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In the Rostov region, there is an archaeological open-air museum. In the 3rd century BC, Greek traders founded a city here, which later developed into one of the largest trading centres in the entire region. It was named after the river on which it was built, the Tanais (the modern Don).

Tanais had an extremely advantageous geographical location – at the crossroads of major trade routes, right on the border between Europe and Asia. It was also located directly on the shores of the Sea of Azov and was a significant port city (later, the delta of the Don lengthened and the sea receded by almost ten kilometres). All this contributed to the rapid development and prosperity of Tanais over a period of eight centuries. In the 5th century, the city was conquered by the Goths, and at various times, the Sarmatians and Genoese ruled here.

Originally, Greek merchants traded olive oil, wines, ceramics, and textiles imported from Hellas and the Bosporan Kingdom. They bought local grain products, livestock, and beekeeping products, with fish, especially sturgeon, being particularly valued, even exported to the Roman Empire. Alongside trade, crafts developed and agriculture flourished. This city is considered the northernmost outpost of antiquity, preserving many of its treasures.

Today, "Tanais" is a truly unique historical and cultural complex, the first of its kind, as at the time of its opening in 1961, there was no such grand museum in the entire Soviet Union, covering three thousand hectares and housing more than two hundred thousand ancient exhibits, many of which are over two thousand years old.

It was in Tanais that the practice of outdoor exhibitions began. Here, a bold experiment was successfully carried out – the reconstruction of one of the houses in the form it was built by the Greeks. And all this happened directly on the ruins of the ancient city.

In 1961, Tanais was granted the status of the first republican historical reserve of all-union significance. However, excavations here began more than a hundred years before this event. Its initiator was Ivan Stempkowski in 1823, who is considered one of the founders of archaeology as a science in the territory of the Russian Empire. He managed to find the place where the ruins of the once flourishing city lay beneath a layer of sand. Thirty years later, Emperor Nicholas I initiated the creation of a special commission that seriously engaged in excavations to find the riches of the "Don Barrows."

The excavations and numerous studies showed that ancient Tanais was built according to a plan typical of Greek cities and was completely unlike those used in the construction of settlements in this region. The streets were so narrow that it was sometimes difficult for two passers-by to pass each other. Along these alleys stood strict rectangular houses with courtyards, built of stone and covered inside with clay. As befits a port city, it was reliably protected by an insurmountable (three-metre thick) wall, also built of stone.

📍 Coordinates of the location (map point) available here

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