now the Byzantine temple found is a maximum of one and a half miles from the above village.
A photo from open sources
Note that the excavation of the entire religious structure by archaeologists is still just to come, as well as to solve many puzzles that conceals this Byzantine cathedral. Much says, Mayko, will help clarify the excavations near the temple since the cathedrals are traditional “cleaned”, which is why there are always very few historical traces in them, and here near the temple, in residential buildings, you can find significantly more interesting, perhaps this will determine when erected an ancient monastery.
A photo from open sources
Crimea time
