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In the IX century Slavic tribes tivertsy and ulichi in place of ancient Tire built a city that received the name of the White City - Belgorod. Under this name, it became part of the ancient Russian state and soon turned into an important outpost on the border between Rus and Byzantium, which for centuries threatened the Kiev state, trying to seize its outlying lands. It is possible that during the campaigns against Byzantium the princes of Kiev - Oleg, Igor, Svyatoslav, stayed in Belgorod with their fighting detachments for rest, replenished provisions, repaired, built new boats and left from here to the Byzantine coast.

After the collapse of Kievan Rus, Belgorod became part of the Galicia-Volyn principality, whose lands stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea. In the second half of the 13th century these lands were invaded by nomadic tribes. After them, the Genoese came to the banks of the Dniester Estuary. Tradition says that for the storage of their goods, the Genoese merchants built here a small but quite strong castle, which still towers on the rocky shore of the estuary and is called the Genoese. However, studies of architectural forms, the method of masonry, the composition of the solution, the use of plant fibers and so-called pottery (grated brick) in it give reason to judge of its earlier origin, perhaps, Byzantine. But the use of this structure as a trading factor does not cause doubts.

The greed of the overseas merchants had no limit. Having taken the trade to their hands, they tried to seize administrative power in the city. Belgorod residents did not tolerate uninvited guests for a long time. Soon they were expelled from these lands and Belgorod was declared a free city.

In the XIV-XV centuries the territory between the Dniester and the Prut was part of the Moldovan state. Almost a century Belgorod was the capital of the Southern Province of Moldova. This period is marked by the rapid development of trade, crafts, a noticeable economic recovery. An outstanding scientist and writer of the 15th century, the rector of the famous Bologna University, Yuri Drogobych (Kotermak), who lived for some time in Belgorod, characterizes this city as a fairly large fair center.

• White city on the Dniester. Belgorod-Dnestrovsky. Or Ackerman?

Belgorod-Dnestrovsky and Ackerman are names from sixteen famous ones that had a city for their 2,500 years.

But the last, though Turkish, somehow more like many of its residents, it is more habitual than that. It seems that the white color is still played in the same way: Ak-Kermen is a white fortress.

But the Turkish origin of the name somehow irritated the Soviet leadership. The emperor-king, who won the province from the Turks, did not anger, but in the USSR for some reason there was no place for the glorious Akkerman. What is it, a sanctimonious officialdom or a desire to prove that Turks and Romanians will never return? What now and forever - since August 1944 - will only Soviet power? Not guessed right. Did not foresee. Enough for only 46 years. The new toponym remained. And several centuries of "experience" with the name "Akkerman" did not outweigh the post-Soviet syndrome, the sense of some kind of historical mission. The attempts made at the beginning of the 90s to return this name have died out, and, to put it mildly, they forgot. There remains the surprise caused by the persistent refusal of the central mass media to refer to residents as "Belgorod-Dnestrovtsi". They (the media) for some reason call us Belgorod, as, strictly speaking, and according to the rules of the Russian language.

A new round of toponymic passions was caused by decrees on the renunciation of Soviet symbols in the names. This discussion has flared up. But maybe it's worth speculating without emotion?

Unlike the American Fifths or the twelfth "Street" and "Avenue", we have a tradition to call the streets in honor of famous people, outstanding, world-renowned heroes. In any case, the names of parks, squares, streets and squares are correlated with the contribution of these people to history. The only question is whose.

For example, there are cities born "by the will of the sovereign" or streets where once lived and created a famous person. Here is the name from the descendants - Kherson, Pushkin Street, Petersburg, the city of Shevchenko, etc. There are cities born of a surge in the Soviet economy, demanding metal and coal. And they have such names. The sign of the era.

Accordingly, the tradition required for streets names that corresponded to the spirit of the times, the worldview of leaders, the proposed or imposed value system. After the collapse of the Union in all its boundless expanse were the names of cities and streets, invented to perpetuate the heroes of the revolution. Today many of them are renamed, many are returned to old names.

Eloquent example - Odessa times of the first campaign in the mayors of Edward Hurwitz. A radical turn from the Soviet toponymy was demonstrated by the mentality and "national traits" of the people of Odessa. But strangely enough, our city, and not only ours, did not follow the example of the city of the dominant, regional center, the city - a model to follow. And remain in our Akkerman streets of Lenin, Engels, Kirov, Kalinin, Dzerzhinsky, other leaders of the communist movement in the twentieth century. By the way, none of them had ever been here, and made no personal contribution to local history. The exception is local revolutionaries Leon Popov and Virgil Shanzer-Marat.

