Panea Rock rises above the eastern side of Simeiz Park near the most popular Simeiz Beach. Opposite it, the Diva Rock rises from the sea water, the main natural attraction of Simeiz. "Panea" in Greek means the Mother of God. In the 13th century, during the era of Byzantine rule, there was an Orthodox church on the rock.
The height of the Panea Rock reaches 70 meters, it has a beautiful pyramidal shape. A suspension bridge is stretched between the rocks of Panea and Diva, where all lovers of extreme entertainment can walk over the sea at an altitude of more than 30 meters.
To this day, fragments of the Genoese fortress, which was founded in 1380, have been preserved on the Rock of Panea. In the 13th century, the Genoese received the right of duty-free trade in the Black Sea from the Byzantine Emperor Mikhail Palaiologos and built several fortresses on the Black Sea coast. The capital of their colonies was the city of Kafa (now Feodosia). In Sudak they built a Genoese fortress, which became their main military base in the Crimea. To protect the west coast, the Chembalo Fortress was built in Balaklava.
In the 1960s, the famous Crimean archaeologist Oleg Dombrovsky conducted archaeological excavations on the Panea rock. He found here traces of the Taurian settlement of the early Middle Ages. In the 10th century, a Byzantine monastery appeared on the Rock of Panea. It was captured and burned by enemies three times, but then it was restored again. In those years, the invasions of Mongol-Tatar and Khazar troops in the Crimea were regular. The last building of the Byzantine era dates back to the 13th century. During excavations on the Panea rock, a Byzantine mosaic depicting peacocks pecking grapes was found. Similar mosaics were found during the excavations of the Tauric Chersonese in Sevastopol.
The fortress in Simeiz was either an auxiliary outpost of the main Genoese fortress in Sudak, or there was a small castle of the Genoese feudal lord. In 1475, the Turks seized the Crimea and destroyed the Genoese fortress in Simeiz. After that, it was no longer restored and only small fragments of the walls from the Diva Rock side, as well as from the Simeiz Park side, have survived to this day.
