On the Black Sea shore in the outskirts of modern Sevastopol, the ruins of the ancient polis of Tauric Chersonesos steadily attract scholars from around the world. There is still much room left for the scientific exploration, and lots of fascinating sites to see for general public visitors. Discovered in 1935, the Chersonesos white marble Basilica columns rising at the sea background have become a drawing card of the National preserve, a symbol of the “Ukrainian Pompeii”. Depicted on the Ukrainian 1 hryvna banknotes, the columns address to baptizing of Volodymyr the Great in Chersonesos of the Byzantine epoch.
Ongoing excavation and research works kept unveiling layer after layer the glorious history of the place that had been founded almost two and a half millennium ago. Having had started from the small Dorian settlement somewhere in the 6th century BC, the polis of Tauric Chersonesos has lived a two millennium long life with numbered moments of glory, centuries of prosperity and wellbeing.
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