In general, in the author's opinion, until we have an abundance of Soviet names, until then we will be able to finally enter the present. For two and a half thousand years of the history of the city, for the first time, a very short period of time is hampered by us, which can only be called a short burst of wind in history. And that this wind does not fly past us, you need to change. Of course, one should not cross out everything indiscriminately and thoughtlessly. But the system of rigid criteria should be introduced. Was not here, did nothing for the city or the edge - we cross out. After all, there are the same events and people who did not allow this city to dissolve, crumble, disappear in history. There is much that I knew, saw, felt, preserved and saved the city itself.

"How do you call a boat - so it will float" - a phrase known. So maybe, somewhere in thoughts, forms, in psycho-toponymy, there is success, a chance to revive the White City? I think that the course of "autopilot", according to which it (the city) is going today, does not suit many. But the course remains, although few of the young people will correctly answer the question of the role and significance for the city of such comrades as Kalinin, Dzerzhinsky, Kirov, Ordzhonikidze and other communist bonzes. I am sure that any professionally conducted social survey will confirm my assumptions. So what are our people afraid of? Shadows of forgotten ancestors? Perturbations of pensioners? Probably, they are not afraid of anything - they just do not think about it.

Raising the problem of renaming, their initiators will necessarily stumble upon misunderstanding and resistance from several sides at once. Some opponents will refer to the lack of finance, others that these very finances need to be spent on the needs of citizens, and not on new signs with street names. Some will beat the bell over the preservation of historical memory ...

Yes, ideology sits deep. Nostalgia for the USSR. Soviet street names for many are associated with a cloudless past, with a comfortable "stagnation" when the city was flowing "milk rivers in the shoestring shores." Most of the officials or deputies are pupils of Soviet scales and institutions and accordingly are not ready for such radical steps not only in the city, but also in their own thoughts. Not ready.
But I will still call this city Ackermann ...

«Belgorod-Dnistrovsky fortress»
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Belgorod is the most ancient city of the Dniester - Prut interfluve, located on the right bank of the Dniester River, 20 km from the Black Sea.

Historical and archaeological materials confirm the existence of the earliest stages of its development:
- Late classical and Hellenistic time (VI century BC - I century AD),
- Roman and Late Antique time (IV AD - IV century AD).

Founded in the VI. BC. Milesian Greeks at the mouth of the deep Tiras (Dniester), a city called Tira, plays a significant role in the trade of the colonists with the population of the Lower Dniester and the Danube region. This slaveholding policy with an oligarchic form of government has close relations with Athens, Miletus, Phasos, Lesbos, Corinth, Rhodes, Istria Olvia, and others.

In the middle of the 1st c. BC. Tire obeys Burebist - "the first and greatest among the kings of Thrace and the possessor of all lands on both sides of the Danube," and as a result of the Western expansion of the Roman Empire, it was incorporated in the middle of the first century. AD in the province of Moesia. The peaceful life of a prosperous city is abruptly interrupted in the second half of the III century. AD after its defeat by the Goths, and in the second half of the 4th century. AD the remaining part of the settlement dies in a fire, possibly during the Hun attack.

Unfortunately, the history of the early medieval settlement is still unclear. Some suggest that on the ruins of ancient Tire, the Slavic tribes of the Antes base their residential formation. Others believe that on the same ruins they build their "dawa" of Geto-Dacians. Someone is convinced that in the VII century. The settlement, conquered by Asparuh, enters the borders of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. You can read about the Slavic tribes of the Tivertians and the ulcers, who founded here in the second half of the 1st millennium the city of Belgorod, which has special significance in the defense of Kievan Rus. According to a number of historians, in the X century. Through Belgorod, the path of the soldiers of Oleg, Igor and Svyatoslav lay. There are also allegations that after the collapse of Kievan Rus Belgorod (Fehervar) belongs for a while to the Hungarian kingdom, and then it is part of the Galicia-Volyn principality, where it remains until the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

