Mount Mithridates is the main dominant of the historical center of Kerch. On its top there were palaces and temples of the ancient Panticapaeum, the capital of the Bosporan kingdom. At the foot of the mountain there was a port and residential quarters. All the main sights of the city are within walking distance from Mount Mithridates.
If you look at the paintings and drawings where the image of Panticapaeum is recreated, you can see the wealth and power of the ancient city. The height of Mount Mithridates is only 91 meters, but this is enough to build a powerful citadel. Ancient historians wrote that the fortress walls and towers around Mount Mithridates surpassed the fortifications of the Athenian Acropolis. The city was located in a key place where all the trade routes of the Black Sea region and the Caucasus converged.
The ruins of the ancient Panticapaeum have been preserved on the northern slope of Mount Mithridates. Excavations at this site have been carried out since the middle of the 19th century, and now you can see the ruins of temples, fortress walls and the palace of the Bosporan kings. Mount Mithridates is named after the greatest of the Bosporan kings, Mithridates IV Eupator. During his lifetime he was called the King of Asia. He waged several successful wars with the Roman Empire. The Crimean city of Yevpatoria was named after him.
At the top of Mount Mithridates today there is a small round pavilion. An eternal Flame burns on its roof. In ancient times, there was a Citadel on this place – the most powerful fortress of Panticapaeum, as well as a huge Temple of Apollo, which outwardly resembled the Athenian Parthenon.
Nowadays, the ancient buildings on the top of Mount Mithridates have not been preserved. In 1944, immediately after the liberation of Crimea, a large area was cleared on Mount Mithridates, where a Stele of Glory was installed. Stones from the Trinity Cathedral were used to erect a large monument with a height of 24 meters. The Kerch Cathedral was founded in 1832. It was not destroyed during the German occupation, but was dismantled in 1944 to build an stele. The Stele of Glory on Mount Mithridates was opened on August 8, 1944. It became the first war memorial dedicated to the WWII, which was built on the territory of Russia.
A large area has been created around the stele, where various festive events are held. There is an viewing point with beautiful views of the center of Kerch. From here you can see all the terminals of the Kerch port, as well as the Kerch Embankment and Lenin Square.
Mount Mithridates can be reached from the city center by the Great Mithridates Staircase. This is a monumental architectural landmark of the city. The length of the staircase that ascends the western slope of Mount Mithridates is 423 steps. In length, it can be compared with the Chkalovsky staircase in Nizhny Novgorod. Its length reaches 442 steps. These two stairs are the longest of the monumental city stairs in Russian cities.
In the 19th century, there were wonderful buildings on Mount Mithridates that have not survived to this day. In the middle of the mountain slope was the Kerch Museum of Antiquities, which housed artifacts of the ancient Panticapaeum. It was founded in 1834 by the famous Kerch mayor Ivan Stempkovsky. The Museum of Antiquities was built as exact copy of the ancient Temple of Hephaestus in Athens.
It looked so impressive on the slope of Mount Mithridates that it became a symbol of the city. The museum was looted by the British during the Crimean War of 1853-56, but the building has been preserved. Later, a church was opened in it, but the building continued to collapse and in 1959 it was demolished. Nowadays, the city authorities are planning to restore the Museum of Antiquities.
On the top of Mount Mithridates there was a chapel over the grave of the mayor Ivan Stempkovsky, who did a lot for the development of the city. This chapel was one of the city`s dominants, but during the construction of the Stele of Glory in 1944, it was decided to demolish it. The chapel is also planned to be restored.
