Crimea in the Presidential Library’s collections

The Presidential Library largely presented the collection on the history of the Crimea - from Taurica to the modern period at its website in the Internet and in the electronic reading room. The total amount of available for readers of the Presidential Library materials about the history of the peninsula is about 100 books, 200 archival cases and 450 postcards. The earliest book is dated 1783, the latest edition was published in 2012.

The materials include memories of travelers stranded on the peninsula for the first time. For example, Nicholas Sementovsky being fascinated by the beauty of the majestic Russia, recalls in his book "Traveler (the Southern Coast of the Crimea)": "Often my mind's eye wanders to distant places of  Russian and often enchanted by marvelous varied terrain I forget and imagine that I look in the magic glass, in which, how flowers and figures in a kaleidoscope, with every moment, at the slightest movement have new species of a formidable nature of the Caucasus, the charming Little Russia, the gloomy north, the romantic edge of the southern coast of the Crimea".

One of the first Crimean agreements was an agreement signed by the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III and the Crimean khan Mengli Giray. They entered into a military-political alliance directed against the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. In the book of Ivan Kalugin "Diplomatic relations between Russia and the Crimea, in the reign of John III", available to readers at the website of the Presidential Library, tells of the signing of the agreement: "This was the first step towards rapprochement with Russia Taurica: hence arose our diplomatic relations with the Crimea. Brought to life on the one hand, due to the far-sighted policy, and on the other - due to personal interests, and therefore necessary for both sovereigns, they have grown and evolved with each passing year more and more widely".

In 1783, after the Russian-Turkish war, the Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. Since that moment the peninsula has become the largest port, the construction of new cities - Simferopol and Sevastopol. The Crimea proved itself as a reliable stronghold in the Great Patriotic War. The books by Alexei Basov "The Crimea in the Great Patriotic War" and by Gennady Vaneeva "Heroines of the Sevastopol fortress" talked about the heroic defense of Sevastopol, which lasted 250 days, the Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation, the Eltigen Tierra del Fuego, a great feat of underground and partisan. For firmness and courage of the defenders of two Crimean cities - Sevastopol and Kerch were awarded the title of Hero City.

The book by Yekaterina Shamko "Partisan movement in the Crimea in 1941-1944" states: "In its struggle Crimean partisans had to endure extreme difficulties. They were stationed on a very limited area, almost constantly in the area of ​​concentration of enemy troops, sometimes far from the areas of operations of the Soviet Army. Often, surrounded on all sides, they were forced to trench warfare".

The materials on the history of the Crimean peninsula reveal the historical features of the land, attracting great interest among visitors of the Presidential Library.