Tsar’s Burial Mound (IV century BC) is considered to be one of the oldest museum objects of Kerch. It was opened in 1837 by the director of the Kerch Museum A.B.Ashik. The monumental building of the mound is a wonder of ancient funerary architecture.
Blocks of the crypt and dromos are made of limestone and stacked dry, without mortar. The mound crypt consists of two parts: the dromos or corridor of 36 meters length and a burial chamber, almost square in the plan. In the plan of overlap the square turns into ledged-circular dome, which has no any analogues in the ancient architecture. It would be known and used much later is the construction of Christian churches and cathedrals.
The empty tomb still dazzles the senses, continuing to keep a lot of mysteries: why the entrance of the mound is not oriented as in the other mounds. That’s why the exit seems to be much longer than the distance to the tomb from the outside; what is the void that devices indicate in the southern wall of the dromos, why the entire mound was covered with algae during the construction.
The unique construction that has no any analogues in ancient architecture makes an indelible impression on the thousands and thousands of tourists who come there on a date with eternity.
Show Tsar’s Burial Mound on the map.
Opening Hours:10-00 – 18-00. Closed: Monday
Ticket prices 15 UAH – adults, 5 UAH – children
Phone: +380656151713.
Address: Skifskaya Street, 1, Kerch
Email: arhmuseum1826@gmail.com
