One of the youngest museums in Sevastopol is the Konstantinovskaya Battery, a powerful defensive structure protecting the entrance to Sevastopol Bay. Its length along the facade is 230 m, width - 25 m, height - 12 m. After construction, 94 guns were installed in it, which were served by 470 artillerymen.

The battery opened its doors to visitors quite recently, as for many years it was located on the territory of a military unit and was inaccessible to tourists. Although the outside of this powerful two-story ravelin was restored in the 70s of the last century, the interior and courtyard began to be reconstructed only after the return of Crimea to Russia. Now the main work has been completed. Ravelin was given to the Russian Geographical Society, and the surrounding area will be landscaped and turned into a recreation area.

What to see in the Konstantinovskaya battery?

In the coming years, the new museum complex will certainly become one of the most popular tourist and recreational places in the city, and especially on the North Side. For now:

1. First of all, what is interesting is the horseshoe-shaped fortification itself, which is the same age as Sevastopol and with this heroic city survived everything that befell its lot.
2. Be sure to climb to the roof of the building. From there you can see a beautiful view of the fort itself, its courtyard with the mass grave of the city’s defenders, Sevastopol Bay and Sevastopol.
3. There is a museum inside the ravelin. One part of the exhibition tells about the history of the battery, the second about a detachment of combat swimmers, in which, in addition to people, dolphins served, and the third is dedicated to the work of the Russian Geographical Society.

Another excursion route will be opened in the near future - around the fort buildings and an exhibition on the second floor. Here is a plan for the reconstruction of Cape Konstantinovsky on which the fort is located, as well as its surroundings:

And this is what the battery was like before reconstruction and work on its restoration:

History of the Konstantinovskaya battery of Sevastopol

When Crimea was annexed to Russia and A.V. Suvorov proposed turning the Sevastopol Bay into a base for the Black Sea Fleet, the need arose to protect it, and simultaneously with the construction of the city, berths and docks, the construction of fortifications began, first earthen, and then stone - according to the design of engineer-Colonel K.I. Burno.

There were five main ravelins - two on each side of the bay and one opposite the entrance to it. Only two have survived, both on the North side - where an interesting museum is also open, and Konstantinovsky, named in honor of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, the son of Paul I and the grandson of Catherine II. The construction of the fort was completed in 1840, and 14 years later it underwent its first test - the Crimean War began. Eleven British warships with 428 guns bombed the battery, which could respond with fire from 43 guns located in this field of fire.

Despite the superiority of the British, the Russians disabled three enemy ships. A little later, at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, by order of Vice Admiral V.A. Kornilov, seven obsolete sailing ships of the Russian fleet were sunk and the enemy had to abandon the assault on the city from the sea.

The Konstantinovskaya battery participated no less actively in the second defense of the city during the Great Patriotic War, for which it even received the name: “Little Sevastopol”. In 1942, when the Nazis were rushing to the bay to prevent Soviet ships from entering the open sea, the defenders of Ravelin received an order to hold out for at least a day. They lasted five! Despite the massive shelling and incessant attacks of the fascists. Now in the center of the courtyard there is a monument that stands on the mass grave of the battery defenders who died in those days.

The battery was destroyed by bombing by more than half, and when examining it you will notice this - the restorers deliberately left the difference between the old and new masonry so that descendants can see what price was paid for a peaceful life.

Konstantinovskaya battery - how to get there, ticket prices, schedule

If you come from the center of Sevastopol, then from the square. Nakhimov by boat you need to move to the North side, there from the square. Zakharov is served by buses 49 and 55. From the stop you will have to walk about 350 m.

In honor of the opening of the museum, reenactors fired a cannon from the times of the First Defense of Sevastopol.

It is symbolic that the opening of the tourism forum takes place on National Unity Day within the walls of the Konstantinovskaya Battery, reconstructed thanks to the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society, said Sevastopol Governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov at the opening ceremony. - These walls saw the blood of the city’s defenders during the first and second defenses of Sevastopol. The new exhibition complex will show these heroic events of our great history.

After the end of the war and until recently, the fort was used by the Black Sea Fleet as an observation post and lighthouse, and after the return of the peninsula to Russia, the Russian Geographical Society decided to restore this unique monument of Russian fortification art and military architecture. This idea was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited the citadel in August 2015.

