!!!Yevpatoria and Sasyk Lake, Crimea

Photos by Sergey Semenov,
member of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

5 March 2020

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Yevpatoria and Sasyk Lake, Crimea

An ancient city with a fascinating history lies on the coast of the
Black Sea and bears the name of Yevpatoriya. The first recorded mention
about the settlement located in the western part of Crimea is dated 497
BC. In Antiquity, it was called Kerkinitis (?e?????t??), in the medieval
ages, it bore the name of Güzliev. Overall, this settlement has been
functioning as a city for around 2,500 years. The three-time change in
the name of the city reflects the main historical milestones of this
area — the Greek colonization, birth of the Crimean Khanate, integration
into the Ottoman Empire and in 1783 — becoming a part of the Russian
Empire.

[{Image src='01_Yevpatoria.jpg' caption='Yevpatoria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='398'}]

A large number of unique buildings reminds of different historical
periods of this city. In 1552, the Juma-Jami Mosque was founded during
the reign of Devlet I Giray. The construction was inspired by the
example of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and was carried out using
limestone and shell-stone. The central hall is 22 meters high and has
two-storey side galleries and a 16-window mighty dome. In 2015, the
mosque was listed as a Russian Heritage Site, and in 2016, a 3-ruble
silver coin with the image of this mosque was issued as a part of the
Architectural Monuments of Russia series.

[{Image src='02_Yevpatoria.jpg' caption='Juma-Jami Mosque, Yevpatoria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='589'}]

The church of St. Nicholas of Myra was created to honour the memory of
the liberation of Yevpatoriya from enemy forces during the Crimean War.
Its construction began in 1893 for donations of the most ordinary
people, local authorities and representatives of different religious
communities. The church thereby became a dominant architectural monument
and one of the main landmarks of Yevpatoriya. In addition to being a
functioning orthodox temple, it is also an outstanding architectural
masterpiece. An octagonal hall is covered by a concrete solid dome
measuring 18 meters in diameter and 156.5 tons in weight. The temple is
the second largest and the second most capacious church in Crimea: it
can hold up to 2,000 people simultaneously.

[{Image src='03_Yevpatoria.jpg' caption='Sasyk Lake\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='418'}]

In addition to man-made landmarks, this area can boast of many
breathtaking natural landscapes. The largest lake in Crimea is among
them. Sasyk-Sivash Lake is adjacent to the east of Yevpatoriya, on the
way to Saky. Its area covers 75.3 square kilometres and measures 14
kilometres long and 9 kilometres wide. Previously, the lake was a part
of Yevpatoriya bay, but eventually turned into a separate drainless
water body and started to collect salt in its southern part.

[{Image src='04_Yevpatoria.jpg' caption='Sasyk Lake\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='630'}]

Nowadays the parts of the lake with salt and pure water are divided by a
dam. Sasyk-Sivash is the  Crimean Tatar for "stinking mud", referring to
a distinct hydrogen sulfide smell. Another remarkable feature of this
lake is its colour. Between May and August, the shallowing period, a
saltwater bacterium Dunaliella Salina lives in the lake. Increase in the
concentration of salt leads to a higher activity of the bacterium and
the synthesizing of B-Carotene and other chemical formations. This is
how the lake gets its various colours, ranging from pink in May to
orange-red at the end of summer.

[{Image src='05_Yevpatoria.jpg' caption='Sasyk Lake\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='589'}]

In addition, in calm weather the lake also features so-called griffons:
they are the underwater fountains that blow out the streams of water in
the salt part of the lake. Now there are around 40 griffons in the lake
that raise the level of water to 10 cm annually.

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[9 panoramas of Yevpatoria and Sasyk Lake, Crimea|Geography/Europe/Ukraine/Pictures/Evpatoria]

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