Chufut-Kale
Çufut Qale
Чуфут-Кале | |
|---|---|
Historic settlement | |
Chufut-Kale cave city | |
| Coordinates: 44°44′28″N 33°55′28″E / 44.74111°N 33.92444°E | |
| Region | Crimea Crimea |
| Raion | Bakhchysarai Raion |
| Established | 6th - 10th century |
| Time zone | UTC+4 (MSK) |
| Official name | Фортеця і печерне місто “Чуфут-Кале” (Fortress and the cave city of Chufut-Kale) |
| Type | Architecture |
| Reference no. | 010082 |
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Chufut-Kale (Crimean Tatar: Çufut Qale Tatar pronunciation: [tʃuˈfut qaˈle]; Russian and Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале - Chufut-Kale; Karaim: Кала - קלעה - Kala) is a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains that now lies in ruins. It is a national monument of Crimean Karaites culture just 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Bakhchysarai.
Its name is Crimean Tatar and Turkish for "Jewish Fortress" (çufut/çıfıt - Jew, qale/kale - fortress), while Crimean Karaites refer to it simply as "Fortress", considering the place as a historical center for the Crimean Karaite community. In the Middle Ages the fortress was known as Qırq Yer (Place of Forty) and as Karaites to which sect the greater part of its inhabitants belong, Sela' ha-Yehudim (Hebrew for 'Rock of the Jews').