YALTA

'Yalta' (, , ) is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.
The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore (γιαλος - ''yalos'' in Greek) on which to land. It is situated on a shallow bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by wooded mountains. It enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate with many vineyards and orchards in the vicinity.
The term "Great Yalta" is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements (the area of Great Yalta is marked dark blue on the map).

Contents

History

12th-19th centuries

In the 20th century

Modern Yalta

Attractions

Climate

Demographics

Sister cities

External links

History

12th-19th centuries

The existence of Yalta was first recorded in the 12th century by an Arab geographer, who described it as a Byzantine port and fishing settlement. It became part of a network of Genoese trading colonies on the Crimean coast in the 14th century, when it was known as ''Etalita'' or ''Galita''. Yalta and the rest of Crimea was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1475, which made it a semi-independent subject territory under the rule of the Crimean Khanate. Yalta was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783, along with the rest of Crimea, sparking the Russo-Turkish War, 1787-1792.
In the 19th century, the town became a fashionable resort for the Russian aristocracy and gentry. The writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov spent their summers there; Yalta is the setting for Chekhov's short story, ''Lady with Lap Dog''. The town was also closely associated with royalty. In 1889 Tsar Alexander III built the Massandra Palace a short distance to the north of Yalta and Nicholas II built the Livadia Palace south-west of the town in 1911.

In the 20th century

During the 20th century Yalta was the principal holiday resort of the Soviet Union. In 1920, Lenin issued a decree "On the Use of Crimea for the Medical Treatment of the Working People" which endorsed the region's transformation from a fairly exclusive resort area into a recreation facility for tired proletarians. Numerous workers' sanatoria were constructed in and around Yalta. There were, in fact, few other places that Soviet citizens could come for a seaside holiday, as foreign travel was forbidden to all but a handful. The Soviet elite also came to Yalta; the Soviet dictator Stalin used the Massandra Palace as his summer residence. NKVD shot all prisoners in city prisons on November 4, 1941 [1].


The town came to worldwide attention in 1945 when the Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" powers; the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom – was held at the Livadia Palace.

Modern Yalta

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yalta has struggled economically. Many of the ''nouveaux riche'' started going to other European holiday resorts, now that they had the freedom and money to travel; conversely, the impoverishment of many ex-Soviet citizens meant that they could no longer afford to go to Yalta. The town's transport links have been significantly reduced with the end of almost all passenger traffic by sea. A main form of transportation to and from Yalta is the Crimean Trolleybus line, which runs from Simferopol—Alushta—Yalta. In recent years, Yalta has staged a recovery, as economic conditions have improved and tourists have returned. It is still almost entirely frequented by Russian and Ukrainian tourists, with relatively few visitors from Western Europe.
Today, Yalta has a beautiful embankment along the Black Sea. People can be seen strolling there all seasons of the year, and it also serves as a place to gather and talk. There are several beaches along the embankment where people relax and go swimming. Some hardy souls even do this in the winter. This embankment is also the site of several hotels and amusement-park-like rides. In addition, the city has several movie theaters, and many restaurants and cafés, as well as a large open-air market.

Attractions

Famous attractions within or near Yalta include:

★ Yalta's Sea Promenade (''Naberezhna''), housing many attractions and
being recently renovated (2003-2004);

★ Armenian Church, built by V. Surenyatsky;

★ A Roman Catholic Church
★ Yalta's Cablecar,
taking visitors to the ''Darsan'' hill, from which one can see Yalta's
shoreline;

★ Renovated ''Hotel Taurica'', the first
hotel in the former Russian Empire with elevators;
★ Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, constructed by
the architect Krasnov, which also constructed the Livadia Palace;

★ Former main corpus of the Ministry of Defence resort, built in the
style of a Gothic castle;

★ Palace of Yemir Bukhara;

★ Yalta's Zoo;

★ Yalta's Aquarium, housing small dolphins;

★ Park-museum ''Polyana Skazok'' (Field of Fairytales);

★ House-museum of Anton Chekhov's;

★ House-museum of Lesya Ukrainka;

★ House with Caryatids, where the composer A. Spendiarov lived In
addition, there are many other attractions not located within the city
of Yalta itself, which comprise:

★ Nikitsky Botanical Garden (Nikita)

★ Livadia Palace (Livadiya)

★ Organ hall in Livadiya

★ Massandra Palace (Massandra)

★ Massandra Winery and Vaults

★ International children's centre of Artek
(Gurzuf)

★ Ai-Petri Mountain (1233 meters high, with a
cable car traveling to and from the mountain)

★ Vorontsov Palace (Alupka)

★ Swallow's Nest castle near Gaspra.

Climate

Because Yalta lies to the south of the Crimean Mountains and within a "valley," the climate is very mild. In February, the average temperature reaches 4°C. Snow is rarely seen and the city's thin layers of snow thaw quickly. In July, the average temperature reaches 24°C. The sun shines approximately 2,250 hours per year. Since the city is located on the shore of the Black Sea, the weather never becomes very hot due to the cool sea breazes.

Demographics

As of the Ukrainian Census conducted on January 1, 2001, the population of Yalta is 80,500. The nationality structure of Yalta is: Russians — 68.3%, Ukrainians 25.7%, Belarusians — 2.1%, Jews — 0.8%, Crimean Tatars — 0.1%, and many other minority groups.

Sister cities

Yalta is twinned with the following cities:

★ Margate, Kent, England

★ Santa Barbara, United States

★ Galaţi, Romania

External links

★ Verkhovna Rada website — Statistics for Yalta

★ Yalta: The visitor's book

★ Yalta City and Yalta Zoo photoalbum

★ Yalta attractions

★ 'Wikimedia Commons' — Media on Yalta