The builders restored the battery according to ancient drawings provided by the Central Archives of the Russian Navy in St. Petersburg. Rubbish and stones were removed from the territory of the fort, the collapsed towers were dismantled, after which the masonry was restored and the internal parade ground was paved. According to the representative of the Russian Geographical Society Vladimir Vorobyov, 780 million rubles were spent on reconstruction. The first examination of the fortress revealed that its interior was in very poor condition. About 70 percent of the historic masonry from 1840 fell into disrepair, the internal vaults collapsed, and they had to be completely restored. Carrying out such a volume of work in a short time, noted Vladimir Vorobyov, would have been impossible without the help and support of the Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu.

Today the first stage of the museum opened, which includes an exhibition about the history of the Konstantinovskaya battery and the Russian Geographical Society - these are maps, weapons, shells, household items and soldiers' ammunition. One of the exhibits was a restored gun from the time of the first defense of the city. A fragment of a German plane shot down near Chersonesus by fire from a coastal anti-aircraft battery in the first hours of the war on June 22, 1941 reminds us of the second defense of the Great Patriotic War. The new exhibition took place in the basement of the fortress. The next step is the arrangement of the first floor and surrounding area.

The headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society (the third after St. Petersburg and Moscow) will open in the restored building, where, in addition to museum and exhibition displays, there will be a library and archive about the history of Crimea and Sevastopol, the Konstantinovskaya battery, its builders and defenders who fought to the death in battle for their native land on the first line of defense of the Sevastopol Bay. For now, the museum will be open to the public three days a week, from Friday to Sunday. The entrance ticket will cost 300 rubles. The city governor promised to ensure transport accessibility of the new museum: bus routes and boats from the city pier will be sent here.

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The Konstantinovskaya battery was built in 1840 according to the design of engineer-Colonel Karl Burno to close the entrance to Sevastopol Bay to enemy ships. It was built from Krymbala limestone, delivered from Kilen-balka. The casemates had loopholes for firing 94 guns, which served 470 people. The total length along the facade is 230 meters, width - 25 meters, height above sea level - about 12 meters. From the top there is a beautiful view of the Sevastopol Bay. The battery repelled enemy attacks during the first defense of Sevastopol (1854-1855), was a participant in the revolutionary events of 1905, and survived the second defense of Sevastopol (1941-1942). In 1854, the fortress received significant damage while repelling a barrage of fire from Franco-British troops, but survived, forcing enemy battleships to go to sea. During the Great Patriotic War, the fort helped ensure the evacuation of the population and soldiers from the north to the south, as well as the withdrawal of Black Sea Fleet ships from Sevastopol Bay. Despite the attacks of the fascists, the battery survived at the cost of the lives of the fortress defenders, who were buried in the center of the citadel during the battles. After three days spent under a hail of shells and shrapnel, the surviving soldiers left the fort, blowing up the ammunition magazines. For this, commander Ivan Kulinich sacrificed himself.

The Konstantinovskaya battery is the first and most famous fortification built in Sevastopol after the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire.

Geographic coordinates of the Konstantinovskaya battery on the map of Crimea GPS N 44.626704 E 33.512354

Since the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire, the question of the creation of the Black Sea Fleet and its location has become acute. At first, the Black Sea Fleet was located in the city of Nikolaev (now the territory of Ukraine). But a few years after joining, Potemkin decided to move the fleet to Sevastopol, to one of the most convenient and deep-water bays of Crimea - Sevastopol. In 1785, the Black Sea Admiralty was created, which laid the foundation for the Black Sea Fleet and breathed new life into Sevastopol.
The history of the Konstantinovskaya battery began in 1786 which went down in history as defensive structure No. 1. The battery was located in Sevastopol Bay and blocked the entrance to almost all enemy ships, even on the approaches to the roadstead.
The first fortification of the Konstantinovskaya battery was earthen, with wooden redoubts. At that time, it could really cause a lot of problems for the Turkish fleet.

​By 1830, the earthen fortification was obsolete and could not provide adequate defense and defense of Sevastopol, so a plan was adopted to create a new defensive fortress. In 1834, Colonel Burno developed a new engineering project to strengthen defensive structure No. 1. The project was completed on two floors, in the form of a regular horseshoe. The height of the walls was 12 meters, thickness - up to 25 meters. The total length is 235 meters. The garrison was designed for 500 people and 94 guns. In the cellars of the battery there were powder warehouses, food and water supplies. In the event of an attack, The Konstantinovskaya battery could defend itself autonomously for 1 year.

The next big test for the Constantine Fortress These were the years of World War II, the capture of Sevastopol by the Nazis and the liberation of the city by the Red Army. The Konstantinovskaya fortress, throughout all hostilities, was at the very epicenter of the battle: constant air raids, direct tank attacks and shelling by enemy mines.