But it should be noted that at present there is no exact scientific evidence shedding light on the history of the city in the 7th - early 13th centuries. The contradictory nature of the sources, onomastic puzzles and the differences of the researchers in connection with the dating of archaeological finds all complicate the study of the genesis and evolution of the medieval settlement. One can also doubt the attempts to identify the Belgorod citadel with the abandoned Aspron fortress mentioned in the middle of the 10th century. Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Even if we assume that Aspron is Belgorod on the Dniester, the "abandoned" fortress in the X century. perhaps, most likely, the ancient strengthening of Tire. Also, one can not say for sure whether Armukastra and Akliba, which were designated on the map of 1154 by the Arabian geographer Idrisi, belong to the city on the Dniester estuary. Very brief information is limited to the Black Sea Dniester-Danube expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, equipped in 1977-1980. to search for the medieval Slavic layer in Belgorod. As for the earliest local Golden Horde archaeological material, it dates back to the late 13th century.

Only since the XIV century. you can talk about the exact mention of the city under all sorts of names: Mo (n) Castro, Monte Castro, Asprocastro, Albi Castri, Belgorod, Ackerman, etc. Still some researchers insist on the end of the 13th century when information appears about Malvokastro and Maurokastrum. Since we take into account the hypothesis of the existence of two different cities in the mouth of the Dniester (White City and Black City), then we refer all the information about the Malvokastro-Maurokastrum to the understudy of Belgorod.

It is known that the rulers of the Golden Horde, which reached in the second half of the 13th century. - the first decades of the XIV century. deltas of the Danube, contribute to the founding of the northern Black Sea Italian trading stations. After the Nymphaean Treaty of 1261, concluded with the Nicaean monarch Michael VIII Paleologue, and, possibly, after private agreements with the Mongolian khans, the Genoese merchants penetrate the Black Sea basin and the lower Danube.

Belgorod is becoming one of the largest ports of the Genoese Republic, often visited by Byzantines, whose trade relations include all the Danube and Black Sea trading stations. Note that the urban specificity of the Golden Horde Belgorod is akin to the East Byzantine one.

Another feature of the city is the absence of closely located rural settlements.

Today, historians have not yet recorded with sufficient accuracy the beginning of the Moldavian period in Belgorod. With the strictest approach to historical facts, it can be argued that the first mention of it in the composition of Moldova is contained in the graft of Alexander the Good to Lviv merchants of 1408.

But there are a number of indirect evidence pointing to an earlier date:

• the title of the prince of Roman I Musash (1391-1394 gg.): "The voevoda possessing the Moldavian land from the planina to the sea shore" and "the voevoda Moldavian and the dedich of the whole Voloshsky land from the Polonin to the Bereg of the Sea" (territorial integrity of the principality including sea ​​coast, is impossible without Belgorod possession);
• the mention of Belgorod among the Bulgarian and Wallachian cities in the list dated 1388-1394, compiled by the head of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Kipriyan: "To the mouth of the Dniester River over the Belgorod, Chernaya Yaski, bargaining on the Prut river." Romanov bargaining in Moldova. in the mountains Korochyunov Kameni, Sočiava, Seret, Baia, Chechun, Kolomiya, Town on Cheremosh, On the Dniester, Hoteni, A Bulgarian and Voloskiy grad ";
• the transfer of the last segment of the trade route Lviv-Black Sea from the left side of the Dniester to its right side around 1380, with the simultaneous change of the name "Tatar way" to the "Moldovan road". Naturally, this event could take place only after Belgorod entered the Moldovan part.

Earlier in 1380, the situation remained unclear. Deserves attention to the original hypothesis of O. Hurki, according to which Belgorod ("clavis Litvaniae" - "key of Lithuania") was won from the Lithuanians. It is possible that until the end of 1374 - the beginning of 1375 gg. the city is ruled by the representative of the Lithuanian dynasty, Yuri Koriatovich, on the orders of the Grand Duke Olgerd, who drove the Tatars from Podolia after the battle on the Sinyuha River (Blue Water) in 1362-1363.
The end of the rule of the Golden Horde khans in Belgorod can be attributed to the end of the 6th - the beginning of the 7th decade of the 14th century.

Another interesting hypothesis belongs to P.P. Byrne, who suggested that the city could be part of Moldavia between 1375 gg. and 1386, when the Constantine appeared in one of the documents of the Kaff Massaria, stored in Genoa, before the "Peter the Commander"), when the ruler of Belgorod and the whole of Paratalasia (the future maritime region of the Moldavian principality - a note of the author) . The same name is found in other medieval sources.

