Royal mound
From the summit of Mount Mithridates in Kerch you can see two gray hills. It is famous Melek-Chesmensky and Tsarskiy (royal) burial mounds. Inside them there are the stone vaults, silent witnesses of Pantikapei’s past glory. Both monuments were built, presumably, in the second half of IV century BC.
Tsarskiy mound is a funerary monument from the 4th century BC, 5 km from Kerch.
It belonged to one of the kings of the Bosporus, most likely to Levkon I (389-349 BC), who made the Bosporus powerful and economically prosperous.
The construction consists of the burial chamber and the corridor. The walls are built of huge limestone squares.
The length of the corridor is 36 m, the corridor vault forms a corridor of 11 rows of slabs, consistently overhanging edges.
Royal mound was opened in 1837. This time in the history of the Kerch Peninsula is known as the “gold rush period”. The excavations were conducted under the direction of Anton Ashyk, the Director of the Kerch Museum of Antiquities.
Contrary to the expectations of archaeologists the mound was empty. The researchers found only the remains of a wooden sarcophagus and a few broken pieces of pottery.
Tomb had been looted during antiquity. However, judging by its size and impressive appearance, there is believed to be buried the representative of the Spartokid dynasty – Bosporan king Levkon I (389-349 BC).
The size of this mound is much bigger than the one of Melek-Chesmensky mound: its height is 17 m, the circumference is 260 m, and the diameter is 80 m.
It has a unique masonry arch – perfectly smooth circles, built of stone slabs. Filmmakers find them supernatural for architecture.
At the king’s burial mound you can also see the lapidary – diverse collection of antiquities: Stella, sarcophaguses, pedestals.
Under the embankment of 17 m height, there is a high stone vault (8.5 m). Currently the mound and the tomb itself are available for sightseeing.
Royal mound is a unique construction that has no analogues among the famous monuments of ancient architecture!
Kerch, town Adzhimushkay
for tours: (06561) 5-47-13
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
closed: Mondays
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