The history of the appearance of the legendary fort is like a cast from that part of the military history of Russia that is connected with our southern regions. When the Ottoman Empire renounced its claims to Crimea in 1774, its warships were still patrolling the vicinity of the peninsula. In particular, at least a dozen ships cruised in Akhtiarskaya (now Sevastopol) Bay. Empress Catherine II instructed Alexander Suvorov to “resolve the issue.” He managed to erect earthen fortifications overnight: when the Turks saw this, they believed that they would be crushed by gun salvos, and hastened to leave the bay. Then, even under Suvorov, the idea arose to equip the fort as a full-fledged engineering structure. In 1794, according to the design of military engineer Lieutenant Colonel Franz Pavlovich Devolan, a two-tier stone-earth battery with wooden redoubts was erected - it received the name “defensive structure No. 1”. And in 1840, work was completed on the construction of a now entirely stone battery, built according to the design of another military engineer, Colonel Karl Ivanovich Burno. To some extent, this unique object can be considered a monument of Russian fortification art, a true example of “military” architecture. The Konstantinovskaya battery (it got its name from its location - Konstantinovsky Cape) is made in a “horseshoe” style, rare for such coastal fortresses. As experts note, such a bold decision was due to the need to ensure combat both from the open sea and in the internal roadstead - in the event of enemy ships breaking through into the bay. The powerful structure is made of local material - durable Krymbal limestone; its length (along the facade) exceeds 200 meters, its width is 25. The object rises 12 meters above the sea. The battery was designed to accommodate 94 guns of various calibers, and the calculation of the fortress was supposed to be increased to 470 personnel.
The Konstantinovskaya battery received its baptism of fire on October 5, 1854, at the height of the Crimean War. This was the very first bombing of Sevastopol. On this day, the fort came under fire from 11 English battleships: there is evidence that in three hours the enemy fired at least fifty thousand shots at the city. Against the 428 guns of the enemy squadron, the battery could field only 43 guns - that’s exactly how many were located in this sector of fire. As for the fortifications, they held up, although there were still some losses: five defenders of the citadel were killed, almost fifty were wounded and shell-shocked. However, despite the clearly unequal battle, the fort not only survived, but also managed to disable three English ships with its return fire - the battleships London, Kim and Agamemnon. The assault on Sevastopol from the sea failed, and perhaps that is why the enemy switched to another tactic - a siege, which lasted for almost a year. The battery also showed itself courageously during the Great Patriotic War. The water district security service was stationed here, and in June 1942, one of the strongholds was created on the territory of the fort, whose personnel were ordered to hold the line to the end. The command sent radiograms to the citadel: “Hold out for at least a day!” It was in the midst of the most brutal fighting. The fortress eventually held out for three days, ensuring the evacuation of civilians and Red Army soldiers from the northern side of the city, and the withdrawal of Black Sea Fleet ships from the bay. At the same time, the Nazis subjected the fort to fire from all types of weapons, crushed it with artillery, aviation, and shot from tank guns. The fortress held out, for which it was even nicknamed “little Sevastopol.”
Seven dozen defenders of the citadel desperately held back the onslaught of the enemy, fighting to the last, evidence of which is the mass grave built in the courtyard of the fort. The surviving defense participants left their positions only after completing the task - the withdrawal of the last ships from Sevastopol Bay. There was almost no ammunition left for the fortress guns at that time... The unit commander, Ivan Kulinich, making sure that the last soldiers had left the battery, blew up the powder magazine, sacrificing himself. After the war, it never came to a full-scale restoration of the citadel, although individual fleet units are here were located, for example, an observation post and a lighthouse. The Ukrainian authorities especially had no time to deal with all this, and only after the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia did the fort see restorers. Large-scale reconstruction started as a project of the Russian Geographical Society. The builders restored the battery according to old drawings - they were provided by the Central Archive of the Russian Navy in St. Petersburg.
Today, several rooms in the fortress have been reconstructed, in addition, about a hundred exhibits have been transferred to the museum created here, and this collection is regularly replenished. Now this museum and exhibition complex has become a landmark object of military-historical tourism, telling about the pages of the military chronicle of the hero city and the Black Sea Fleet. “The history of the battery is inextricably linked with the heroic names of our compatriots, Russian and Soviet soldiers, commanders of different eras - from Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, who gave instructions for the first construction of the battery, to its defenders during the Great Patriotic War,” notes the first vice-president of the Russian Geographical Society, Hero of Russia and Soviet Union Artur Chilingarov. “I am convinced that the opening of the complex is not only a significant event for residents and guests of Sevastopol, but also a worthy example of preserving the memory of people who undoubtedly set an example for the younger generation.”

