Description of dacha Stamboli in Feodosia (Crimea)

The Crimean peninsula is famous for its ancient history, starting from the ancient Greek colonies, as well as numerous architectural monuments of later times. One of them is the Stamboli dacha in Feodosia.

A beautiful palace from an oriental tale, which is the hallmark of the city of Feodosia, is known as the Stamboli dacha. Who was this man with such an unusual name?

Joseph Veniaminovich Stamboli (Karaite by nationality) was one of the three sons of the Crimean tobacco manufacturer. After the death of his father, he became the head of a prosperous, profitable enterprise. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he decided to build a summer house on the seashore as a gift to his wife in honor of the tenth wedding anniversary.

The building was designed and supervised by the well-known St. Petersburg architect Oscar Wegener. The customer repeatedly intervened in the process, made changes to the style, elements of external and internal decoration. Construction was carried out from 1909 to 1914 and cost a substantial amount - more than one million rubles.

However, the family did not enjoy their new home for long. Revolutionary upheavals and the subsequent Civil War forced the businessman to give up everything and leave Russia. Stamboli with his wife and two daughters moved to Turkey, and then to France, where he also took up trade.

The mansion was at first completely looted, and then changed many "owners". Soon after the revolution, they even wanted to demolish the house.

At first, in 1920, it housed the local branch of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, then there was a sanatorium. During the Great Patriotic War, when the Crimea was occupied by the Nazis, the villa was adapted for a German hospital.

After the war, there was a pioneer camp here, and in 1952 a sanatorium was organized again. Since 1984, the building has housed a drug treatment center.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, hard times began in the life of this architectural monument. During the 90s, the history of the mansion was very sad - it received more damage than during the revolution and all the wars. A bank, a hotel, and an elite restaurant under the appropriate name - “Dacha Stamboli” worked in turn here.

Only in 2013, caring people made a decision to create a museum, but the dacha at that time was, one might say, in a rather miserable state.

The situation changed after the Republic of Crimea became part of the Russian Federation. For major repairs and large-scale restoration, the government transferred 150 million rubles. Many interior details had to be restored using archival data and old (pre-revolutionary) photographs.

The architectural style of dacha Stamboli can be described as Art Nouveau with Moorish and Oriental elements. There is also a similarity with the mausoleum of the Indian maharaja and partly with the mosque and minarets. All this, together with the rich decor, makes the building look like a magical palace from Arabian tales.

Its total area is just over 1,500 square meters.

The complex consists of two floors and includes a tower of four tiers, minarets, domes, covered terraces, columns. Inside the house is decorated with openwork lattices, stucco molding, gilding, wood and stone carvings, mosaics. The arches are lancet. The floor is covered with expensive parquet with a pattern of valuable wood species, the doors are massive, wooden, covered with carvings. Large windows offer a magnificent view of the sea and the promenade. There is a park around the cottage, where ancient trees have been preserved.

The internal layout consists of a large number of rooms for a wide variety of purposes. There was the owner's study, several living rooms, halls, bedrooms, nurseries, a winter garden with a fountain, a dining room, and numerous utility rooms.

The interior makes a strong impression due to the mixture of styles, with the predominant oriental one.

Since 2013, the building houses the Black Sea Underwater Research Center and the Museum of Underwater Archeology. The expositions showcase the most interesting artifacts found during the examination of the bottom of the Black Sea in the coastal area around the Crimean Peninsula and belonging to a variety of historical eras and countries.

Here are ancient Greek amphorae, shards of pottery, anchors, coins, details of ship hulls, weapons, jewelry, jewelry, ship logs and some other documents.

Underwater archeology as a science first emerged about a hundred years ago in the Crimea, in Fedosia. After a difficult period of decline in the nineties and early 2000s, work has been resumed, and now young scientists are successfully continuing the work of their predecessors.

The Center was recently awarded a grant from the Russian Geographical Society. Thanks to this, it is planned to increase the survey area. And also there was an opportunity to involve volunteers. Projects for new underwater archaeological expeditions have been developed, including those for the study of sunken cities of the times of antiquity, as well as lost ships.

The staff of the Center have found the descendants of the Stamboli dynasty in France and are in contact with them.

In 2016, a full-scale renovation began in the museum and in the surrounding area. The floors were removed and updated, emergency areas were removed, and some decorative trim elements were restored. Work is also underway in the adjacent park. But by the summer season 2019, the complex plans to start receiving visitors again.

A beautiful dacha-palace is a pearl, the main attraction of the city of Feodosia. Numerous tourists who come to Crimea admire this architectural masterpiece.

Address - Aivazovsky Avenue, 47a. It is almost in the very center of the city.

You can walk from the bus station (distance two kilometers): to the south, first along the street. Fedko, then turn onto st. Ulyanov and walk until the intersection with Aivazovsky Ave., where turn south again. Minibuses # 2 and 2A run in the same direction, regularly, with an interval of ten minutes. You need to get off at the Listovnichey Street stop. From it to the architectural landmark about three minutes walk.

The railway station is also not far from it, it will take about twenty minutes to walk to the dacha, you need to go along Aivazovsky Avenue. You can get there by bus: from the stop "Kniga" to the cinema "Ukraine". The way from it to the monument will take no more than four minutes.

People usually come to Crimea on vacation from April to September. However, in order to visit the museum, any time of the year is suitable.

Dacha Stamboli in the city of Feodosia is not only a masterpiece of architectural skill, a celebration of mixing styles, luxurious interiors and a rich history, but now it is also a collection of artifacts raised by submariners from the bottom of the sea, as well as interesting discoveries of archaeologists that help in a new way to see and evaluate the historical events of our country (both in the distant past and in a relatively recent time).

You can take a closer look at Stamboli Palace in the next video.