The southern Russian city of Taganrog began as one of Russia's first planned cities under Peter the Great. To protect the newly conquered Sea of Azov region, the Russians opened a naval base there in 1698 and a city and seaport were built. However, after the Turkish victory in the war of 1710–1711, Taganrog city and port were demolished prior to handover to the Turks.

After further conflicts the place finally became part of Russia under Catherine the Great following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74. The re-founded city was populated by Greek colonists. The oldest extant church in the city, St. Nicholas Church, was built in 1778 and the Bell of Chersonesos was originally cast for it. Much further development took place under the city governor Balthasar von Campenhausen in the early 19th century. Tsar Alexander I had a palace in the city and died there in 1825.

During the Crimean War Taganrog came under siege by the English and French in 1855, but was not captured. The playwright Nestor Kukolnik, a resident of Taganrog, had a part in the city's further development; it grew to be one of the leading industrial and commercial centres of Southern Russia, while the Taganrog Theatre contributed to its cultural life.

In March–April 1918, Taganrog was the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. Taganrog was General Denikin's headquarters during the Russian Civil War. After the Soviet victory it joined Ukrainian SSR, transferring to Russian SFSR in 1924. Under German occupation in World War II between 1941 and 1943, thousands of residents, particularly Jews, were murdered by the SS (Gully of Petrushino). Through the Soviet and post-Soviet periods Taganrog has retained its importance as an industrial and technological centre.

Ancient history

The excavations conducted by the German Archaeological Institute () led by Ortwin Dally and Don Archaeological Society, led to the conclusion that there was a Greek settlement in the place of the modern-day Taganrog, founded in the late 7th century BC.Huy, Sabine (2023). Praktiken der Aneignung. Kulturelle Kontakte im nordöstlichen Azovraum vom späten 7.–3. Jh. v. Chr. Wiesbaden: Reichert, .

It played an important role in the course of the early Greek colonization of the Black Sea region, and was founded probably soon after Berezan and Histria, it is anyway much older than the first settlements and colonies in the Cimmerian Bosporus (Strait of Kerch) or Tanais that were founded between 580 and 60 BC.

Name of settlement According to some scientists, this may be the location of the ancient town of Κρημνοί (Greek: Kremnoi) as mentioned by Herodotus (also spelled Cremna, Cremnoi, or ). According to Herodotus, the settlement was on the coast of Palus Maeotis.Results of the German-Russian excavations in Taganrog in 2007German-Russian archaeological excavations in 2006German-Russian excavations in 2005Revealing the Mysteries of MeotideDeutsches Archäologisches Institut Jahresbericht 2008. AA 2009/1 Beiheft Hirmer Verlag MunchenDally, Ortwin; Attula, Regina; Brückner, Helmut; Kelterbaum, Daniel; Larenok, Pavel A.; Neef, Reinder; Schunke, Torsten (2009). "Die Griechen am Don – Ergebnisse der deutsch-russischen Ausgrabungen in Taganrog und Umgebung. Kampagnen 2004-2007." Archäologischer Anzeiger 1/2009, pp. 73–119.

The name Crimea may also have derived from this ancient town.

Medieval Italian colony In the 13th century, the Portus Pisanus colony of the Italian Republic of Pisa was located at the site, before the Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe.

Foundation of Taganrog

Tsar Peter I of Russia tried to conquer the Turkish fortress of Azov (near the mouth of the River Don) to get access to the Sea of Azov and thus to the Black Sea. His first Azov campaign in 1695 failed, but his second attempt the next year led to victory.

To keep Azov in his possession and to hold off the Ottoman Turkish navy, the tsar gave orders to expand his small war fleet, built during the winter of 1695–1696. Peter put the Azov Flotilla under the command of Admiral Fyodor Golovin, a Russian nobleman who succeeded the Swiss François Lefort (died 1699) as Peter's military supremo, Golovin was assisted by Vice-Admiral Cornelis Cruys and by Rear-Admiral Jan van Rees.

Tsar Peter I officially founded the first Russian naval base, Taganrog (Turkish form: Taygan in Ottoman sources) on September 12, 1698. Taganrog became one of the first Russian cities built according to a detailed plan. Vice-Admiral Cornelis Cruys, who is regarded as the architect of the Russian navy, became the first mayor of Taganrog city in 1698–1702; in 1711 he produced the first maps of the Sea of Azov and of the Don River. The project for planning and building works in the city was established in 1698, based on the instructions provided by the tsar.

