The Presidential Library spotlights the history and beauty of Crimean nature

March 18, 2022 marks eight years since the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia. The Presidential Library’s portal features the electronic collection Republic of Crimea: Pages of History, which includes studies, essays, archival documents, photographs and other materials that spotlight the administrative, socio-economic, socio-political and cultural development of the region in the period from ancient times to the present day.

“In ancient times, this peninsula was called Tavrikia, Tavris, Tauric Chersonese. Later, it was renamed in barbarian languages ​​by Khazaria, then by Crimea, and finally by Perekop”, we read in the rare edition of 1788 Tavrikia, or News of the most ancient and newest about the state of Crimea, and its inhabitants to our times. The book suggests that the name of the peninsula comes from the name of the Cimmerian city of Cimmerion: “And how the Greeks, using barbarian words in their language according to the model of their language, changed, perhaps, Cimmerion, Cimmerian, to Krymni, Greek; it could also happen that after the Russians, Greek rites and habits, the successors, remembering this ancient city, Krymni, could call the whole peninsula Crimea”.

Diplomatic relations with the peninsula began in 1480, when Prince Ivan III of Moscow concluded a military-political alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Geray against the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland: “This was the first step towards rapprochement between Russia and Taurida: from here arose and our diplomatic relations with Crimea. Called to life, on the one hand, as a result of a far-sighted policy, and on the other, as a result of personal interests, and therefore necessary for both sovereigns, they grew and developed wider and wider every year, ”wrote Ivan Kalugin in the 1855 edition of Diplomatic Relations of Russia with the Crimea, in the reign of John III. Documentary evidence of this event was the Ancient Book of the Crimean Embassy Affairs, 1474-1505 (1894), information about which is available in the electronic collection.

Crimea was included in the Russian state during the reign of Catherine II in 1783.

The management of the new territory was entrusted to an associate of the Empress Grigory Potemkin, who later received the title of the Most Serene Prince of Taurida for his work on the arrangement of Taurida.

The electronic collection Republic of Crimea: Pages of History also includes rare books, thanks to which it is now possible to look at the peninsula through the eyes of travelers of another century.

The beauty of the nature of the region, its architectural masterpieces are provided not only through the printed word - the Presidential Library's portal also widely features pictorial materials about Crimea. This is an album of photographs Views of the Crimea = Vues de Crimée, as well as a digital collection that includes 850 postcards from the late 19th - first half of the 20th century. They depict the majestic Mount Ai-Petri, views of Yalta, Simferopol, Sevastopol, Balaklava Bay, Livadia Palace, the beaches of Yevpatoria and many other beautiful places on the peninsula.

Cooperation of the Presidential Library with Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol is constantly developing. In total, about 20 remote electronic reading rooms of the Presidential Library are open on the territory of the peninsula today. The Franco Crimean Republican Universal Scientific Library in Simferopol provides the Regional Center of Access to the Presidential Library's resources.