Akkerman Fortress
One of the numerous ancient colonies of the Northern Black Sea region – Tira – existed on the site of today's Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi for a whole millennium. In the end, they were conquered by the Goths and Huns. Later, Dacians, Antae, Slavs, Mongols, and Genoese lived here, who agreed with the Horde to rule the city, as well as Moldavians and Ottomans.
The most ancient facility of the Akkerman fortress is the citadel, which was probably built in the 13 and 14th centuries by the Genoese. However, the boom for both the fortification and the city was in the 15th century. That's when the city turned into a real medieval metropolis and became home to about 20,000 residents.
Most of the fortress was built at the same time. It had 34 towers, with heights in some places reaching 20 meters, and from the outside, the fortress was protected by a deep moat. The current total wall perimeter is 2.5 km. The fortress was built from white limestone, and the building mortar included marble, coal, and silicon, as well as eggs and millet, which are quite unusual materials nowadays.
In 1484, the Akkerman Fortress was conquered by the 300,000-strong army of the Ottoman sultan. The Turks ruled here for the next three centuries. However, they were constantly disturbed by the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who endlessly attacked the city and the fortress.
With developments in artillery technology, the fortress then lost its military importance. In peacetime, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Ukraine, a location for film shooting, as well as a site for plays, festivals, and other events.
It is still being studied. After all, the Akkerman Fortress keeps many secrets. For example, one of the fortress segments protrudes beyond the walls and is built close to the estuary. This building's purpose is unclear, and the tetraktys – ten cannonballs embedded in its outer wall in the shape of a pyramid – add to the mystery. Such a triangle was once a symbol of the ancient philosophical school of the Pythagoreans, and later it was believed to be a masonic symbol. Therefore, the mysteries of the Akkerman Fortress are still yet to be unraveled.
undo despot
undo despot is an experimental audio-visual artist from Odesa, Ukraine. Her musical practice is focused on creating spaces with a strong influence of deconstructed, coupled with minimal tones. At the same time she’s most known as a live artist, who combines various genre as noise and algorithmic music.