But the most reasoned, in our opinion, hypothesis belongs to Sht.S. I am honored to believe that Moldova could have captured Belgorod in 1377-1378, most likely Lithuanians, with whom there was a serious military conflict in 1377.

From the moment of inclusion in the city of Moldova, the city is a privileged community that has the right to mint its own coins. They were minted the Greek name of the city and the state emblem in the form of the head of the tour.

Consolidation of the Moldovan state by combining small Wallachian principalities and voivodships between the Eastern Carpathians and the Black Sea required the creation of a powerful defensive system. The danger from the Golden Horde and Hungary led to a political rapprochement between Moldova and Poland: the oath brought by the Moldovan lord Peter I Mushat in 1387 to the Polish king Wladyslaw II Jagiellon meant state security and the beginning of serious defense construction.

A well-thought-out network of fortifications covered the main routes leading to the interior of the country: from the north and north-east - Suceava, German, Khotyn, Khmelev and Cecin fortresses, and from the south-east - Belgorod fortress. It is not excluded that the latter could be erected on the orders of the first mushhatinov at the time of organizing the defense of the Black Sea coast.

Despite the fact that the Lyubovlinsky Treaty of 1412 establishes a Polish suzerainty over Belgorod, the city remains de facto in the possession of Alexander Dobroi. It seems that after the Turkish siege of 1420, serious defensive works in the fortress were carried out, under the supervision of the governor Podolia Geldigold, with the help of the Lithuanian prince Vitolt.

In the middle of the XV century. Belgorod is drawn into the internecine conflict of the sons of Alexander Good - Ilyas I and Stephen II. For a while it becomes the residence of the Lord and the capital of Lower Moldova. Greek chronicler Laonik Khalkokondilas calls this country "Black Bogdaniya", which has a capital city in the so-called Leukopolis (White City - note author).

New works on rebuilding the fortress unfold in 1440 under Stefan II. Then it is fortified in 1454 under Alexander II (Alexandrele): the commander Stancul equips the existing walls with powerful tools for guns.
The period of the reign of Stephen the Great (1457-1504 gg.) Remains unsurpassed in the scope of serfdom in Moldova. The defensive structures of the principality, which meet all the requirements of military-engineering art, can compete with the best examples of European serf architecture. The main strongholds of the defensive system are stone fortresses, dispersed throughout the country along the Dniester and near it (Hotin, Orhei, Belgorod), near Prut (Tsetsin), inland from Transylvania (Suceava, Neamt, Roman) and at the mouth of the Danube (Kilia - Lycostomo). Here you should add the city fortifications (Suceava, Iasi, Roman), the Gosdar residences (Suceava, Iasi, Bacau, Vaslui, Piatra Neamt, Botoshan, Hurlau, Cotnari, Birlad, Cush, Dorokhoy, Dimeken), fortified monasteries (Probota, Putna, Capitana, Moldovitsa, Neamt, Tazlau, Bistritsa, Patreuz, Voitin, Syntyl-Suceava, Voronets, Trestian, Dobrovets), wooden and earth defense facilities (Orhei, Tigina, Soroka, Birlad, Crachun), boyar residences (Hetman Arboret's courtyards in Schopot and Arbor, courtyard of logotologist Teutu from Balinese), etc. The army of Stephen the Great, well about Organized, was able to ensure the independence of the state, keeping the forces of Hungary, Poland and even the Ottoman Porte in strains.

   The Belgorod fortress is the mainstay of the whole southeastern part of the country and is under the constant control of the Moldovan gentlemen. "In 1457, Vlaika, Uncle Stefan defends her, then in the same year Stancul, his father's former enemy, but perhaps a particularly valued military leader , remaining the only one until 1466, when Zbiera comes to his aid, and then Balco, Between 1471 and 1474 there are mentioned Luke and Balco, in 1475-1476 Hyrman and Luke, and the last before the capture - Herman, Dumas and Oanae.As in Ardial, the double leadership in the fortress meant recognition of its importance. "

It is known that at the head of the Moldavian strongholds stood the pyracalaba. They are lambed for the maintenance and repair of fortresses, for ensuring city security, for organizing resistance to enemies, etc. In foreign policy documents, the Belgorod rubraclubs are called castellanami and captains. It seems that the problem of keeping the fortresses was solved with the help of the "work in the fortress" and "posada" (in this case, it is obligatory for the citizens to pay for defense needs).

