Crimea: Swallow's Nest.

Crimea is famous for its majestic landmarks, but the Swallow's nest with its mystery and uniqueness stands out even among the Crimean beauties.
Swallow's Nest - a Gothic castle of white stone, erected at the edge of a cliff hanging over the sea.  With its sharp spiers and lancet windows the castle seems descended from the pages of romances of chivalry or fine old legends.

Incredible, but did not survive any significant facts concerning the history of the erection of this building. Not even known the name of the person who decided to build a house there, where even stand-up is terrible to vertigo!

Presumably, the house was built on a rock in the late nineteenth century. According to legend, the idea of ​​its construction belonged to one retired Russian military. Little House over the abyss was a villa residence for the risky general. He gave the house a romantic name - " Castle of Love." However, all others refused to see in the house a " castle" and called it simply "Generalife" (in honor of the General). In those days, Swallow's Nest does not look like current itself. As we see, it even had a different name. The main advantage of this simple wooden house lay in the unusual location.

The situation has changed in the twentieth century! Its modern form the castle is obliged to the German oil magnate Baron Rudolf von Stengel, who purchased it in 1911. For a general restructuring of the building Baron invited the talented architect Leonid Sherwood. Thanks to their creative duo and appeared miniature castle-like palaces of Germany, the home of Baron von Stengel.
It should be noted that modern appearance of the Swallow's nest is somewhat different from what the Baron's contemporaries admired, and the matter is that a strong earthquake, which occurred in the Crimea in 1927. The building itself did not suffer largely, but the garden, which was laid out around the castle, fell into the sea.