The Swallow's Nest (Ukrainian: Ластівчи́не гніздо́, romanized: Lastivchýne hnizdó; Russian: Ласточки́но гнездо́, romanized: Lastochkíno gnezdó) is a decorative castle located at Gaspra, a small spa town between Yalta and Alupka on the Crimean peninsula. It was built between 1911 and 1912, on top of the 40-metre-high (130 ft) Aurora Cliff, in a Neo-Gothic design by the Russian architect Leonid Sherwood for a Russian noble with German roots, Pavel Leonardovich von Steingel.

The castle overlooks the Cape of Ai-Todor on the Black Sea coast and is located near the remains of the Roman castrum of Charax. The Swallow's Nest is one of the most popular visitor attractions in Crimea, having become the symbol of Crimea's southern coastline.

The first building on the Aurora Cliff was constructed for a Russian general circa 1895.[1][nb 1] The first structure he built was a wooden cottage romantically named the "Castle of Love."[2] Later on, the ownership of the cottage passed to A. K. Tobin, a court doctor to the Russian tsar.

In 1911 Russian noble with German roots Pavel Leonardovich von Steingel who had made a fortune extracting oil in Baku, acquired the timber cottage and within a year had it replaced with the current building called Schwalbennest.[1] The Scots Baronial and Moorish Revival styles had been introduced in the Crimea in the 1820s by Edward Blore, the architect of the Vorontsov Palace (1828–46). Compared to the Alupka and Koreiz palaces, the Swallow's Nest is closer in style to various German fairy-tale-inspired castle follies, such as Lichtenstein Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle and Stolzenfels Castle, although its precarious seaside setting on the cliffs draws parallels with the Belém Tower in Portugal, or Miramare Castle on the Gulf of Trieste outside Trieste, Italy.

In 1914, von Steingel sold the building to P. G. Shelaputin to be used as a restaurant.[1] For a short time after the 1917 Russian Revolution, the building was used only as a tourist attraction. In 1927, the Swallow's Nest survived a serious earthquake rated at 6 to 7 on the Richter scale.[3] The building was not damaged apart from some small decorative items that were thrown into the sea along with a small portion of the cliff. However, the cliff itself developed a huge crack. In the 1930s, the building was used by a reading club from the nearby "Zhemchuzhina" (Pearl) resort,[3] however it was closed shortly thereafter as a safety precaution due to the damage it had suffered in the quake, remaining closed for the next 40 years.

Renovation and restoration of the building began in 1968. The project involved the restoration of a small portion of the castle and the addition of a monolithic console concrete plate to strengthen the cliff.[3] Since 1975, a restaurant has operated within the building.[2] In 2011, the Swallow's Nest was closed for three months due to major restoration work estimated to cost 1,200,000 hryvnias ($150,000 USD).[4]

^ a b c "Restaurant, "Lastochkino gnezdo" – History". Restaurant, «Lastochkino gnezdo». Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 2006-08-18. ^ a b "Swallow's Nest Castle". Castles and cathedrals of Ukraine. castles.com.ua. Retrieved 4 July 2011. ^ a b c "Lastochkino gnezdo". Travel to Ukraine (in Russian). Retrieved 2006-08-18. ^ Beregovaya, Tatyana (30 June 2011). "Lastochkino gnezdo will open in July". Segodnya (in Russian). Retrieved 4 July 2011.


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

Photographies by:
Дмитрий Мозжухин - CC BY 3.0
Statistics: Position
3118
Statistics: Rank
37777

Add new comment

Esta pregunta es para comprobar si usted es un visitante humano y prevenir envíos de spam automatizado.

Security
369712458Click/tap this sequence: 5665

Google street view

Where can you sleep near Swallow's Nest ?

Booking.com
487.403 visits in total, 9.187 Points of interest, 404 Destinations, 29 visits today.