Among the prominent figures who developed Alushta in the 19th century were Russian intellectuals who created a "nest of scholarship and enlightenment" near the town - Professor's Corner (renamed Workers' Corner during the Soviet era).
The first dachas of the future Professor's Corner appeared on a spur of Mount Kastel in the late 19th century. M.A. Sosnogorova-Slavich and N.A. Golovkinsky are considered its founders. Maria Alexandrovna Sosnogorova-Slavich (1821-1891) is known to Crimean histor.. Read more »ians as the author of one of the first Crimean guidebooks, prepared in 1871 together with G.E. Karaulov. Sosnogorova (Slavich – her married name) was her pseudonym. M.A. Sosnogorova spent her last years with N.A. Golovkinsky, a professor of geology. With her blessing, Golovkinsky continued working on supplementing her guidebook, later published as "N.A. Golovkinsky's Crimean Guide (formerly Sosnogorova's)".
Nikolai Alekseevich Golovkinsky became a landowner in Crimea in 1872, acquiring land at the foot of Mount Kastel. Many researchers believe the history of Alushta's Professor's Corner began with this purchase. In 1886, Golovkinsky retired as rector of Novorossiysk University and settled permanently in his Kastel estate. His hospitable home became a center and haven for those visiting Crimea for scientific purposes. After his death in 1900, the grateful Taurida Zemstvo erected a majestic monument to the scientist on a low rock in his estate (Lazurnoe village).
In 1878, N.A. Golovkinsky sold part of his land. Thus, in 1879, the estates of Alexander Efimovich Golubev, "Kastel-Primorsky," and Vasily Petrovich Tayursky appeared at the foot of the mountain.
The appearance of dachas belonging to N.A. Umov and A.I. Kirpichnikov near Kastel truly transformed the area into a "colony of Crimean professors," many of whose dachas gained renown.
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