The Sudak Fortress is one of the first state historical and architectural reserves on the territory of the Russian Empire; it was established in 1868. After the revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War, a historical and archaeological museum was opened here, which began historical and archaeological research in the 1920s.
In 1958, the Sudak Fortress became a branch of the State Architectural and Historical Reserve “Sofia Museum” under the Academy of Construction and Architecture of the Ukrainian SSR.
On August 1, 2014, the State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Crimea “Museum-Reserve ‘Sudak Fortress’” was established on the basis of the museum; it is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea. At the beginning of 2015, a historical museum (the former Funk Dacha), which houses the Sudak Historical Museum, became part of the complex.
Since the 1960s, the Sudak Fortress has been functioning as a large museum complex and a recognized center of educational tourism. Over the past few decades, it has welcomed over 200,000 tourists a year.
