Kerch is situated on the shores of Kerchenska Strait in the far East of the Crimean peninsula. Nowadays Kerch is an important rail-road junction and the sea-port. The population of this city is over 150 000. The unique geographical location (the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov meet here) explains considerably the history of this ancient city. On this site in the 6th century B.C. the Greeks founded the city of Panticapaeum which later became the capital of the Bosporus Kingdom. It ceased to exist after the invasion of the Huns in the 5th century In the 8th century it was known in the chronicles like "Krch" and was part of the Slavic principality of Tmutorokan. For 150 years under the name of Cerccio it was one of the Genoese colonies. Among the highlights of Kerch are the folowing: the territory of the antique town of Panticapeum, Melec-Chesmenskyi Kurgan (grave mound) of the 4th c B.C. and the Tsarskyi Kurgan (Tsar's grave mound) of the 4th c. B.C., the Church of St.Joan the Baptist dating back to the 8th c. Of special interest is the Turkish fortress of Eni-Kale, 1703. The archaeologists will be really impressed by the lapidary collection with almost 2000 items s dating from the 3d millennium B.C. to the 18th c.A.D.