Yevpatoria, Crimea Region, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Yevpatoria (Євпаторія) is a city of regional significance in Western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrative centre of Yevpatoria Municipality, one of the districts (raions) into which Crimea is divided.

History The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis (Κερκινίτις), was built by Greek colonists around 500 BCE. Along with the rest of the Crimea, Kerkinitis formed part of the dominions of King Mithridates VI Eupator (r. 120–63 BCE). The name of the modern city derives from his nickname, Eupator ("of a noble father").

Khanate period From roughly the 7th through the 10th centuries, Yevpatoria was a Khazar settlement; its name in Khazar language was probably Güzliev (literally "beautiful house"). It was later subject to the Cumans (Kipchaks), the Mongols, and the Crimean Khanate. During this period the city was called Kezlev by Crimean Tatars and Gözleve by Ottoman Turks. The Russian medieval name Kozlov is a Russification of the Crimean Tatar name. For a short period between 1478 and 1485, the city was administrated by the Ottoman Empire. Afterward, it became an important urban centre of the Crimean Khanate.

The 400-year-old Juma-Jami Mosque is one of the many designed by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. It was built in 1552-1564. 35-metre minarets rose on the flanks of the building. The mosque was of great state significance. It was here that a ceremony of the declaration of rights of the Crimean Khans was held at their enthronement. Only after that did they go to their capital, the city of Bakhchysarai.

Yevpatoria became a residence of the spiritual ruler of the Crimean Karaites, the Ḥakham. In this connection, a complex of two prayer houses was built under the supervision of the Rabovich brothers, in which the Renaissance and Muslim architectural styles entwined in a most unusual manner. The ensemble organically incorporates three courtyards. The entrance to it is marked by gates, built in 1900, which look like a refined triumphal arch.

Russian rule In 1783, along with the rest of Crimea, Kezlev was captured by the Russian Empire. Its name was officially changed to Yevpatoriya in 1784. This spelling of the city name came to the French, German, Spanish, and English languages at the end of the 18th сentury.

Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz visited the town in 1825 and wrote one of his Crimean Sonnets here; it was later translated into Russian by Mikhail Lermontov.

The city was occupied in September 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War prior to the Allied landing in Kalamita Bay, after which the Battle of the Alma south of the bay followed. It became a garrison of Ottoman troops later during the war and was the site of the Battle of Eupatoria in February 1855, which was the largest military clash in the Crimean theatre outside the Sevastopol area.

1930s-present Natural factors at Yevpatoria created beneficial conditions for the treatment of osteoarticular tuberculosis and other children's diseases; in 1933, at a scientific conference in Yalta, it was agreed that among Soviet resort towns for the organization of children's resorts, most people approved Yevpatoria. In 1936, the Soviet government placed the All-Union children's resort in Yevpatoria. In 1938, the approved plan of a general reconstruction of the city.

During World War II, sanatoriums were used as military hospitals. By 1 July 1945, Yevpatoria operated 14 sanatoriums, and have taken 2,885 people. By the 1980s, the city operated 78 sanatoriums for 33 thousand people.

Today, Yevpatoria is a major Black Sea port, a rail hub, and a resort town. The main industries of the city include fishing, food processing, winemaking, limestone quarrying, weaving, manufacturing, machinery, furniture manufacturing, and tourism.

Yevpatoria has spas of mineral water, salt, and mud lakes. These resorts belong to a vast area with curative facilities where the main health-improving factors are the sunshine and sea, air and sand, brine and mud of the salt lakes, as well as the mineral water of the hot springs. The curative qualities of the local mud was witnessed by the manuscripts of Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar (c. 80 BC).

In Ukraine On 24 December 2008, a blast destroyed a five-story building in the town. 27 people were killed. President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko declared 26 December to be a day of national mourning.

Two beaches in Yevpatoria have been Blue Flag beaches since May 2010, these were the first beaches (with two beaches in Yalta) to be awarded a Blue Flag in a CIS member state.

In 2014 due to the military operation of Russian Armed forces, the city of Yevpatoria was occupied by Russia with the entire Crimean peninsula. The UN General Assembly condemned the Russian operation and considered the annexation the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine—the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.

Economy and industry • Industry, Engineering • Agriculture • AO Vympel NPO (MicroElectronics and Electronics, circuits microchips IC, Electrical parts, connectors, optoelectronics television and other devices and machinery, metallurgy engineering technology) • Eupatoria Aircraft Plant and Repair EupAZ EARZ (An, Mi, Ka, Su, MiG, Yak, Il, Be, Tu; An-22, Su-25, MiG-31, Yak-38, Be-12, transport aircraft and amphibious) • Construction, Building

Education • Institute of Social Sciences (Branch), Crimean Federal University.

Area attractions Famous attractions within or near Yevpatoria are: • Juma-Jami Mosque • Eupatorian Kenassas • St. Nicholas' the Miracle Worker Cathedral • Tekie Dervishes.