After the Turkish attack of 1475, the Loka and Herman (Hyrman), the "pyracalabs", completed the construction of the "big gate", and three years later, under the Dirk and Herman pirkalabs, a new wall appeared. Now Belgorod is an important princely outpost, guarded by a permanent garrison, the administrative center of the cynot (the area of ​​the anonymity of the author) and a major seaport located on the intercontinental trade artery connecting the Krakov and Lviv through the Black Sea Kaffa and Constantinople.

The Moldavian segment of this settlement ends on August 5, 1484. The Ottomans long ago planned a big war with Moldova, wanting to seize Belgorod and Kilia first. Sultan Mehmed II calls these two border ports "the key to the gates of all Poland, Russia, Tataria and the whole Black Sea." The final attack was preceded by a thorough preparation of the ground forces (300,000 Turks and 70,000 Tatars, according to some sources) and the Navy (100 warships). For a whole week the attackers fell asleep a deep moat and dug trenches for artillery pieces. Then the fortress was fired from all sides. After two days of desperate resistance, the Moldovan garrison was forced to capitulate. It is incredibly difficult to explain the fall of this powerful, well-fortified structure in such a short time. In the Venetian annals Malipiero it is stated that "the five best people of the city" were sent to the Ottomans, and the Turkish sources speak of the betrayal of local boyars. Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi writes that "12 priests came out of the fortress and 10 keys from the fortress were handed in a precious chest." The Moldovan chronicler Grigore Ureche concludes that it is impossible for the Moldovan army, who was at that moment on the Danube, at Obluchitsa to join the battle: "Stefan Voevoda did not dare to go out into the open country, only the gorge is forced to be reckless." The victory of Bayazid II had a negative impact on the local population: out of 20,000 Belgorod residents there were only "200 families of fishermen", 200 boys were enrolled in janissaries, 200 girls got into Constantinople harems, many were taken into slavery. Moldo-Germanic chronicle in connection with the same event reports that "the Turks took Belgorod and brought with them a better population to Constantinople."
And yet in the winter of 1484-1485 gg. The Moldavian ruler is making an attempt to repel the fortress, thinking to overtake the enemy by surprise. But, despite all his efforts, Belgorod and Kilia remain the property of the Ottoman Porte.

The loss of these two cities significantly weakened the Moldavian principality. The country's economy suffered greatly: the transit trade along the "Moldovan road" was completely paralyzed. The general defense capability also worsened: now in just a few days the enemy could get to the capital.

In 1510, during the reign of the sovereign Bogdan III in Belgorod, the younger son of Bayazid II Selim raises rebellion, which seizes the fortress and owns it next year. In October 1538 Belgorod and Kiliya, as well as Budjak, Tigina (Bender) and Jankerman (Ochakov) are part of the new Ottoman province - Akkerman Sandjak.

During the XVI-XVII centuries. the city and its surroundings are witnesses of numerous military campaigns: they are Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks (in 1517, 1541, 1547, led by I. Pokotilo, in 1575, led by Yazlovetsky, in 1576, 1577, 1578, 1586 , 1589, led by the Ataman Kulago, in 1595, led by the hetman G. Loboda, and then S. Nalyvaiko, in 1601, 1602,1609, 1621, 1632, led by I. In 1684, 1686, 1691, 1693, under the leadership of Colonel S. Palia, in 1694, led by Colonel I Lizogub), these are Moldovans and Poles (Aron Voevoda in 1594 and supporter of the Lord A lexandra of the Grave - Koretsky in 1615-1616). Belgorod is not deprived of attention and Crimean Tatars: Khan Islam Girey is buried in the Akkerman "big mosque", other khans come here in the first half of the XVII century. At the same time in the XVII century. Belgorod residents are involved in dramatic events connected with the political unrest of the Crimean Khanate and the wars of the Ottoman Empire with Christian countries.

During anti-Turkish military companies Belgorod several times gets to the Russians: in 1770, he was conquered by the brigadier IA after a 10-day siege. Igelstrem commissioned by General-Field Marshal Count PA. Rumyantsev, and in 1789 he was captured without a fight with Tifur Pasha by Don Cossacks under the leadership of M.I. Platov, together with the Cossack Bug, sent by Prince GA. Potemkin-Tavrichesky. In both cases, the city was returned to Porte: the first time - according to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhy agreement in 1774, and the second - according to the Treaty of Yass in 1792.

