20+ rare PHOTOS of Imperial-era Crimea

History
RUSSIA BEYOND
The picturesque peninsula has its all: mountains, sea, fir trees and royal palaces. It was always an important military port, as well as the favorite summer resort for the tsar’s family and many Russian noblemen. Take a glimpse at how this unique place was like before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

1. The Crimean coast, 1890s

2. Nicholas II loved Crimea. Posing with wife, Alexandra, 1910s

3. The Inkerman cave monastery near Sevastopol, 1910

4. Nicholas II posing with his daughters, 1913

5. Simeiz landscape, 1890s

6. A horse carriage riding via Foros, the most southern and very cliffy point of Crimea, 1897

7. A lady standing among cypress trees, 1897

8. Yalta, the “Crimean Nice”, 1897

9. Ships docking in Yalta, 1897

10. Sellers at a market in Yalta, 1913

11. Yalta’s shoreline, 1890s

12. Leo Tolstoy posing with his daughter Alexandra in Crimea, 1901

13. A picturesque angle of the Crimean coast, 1900s

14. A family enjoying a picnic in Crimea, 1910

15. A father and son climbing the rocks in Alupka, 1890s

16. Bakhchysarai Palace, 1897

17. Princess Zinaida Yusupova (left) enjoying tea in Yusupov’s family palace in Koreiz, 1913

18. A horse carriage going through the Baydar Gate, a mountain pass to the Black Sea, 1897

19. A mother and son on summer holidays in Crimea, 1910

20. The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, 1897

21. The Saint Vladimir Cathedral in the antique city of Chersonesus, 1890s

22. Writer Anton Chekhov had dacha in Crimea. Here he is pictured walking with dogs in Yalta, 1903

23. The Massandra Royal Palace, 1910s

24. The Swallow Nest Castle, 1900s

25. Crimea is also famous for its wine. Pictured: a lady inspecting a vineyard, 1903