Gurzuf


Gurzuf or Hurzuf is a resort town in Yalta Municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine but incorporated by Russia as the Republic of Crimea. Population:
It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It is the site of a 6th-century fortress built by Justinian I and called by Procopius the fortress of the Gorzoubitai. The fortress was later restored by the Genoese who called the place Garzuni, Grasni, and Gorzanium, and appointed it the seat of a chief magistrate. It was a former Crimean Tatar village, now a part of Greater Yalta. Alexander Pushkin visited Gurzuf in 1820 and ballet master Marius Petipa died here. The International Children's Center Artek is situated just behind Mount Ayu-Dag. The World Organization of the Scout Movement's Eurasian Region is headquartered in the town.
Between Gurzuf and Mount Ayu-Dag is Cape Suuksu. At the top of the Cape is a tower, a medieval cemetery, and a small monument to Pushkin.

Name

The origin of the name is not reliably established. Some researchers believe that it comes from the Latin Ursus "bear", as the "Bear Mountain" is located near the town. Others believe that the name Horzuv, Horzuvaty has Taurian or Gotho-Alan roots and decipher it as "gor dzakkh" - mountain valley, valley among the mountains. Gradually, the place name "Gorzuvyti" was transformed into Kursaity, Gorzovium, Yurzuf, and Gurzuf.

Demographics

As of the Ukrainian census">Ukrainian language">Ukrainian census, Gurzuf had a population of 8,676 inhabitants. It is estimated that ethnic Russians constitute a slim majority, followed by a large, predominantly Russophone Ukrainian population, which accounts for a bit more than one third of the population. Smaller minorities are Crimean Tatars, Belarusians, Poles and Moldovans. Russian, which serves as an interethnic language, is the most spoken tongue in the town, while a significant minority speaks Ukrainian as their primary language. The exact linguistic composition was as follows:

People from Gurzuf