In the company of 1789 Major-General M.I. Kutuzov, who "commanded the advanced cavalry and part of the Don Cossacks and was September 13th in the extermination of the enemy corps at Causeni and then at the capture of the fortress of Akkerman and Bender." In April 1790, M.I. Kutuzov was ordered to leave the Bugsky Jaeger Corps and go to Ackerman, "take command there" and organize reconnaissance of the movement of Turkish troops and ships.

In 1806 a corps entered Belgorod under the command of the Duke of AE. Richelieu. According to one source, Major Lovijko was sent to negotiate with the Turks, and according to others, Major-General E.Kh. Fershter with the Cossack ataman Prince Cantacuzino. According to the Bucharest Treaty of 1812, all the lands lying between the Dniester and the Prut go to the Russian Empire.

Returning to the fortress, we note all the construction works known to us, made here by the Ottomans between 1484 and the end of the 18th century:

• construction under Bayazid II of a new mosque in place of the former Christian church and rebuilding of the curbs and towers;
• repair of the fortress in 1576;
• strengthening of Melek Ahmed-Pasha complex in 1657;
• Construction in about 1707 of the first bastion line with the help of French engineers;
• reconstruction of the powder storehouse in the citadel in 1756.
• strengthening of the defensive ensemble in 1757-1770;
• Strengthening the defense power of the fortress in 1776. At this time, the chief architect Hafiz Ibrahim and the architects Ebubekir and Abdullah worked here, and Ali was the construction manager;
• A number of restoration and repair works in the fortress in 1777-1778. under the leadership of the Turkish architect Mehmed Tahir Aga. He was the chief court architect of Sultan Abdulhamid I. The chief of construction Selim, responsible for the delivery of the forest with the assistance of the Moldovan ruler Konstantin Moruzi, Mehmed Tahir Aga exercises control over all construction, and Turhan participates in the management of construction;
• a number of alterations in the fortress in 1779 under the leadership of the chief architect Mehmed Tahir Aga and architect Seid Yomer;
• the next restoration works in the fortress in 1793-1797;
• repair work in the fortress in 1798;
• reconstruction of the bastion line and stone walls in 1800.

Intensive construction activity was deployed here in 1807-1832. on the initiative of the Russian military command. Appended to the defensive structures of the second category, the fortress was turned into an armament warehouse and the location of military units.
Its history as an independent military object ends with its abolition in 1832.

Entrance to the fortress from the city side was carried out through the Main (Kiliya) gate - a powerful two-story stone structure with a lift bridge, two winged gates and two peaked gates.

Despite numerous historical events, repairs and restructuring, the fortress retained its original structure, is one of the best preserved monuments of the Middle Ages, and, in contact with this history, people will be surprised by its uniqueness.

The fortress attracts numerous filmmakers. Such famous films as "Ships storm bastions", "Othello", "Admiral Ushakov", "Expensive price", "Poem of two hearts", "Knight's castle", "Twenty years later" and many others were shot here. In recent years, the fortress is a favorite place for holding various knight tournaments under the auspices of the "Steel Digi". To see the knight battles in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky tourists come from different places of Ukraine "

* Study of medieval defense architecture
* Publisher: «ARC» 2001 year. ISBN: 9975-61-180-X
* Author: Mariana Shlapak

The city dates back to the VI c. BC when the Miletus, located in Asia Minor due to the Great Greek colonization began to show special activity, becoming "the mother of more than 90 cities along the shores of all the seas", incl. on the lands of Tavria and Colchis. To buy cattle and leather, grain and honey, wax and fish and sell olive oil, wine, expensive red and black lacquer ware, art objects, ornaments and other Greek masters' products, on the island washed by the two sleeves of Tiras (Dniester), the Milesians laid The policy, named Ophius ("city of snakes") due to the large number of reptiles. Soon, on the high right bank of the river, Tire grew - a settlement of Scythian farmers. Over time, the differences between the policies were erased, the population mixed up, forming a new community - Scythians, or mixellins. And when, due to the rise in the level of the World Ocean, Ophius was flooded - her inhabitants moved to hospitable Tire.

At the turn of the millennia on the shores of the Black Sea, there was a force that no one could defeat. The Roman Empire conquered Dacia in 107, went to the Danube and made it a border river. The outpost of the empire was Alba-Julia (now the city was called), where the soldiers of the V Macedonian, XI Claudian and 1st Italian legions were serving.

