Akkerman Fortress

openas of 2026-10-011200Northern Black Sea coast

Photo: Дмитрий Ванькевич · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

A fortress above the liman: over two kilometres of walls on the ruins of ancient Tyras.

The fortress above the Dnister liman was built through the 14th–15th centuries on the site of the ancient city of Tyras, founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC; tradition ascribes the citadel to the Genoese, and the walls were then raised by the Moldavian hospodars. Over 9 ha and four courtyards — the citadel, the Northern, the Southern and the Civil; the perimeter of the walls exceeds 2.5 km, the height reaches 15 m and the thickness 5 m; of 34 towers 26 survive. In 1484, after a nine-day siege, the fortress was taken by the Ottomans; in 1812 it passed to the russian empire, and in 1832 it ceased to be a military site. Since 2019 it has been on the UNESCO tentative list, and on 8 December 2025 it was entered in the International List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection. Emergency works on the citadel, the gates and the 15th-century walls, for 22.98 million UAH, went on from 2023. Legend has it: in the Maiden's Tower the hospodar Alexander the Good walled up his daughter Tamara, who robbed caravans.

Routes through this landmark

• Akkerman above the Liman
• The Tuzly Limans
• Akkerman and the Armenian church