Akkerman Fortress (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi)

Ukraine / Odeska / Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy / Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
 museum, place with historical importance, fortification, Eclectic (architecture), interesting place, invisible, listed building / architectural heritage, historic site, 13th century construction, tourist attraction
The fortress was built right next to the former Pontic Greek colony of Tyras (Greek name of Dniester). Today the fortress is a historical landmark of national importance and a popular tourist site located on shores of a big Dniester lagoon (locally as liman).

==History==
In the 6th century BC Greek colonists established town of Opheususon which is located on the site of present day Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky.

In the 5th century BC it was named Tyras.

In the 4th century BC it became a major trading center, occupying and area of more than twenty hectares.

In the 1st century Tyras became part of the Roman Empire.

In the 3rd century, as the Western Roman Empire declined so did the importance of Tyras.

In the 9th century Pontic Slavs rebuilt the town and called it Bilhorod (White city).

During the 13th century the Mongols pillaged the city. It was later rebuilt.

In the last of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century Bilhorod was part of the Moldavian Voivodeship (Hospodar) and was known as Cetatea-Alba (Romanian for White city).

In 1484 the Ottoman Empire plundered Bilhorod. It was renamed Akkerman (White fortress).

In 1812 after the Russian-Turkish war the Bucharest peace treaty gave up town to Russia. It was part of the Bessarbia Government and officially carried name of Belgorod.

With fall of the Russian monarchy the empire was falling apart and in place of Bessarabia region was revived the Moldavian State. In 1918 the government of Moldavia united with the Kingdom of Romania and thus the historic region of Budzhak where Bilhorod is located was passed to Romania. In Soviet historiography it portrayed as Romanians occupied the territory.

In 1940 The Soviet Union forced Romania to yield Bessarabia and Bukovina and until 1941 Bilhorod (Belgorod) became part of Izmail region (Ukrainian SSR) when it was overran by the Axis armed forces.

In August 1944 the Soviets again showed how much they loved to change names and confuse locals and foreigners alike by renaming Akkerman to the old name of Bilhorod (Belgorod). Since Bilhorod (Belgorod) is the name of another city of the Central Chernozem region, the Soviets added "Dnistrovsky" to the name.

During World War two, like Odessa, the city fell to the Romanian administration as part of Transnistria region

www.fondazione-delbianco.org/inglese/InsertNews/Akkerma...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyras
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   46°12'0"N   30°20'58"E

Comments

  • Aici este Cetatea Alba
  • Cetatea-Alba war the biggest moldavian fortress. Today is under ucrainian occupation...in ruins. Till 1940 was romanian territory. It has nothing common with ucrainian history.
This article was last modified 12 years ago