Site visited June 2013. I visited this site when Crimea was still under Ukrainian rule. It has been inscribed just a few days earlier.

Chersonese or Chersonesus is an ancient Greek colony located in the southwestern Crimea near the port city of Sevastopol. The World Heritage Site includes the complete ancient polis and seven fragments of its chora. The main archaeological area is quite large (30 hectares) and it is located on the shore of the Black Sea. Excavations include structures from Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine era.

Chersonese is a popular day trip destination from Sevastopol. It is easy to reach by taxi which takes 20 minutes from the center. On the cliffs just beside the area there were lots of people swimming and sunbathing. Therefore a big part of the crowds at the site are not that interested in antiquity itself.

On the main gate there is a small entrance fee. Directly after the entrance on the left side is a small Greek theater behind of which there is a large cistern. On the southeastern corner of the area near the entrance there are remains of huge defensive walls which are quite impressive. On the place of the ancient central square there is nowadays Saint Vladimir Cathedral which was originally built in the mid 19th century and destroyed during the World War II. The cathedral was reconstructed in the 1990s. Saint Vladimir Cathedral with its golden dome is the centrepiece of the site and it could be seen everywhere in the area. Going downhill after the cathedral there is a main street along which the best archaeological structures are located. Maybe the most famous single excavated building is the so called ’1935 Basilica’ which is beautiful with the Black Sea on the background. It has one standing wall with two door openings and several marble columns. On the site there are also numerous other churches, basilicas and residential blocks.

Within the archaeological area is also so called Bell of Chersonese which is a Russian Navy memorabilia and also one of the symbols of Sevastopol. The bell seemed to be the favourite of the local tourists.

This WHS includes also seven small sites outside the main archaeological area. These are the fragments of chora which are basically remains of the land plots of the citizens of Chersonese. I didn’t visit those sites but looking closer the places on the map, there isn’t a lot to see. Maybe those are of significance only to the committed archaeologists.

I spent three hours at the site. There is really quite a lot of things to see. It was a pleasure to explore the vast archaeological area while enjoying the warm summer winds of the Black Sea. I found the cathedral and the excavations with numerous columns very photogenic. Watching the crowds of relaxed people strolling amid the ancient monuments there was same kind of a holiday feeling than in the similar archaeological sites in Greece.

Having visited several Greek and Roman archaeological sites, I found this site well worth of inscription. What makes it unique is its location in the Crimean peninsula and the testimony of the exchange of influences between different regions and cultures. It is interesting what the future of this site will be in the current political situation.