Konstantinovskaya battery in Sevastopol (Sevastopol, Russia) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.

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The Konstantinovskaya battery is the longest casemate battery in Sevastopol, built in the shape of a horseshoe. It is located on the cape of the same name in the northern part of Sevastopol Bay. During the Crimean War, and subsequently the Great Patriotic War, it was an important outpost, and today it is one of the main components of the city landscape.

A little history

After the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire, at the instigation of Prince Potemkin, the Black Sea Fleet was moved to Sevastopol and the question of protecting maritime borders arose. Therefore, in 1786, the construction of a defensive structure began - a battery in the Sevastopol Bay. The first fortification was earthen with wooden redoubts, but even in this form it protected the city from the invasion of the Turkish fleet. In 1830, the earthen fortification became outdated, and it was decided to build a stronger and more reliable fortress.

The project was developed by Colonel and military engineer Karl Burno. According to his drawings, the battery was built in two tiers and in the shape of a regular horseshoe; the best engineers of that era worked on the construction under the personal supervision of Emperor Nicholas I. The scale of the structure is impressive to this day: the total length was more than 230 m, the height of the walls was 12 m, and thickness - up to 25 m. The garrison was designed for 500 people and 94 guns; gunpowder, food supplies and drinking water were stored in the basements. In 1840 the fortress was completed, and in October 1854 it was tested for the first time in battle - during the first bombardment of Sevastopol.

The Great Patriotic War became a new serious test for the Konstantinovskaya battery: it was constantly at the epicenter of hostilities, subjected to shelling and tank attacks. As a result, the fortress was significantly destroyed, but it fulfilled its task of defending the city - in June 1942, only 70 people repelled fascist attacks for 3 days, and in May 1944, Sevastopol was liberated.

After the war, the fate of the battery was rather sad: it turned out to be no longer needed by anyone. In a dilapidated state, it was handed over to various military departments; they tried to repair it on their own, but this, obviously, was not enough. In 2014, the Russian Geographical Society began reconstructing the Konstantinovskaya fortress, and the following year restoration work began, which was carried out strictly according to drawings from the central archive of the Navy. The walls destroyed during the fighting were restored from white Inkerman stone, the interior premises were reconstructed, and a collection of valuable exhibits was collected, which is constantly being replenished. On November 4, 2017, the fortress was inaugurated for tourists.

What to see

Entrance to the battery courtyard is free. There you can see a mass grave, on which in November 1944 a monument and a memorial plaque were erected with the text: “They died here during the heroic defense of Sevastopol in 1941-1942. battalion commissars Baranov, Kulinich, secretary of the party organization military paramedic Kusov.”

The battery casemates now house a military museum. The exhibition consists of two parts, the first of which displays weapons from the Crimean and Great Patriotic Wars, as well as installations of soldiers’ and officers’ life. On one side of the corridor there are loopholes and weapons, and on the other - soldiers' bunks with straw mattresses, officers' offices, medical stations where nurses treated the wounded, and other household premises.

The casemates have very good acoustics, and despite the difficult wartime, this was sometimes used: senior military officials had musical instruments in their offices, and sometimes concerts were held between battles.

The museum's collection displays authentic military household items found here at battle sites: soldiers' helmets, buttons (including personalized buttons - to make it easier to identify a soldier in the event of death), flasks, picks, shackles, weapons, shell casings, axes, etc. One of the most valuable exhibits is a fragment of a Ju 88 bomber, shot down by the 76th anti-aircraft battery.

The second part of the exhibition is the history of the Russian Geographical Society in documents and photographs. The Russian Geographical Society played a huge role in the reconstruction of the Konstantinovskaya battery, so special attention is paid to it here. Here hang portraits of all the founding members of the society - Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel and others, including Fyodor Petrovich Litke, who had the idea of ​​​​creating this organization. Here you can familiarize yourself with the contribution of each of the honorary members of the Russian Geographical Society to this matter, as well as trace its history up to the present.

Practical information

Address: st. Zagordyansky, North Side district, Sevastopol.

How to get there: the easiest way to get to the Konstantinovskaya Battery is by bus with organized groups.

Opening hours: the museum is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 16:00 by prior arrangement.

Entrance: to the courtyard - admission is free, visiting the museum with a guided tour - 300 RUB per person. Prices on the page are for October 2018.