[5] The fortress was probably built in the second half of the 17th century by the Turkish army and was first depicted on a map compiled by Jacob von Sandrart in 1651.

[1] This map was based on material collected by French military engineer and cartographer, Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan, author of the 1651 book Description d'Ukranie.

Whereas the fortress was hard to conquer when properly defended, its remote location from Turkey meant that its garrison was often understaffed, allowing Russian troops to bypass it in 1737 and to take it by storm in 1771.

[3] After the war, the fortress was again abandoned and its walls were used by the people of the nearby small village of Arabat as a source of stone.

[2] Google Earth satellite imagery shows the fort has been occupied by military forces since the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014.