Ukraine · 16th century
Or Qapi Fortress is a ruined fort located near the settlement of Perekop on the Perekop isthmus connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland.
The Or Qapi fort was built in the 15th century by Mengli Girai and his son Sahib I Giray. Or Qapi Fortress used to be of great military importance as the key to the Crimean Khanate.
During the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739), the Russian field marshal Burkhard Christoph von Munnich successfully stormed the fortifications on June 17, 1736, and left the Tatar fortress in ruins. In 1738, it was taken again by Russian General Lacy. This was a serious, if not mortal, blow to the independence of the Crimean Khanate. In 1754, it was rebuilt by Qirim Giray. In 1771, the fortress was captured decisively by Russian General Dolgorukov.
During the Second World War, it repeatedly changed ownership between Germany and USSR.
Text adapted from “Or Qapi” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Or Qapi ranks #2,905 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #49 of the 195 mapped in Ukraine. Founded 1509, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,535 times in the last 60 days, more than 62% of the atlas. See how Ukraine compares in the castle statistics.
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