However, the ancient period of the city was already approaching the end - a wave of nomadic people more and more poured across the Roman border to flood the great empire and eventually destroy it. So, in 238, Alba-Julia was captured by the Gothic barbarians, who in 257 began building a pirate fleet in the city and began raiding the Roman provinces.

And already in 371, under the walls of the policy appeared hordes of Huns, who found accomplices in the face of the Scythian Greeks enslaved by the Goths. In the midst of the battle for the city, they opened the gates, through which the nomads burst. From complete destruction, the agreement with the emperor of the Roman Empire, which in 376 allowed almost two hundred thousand to settle in Moesia and Thrace, was ready to save. And the Hun conquerors, in gratitude to the unexpected allies, almost restored the historical name of the policy - Turis.

However, in the Hunnish army there were also Slavs who settled in the conquered city. And after three centuries it became the residence of the legendary Khan Asparuh, who subdued seven Slavic tribes and in 679 broke the Byzantine army. Two years later the first Bulgarian kingdom was founded on the lands reclaimed from Constantinople. This invasion became that powerful steam roller, after which the East Slavic tribe of Tivertz was established in the polis. It raised the city from the ashes, and since the basic building material was white limestone, it was called the White City.

IX century was marked by the arrival of nomadic eels to the Northern Black Sea coast, which eventually were replaced by Pechenegs. In far Kyiv, at first, they did not pay attention to this misfortune, and already in 907 Prince Oleg organized a great campaign of Russia to Byzantium, which was attended by Tivertz. Tsargrad insidiously avenged them, in 915, having set the Pechenegs on the White City. And although the fences and houses survived during the attack, more than half of the city's population was slaughtered and sold into Byzantine slavery. Over time, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus with maliciousness will write that on the right bank of the Dniester "there are empty cities; The first city is called the Pechenegs White, due to the fact that its stones seem white. "

In 1241 the city was conquered by the Tatars, who were the same Turks as the Polovtsians, and therefore without any problems perceived the lovely Turkic ear the name of Ak-Lib. But for a long time they did not stay there - in 1288 Khan Nogai, who needed funds to fight other Chingizids, for a generous payment gives the city to the Genoese merchants. As in a kaleidoscope, its names begin to change: The White Castle (Asprocastro) becomes Green (Malvocastro) and Castle on Mount (Monastro). And since 1362, when the rebellious townspeople expelled the annoying profiteers and moneylenders - even Black (Mavrokastro).

The city receives a free status, it occupies a prominent place in the economic life of the region: it develops handicrafts, coins coins, carries out profitable trade operations. At the end of the 14th century, Belgorod (and in a new way Cetatya-Alba, or Feger-Var) became part of the Moldavian principality, which was patronized by its suzerain - the Hungarian kingdom. The Moldovan hosts took care of restoring the old and building new defensive structures. The stones of the walls were sealed years - 1399 and 1432. The last contribution to the development of the fortress made Fedorko master, who built "this degree at the pious gentleman gospodarej Io Stefan Voevode prez and his boyar dominance and Ostrogradsky governor, in the summer of 6948" (1482).

Stephen the Great mobilized for the construction of 20 000 workers, so built in the Byzantine style fortress covers a total area of ​​nine hectares, the length of it built of local limestone barriers reached two kilometers, the height of the walls and towers - from seven to 15 m, and their thickness - from a half up to five meters. Being an irregular polygon in plan, the fortress consisted of four parts: a quarantine (economic) yard; The civil court, designed to protect the local population during the siege; garrison yard, where the barracks, stables and warehouses with weapons and gunpowder were located; the citadel where the commandant lived, and in which case - the officials were hiding, the command was located and the headquarters was located.

Along the fortress wall were built 26 towers (at first there were 34) - 12 combat and 14 deaf, serving for a bunch of curtains. From the eastern, western and southern sides the fortress was surrounded by a moat, the initial width of which reached 14 m, and the depth - 21 m. And its bottom lay three meters below the water level in the estuary. Where the ditch approached the estuary, special dampers were built, which in case of danger rose and filled it with water. To communicate with the outside world, the fortress had two gates. The main (Kilia) were located on the dry side in a two-tiered tower, equipped with two gates, two lowering bars and a lifting bridge; Ovidiopolskie gates went to the estuary. For the connection between the parts of the fortress, four other inner gates were built.

