Theme Week Crimea – Balaklava

Monday, 24 March 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  3 minutes

© Iluvatar/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Iluvatar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government. It also is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevastopol Municipality. Balaklava has changed hands many times during its history. A settlement at its present location was originally founded under the name of Symbolon by the Ancient Greeks, for whom it was an important commercial city.

In 1954 Balaklava, together with the whole Crimea, passed from Russia to Ukraine. It became part of the independent state of Ukraine in 1991. Today there are over 50 monuments in the town dedicated to the remembrance of military valour in past wars, including the Great Patriotic War, the Crimean War and the Russian Civil War.

Balaklava Naval Museum - Arsenal © Tostan/cc-by-sa-3.0 Black Sea - West of Balaklava © J29/cc-by-sa-3.0 © Tomasz Wojtyś/cc-by-sa-3.0 Balaklava Naval Museum map © Tostan/cc-by-sa-3.0-de Balaklava Bay Panorama © Petar Milošević/cc-by-sa-3.0 © Iluvatar/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Balaklava Bay Panorama © Petar Milošević/cc-by-sa-3.0
One of the monuments is an underground, formerly classified submarine base that was operational until 1993. The base was said to be virtually indestructible and designed to survive a direct atomic impact. During that period, Balaklava was one of the most secret residential areas in the Soviet Union. Almost the entire population of Balaklava at one time worked at the base; even family members could not visit the town of Balaklava without a good reason and proper identification. The base remained operational after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started. This process saw the removal of the warheads and low-yield torpedoes. In 1996, the last Russian submarine left the base. The base has since been opened to the public as the Naval museum complex Balaklava.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on Wikivoyage Balaklava, Wikitravel Balaklava and Wikipedia Balaklava. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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