Together with Cilia, the fortress repeatedly became a serious obstacle to the expansion of the Turkish sultans. So, in 1420 the Ottoman fleet tried to seize the city, but was repulsed with considerable losses for it. In addition, Sultan Bayazid II considered Chetatya-Alba a gateway not only to Moldova, but also to Rzeczpospolita. In 1484, he gathered an unprecedented army, consisting of 300,000 Turks, 50,000 Crimean Tatars Mengli-Girey, and squads of Volokhs. Surrounded by both the dry land and the estuary, the city, without hope of salvation, defended itself from August 1 to August 16, but the forces were unequal ... Out of 20 thousand of its inhabitants, only 200 families survived, 4,000 people were sold into slavery.

To control the territory seized, the Tatars, who formed the Budjatsky horde with the center in Ak-Kerman (White Fortress), were resettled. Sometimes it was called dry and officially - Kerman, and even quite like Panjbratski Akja (white). Many 328 years old, with short breaks over the city were filled with the green banner of the Prophet, and the muezzin from the minaret calling the faithful to prayer, until the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812 all the land lying between the Dniester and the Danube, finally moved into the Russian Empire. The Bujac and Nogai Tatars were expelled to the Tauride Gubernia, and scattered human brooks flowed into the devastated sea, where Russians, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Jews, and Moldovans settled. A special role in the economic growth of the region belonged to German and Swiss colonists.

Already in the 20s of the XIX century. Ackerman has turned into one of the significant centers of the region. Intensively developed crafts and agriculture. The city was famous for its winemakers and fishermen.

According to the population census of 1897, 18,000 people lived in the city, and in 1914 - 29,000 people. To the territory of Ackerman belonged two villages of Papusha and Turlaki, where up to 17 thousand people lived. Given local conditions, special attention was paid to public education and health care. Education could be obtained in primary, parochial, private schools, in the gymnasium and in the teachers' seminary.

Despite the provincial position in the Russian Empire, Ackerman did not stand aside from political and cultural life. Many times the participants of the Decembrist movement MF arrived here. Orlov, OP Yushnevsky, I.I. Pushchin served in the 32th Regiment of Chasseurs VF. Rayevsky, in the military infirmary - Russian writer VI. Dahl. In December 1821 the city was visited by A.S. Pushkin, in the poem "The Gypsies" and the poem "To Ovid," the poet inspiredly reflected the pages from the history of the city. Impressions from visiting Akkerman were reflected in A. Mickiewicz's sonnet "Akkermanskie Steppe". Twice Akkerman visited the outstanding Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka, in 1891 the city was visited by A. Gorky. Repeatedly came here and the founder of the professional Ukrainian theater M.L. Kropivnitsky and talented actors Staritsky and the Tobilevich brothers.

Over time, the Akkermanskaya fortress lost its military-defense importance, and in 1832 it was removed from the registers as a strategic object, and in 1859, transferred to the city government. Bessarabian and Novorossiysk Governor Count Stroganov went further and allowed the Russian Association of Shipping and Trading to take limestone from the fortress walls to equip the pier. From the complete destruction of the fortress saved the fact that mining limestone from the quarry was much easier than dismantling the castle walls.

After the revolution and the Civil War, all Bessarabia and Ak-Kerman in particular fall under the rule of Romania. But during the Great Patriotic War the city returned to the Soviet Union (exactly one year before the war the city was part of the Ukrainian SSR) and the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 9, 1944, it returned the former name Belgorod with the definition of Dnestrovsky. Since that time, it has not changed. And enough - two dozen names for 2500-year history will suffice with interest ...

Nowadays, the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky fortress serves as a stage for many concerts, theatrical performances and festivals. During the summer period in the fortress, knight tournaments "Steel League", a theatrical performance "Storm of the Akkerman Fortress" are held. In addition, every year, within 3 days, in the walls of the fortress the youth festival "Fortetsya" is held. Excellent sound, light (laser show), large stage, classrooms, chic salon and a sea of ​​beer! All this against the backdrop of a medieval citadel, in the summer, overlooking the waters of the Dniester Estuary and the edge of the sea on the horizon

In addition to the remnants of the ancient city of Tire and the medieval fortress preserved: Oberkarganny stone crypt I in the. AD; The Sarmatian crypt; Greek church XIII - XIV centuries; Armenian church of the XIV - XV centuries. To later buildings are: St. Ascension Cathedral (1815 - 1820 gg.); The Bulgarian Church (1840); Church of St. Nicholas (1867); Synagogue (XIX century.).