City development in the 18th century In 1704 the ploughing of virgin lands started. Next year were planted the imperial vineyard and orchards. The building and construction of the seaport, fortress and town were generally completed by the end of the first decade of the 18th century. The seaport of Taganrog represented an irregular water surface of some 774,000 square meters; it was the first artificial seaport in Russia. Boyar Aleksei Shein was in charge for construction of the haven. The pentagonal fortress was erected on the Cape. Inside the fortress were built stone living-quarters for soldiers and civil population.

By the middle of 1711, according to the information of Mandating Chamber of Taganrog, there were over 8000 inhabitants in Taganrog. As the development of the social life in the region progressed, Taganrog retained its military and administrative significance and gradually became the handicraft and commerce center.

In 1700–1711, the Azov Sea Navy was the guardian of Russia's Southern frontiers. But in 1710 Turkey unleashed a new war against Russia. Russian troops commanded by Boris Sheremetev were surrounded by superior Turkish forces near Prut River.

The Russian tsar had to sign Treaty of the Pruth returning Azov to Turkey and destroying Taganrog. On September 19, 1711 by the order of Peter the Great, Taganrog was demolished and in February 1712 Russian troops left the town.

For fifty years the seaport, fortress and town laid in ruins.

Taganrog begins again

The Turks recaptured it twice (1712 and 1739), but it was taken by the Russians in 1769 and definitively ceded by Turkey in the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774).

On April 2, 1769 Russian troops entered Taganrog. The city was refounded by Catherine the Great, who issued a decree addressed to the Vice-Admiral Aleksey Senyavin.

Taganrog was populated by Greek colonists who, like the Greeks of classical times, took refuge from poverty or tyranny in townships around the northern Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Some Greeks had been Mediterranean pirates and were now tycoons; many lived by cheating Russian farmers and bribing Russian customs officials. They spread wealth, not only by conspicuous consumption, but by generous civic arts, founding orchestras, clubs, schools and churches, bringing in French chefs and importing Italian sculptors.

Ioannis Varvakis and Achilles Alferaki are the most famous Greeks of Taganrog.

The bell of Chersonesos

The bell of Chersonesos or "the fog bell of Chersonesos" is considered by many as "one of Taganrog's sights located abroad", which even became a symbol of another city – Sevastopol or to be more exact, the symbol of Chersonesos Taurica.

The fog bell was cast in 1778 from the trophy Turkish cannons seized by the Russian Imperial Army during Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). The bell features depictions of patron saints of sailors: Saint Nicholas and Saint Phocas and the following phrase can still be read today in , which literary means "This bell was cast in the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Church in Taganrog from the trophy Turkish artillery...weight...pounds. Year 1778, month of August, on the date of ....".

The bell was cast before the foundation of Sevastopol for the Saint Nicholas church in Taganrog, which was the Russian Navy's military base at that time. Until 1803 the St.Nicholas Church was subordinated to the Navy ministry. After Sevastopol became main Russian navy base in the South of Russia, the Emperor Alexander I ordered the bell to be transported to Sevastopol to be fitted in the Church of St. Nicholas which was being constructed there, with other bells and church plates also given over to the city of Sevastopol.

19th century

In 1802 H.M. Alexander I of Russia signed a decree establishing the city of Taganrog as a governorate (incorporated municipality with privileges given by royal charter).

In 1805, Baron Balthasar von Campenhausen was appointed by Alexander I of Russia Governor of Taganrog and for his achievements he is still considered the best Head of Taganrog of all times.

Campenhausen achievements include: The Taganrog Customs district; The new slope to the haven; New stone storehouses for goods; The start of construction of coasting vessels for transportation of goods to other Russian ports on Black and Azov Seas; Inauguration of the navigation school, the commercial gymnasium and the commercial court; The Construction and Building Committee that planned the future city architectural development; Introducing oil lighting in the streets; Starting the paving and greening of the streets; In April 1806, founding the Gorky Park (Taganrog).

Two streets in Taganrog were later named after Campenhausen: Bolshoy Kampenkhauzensky (now: Komsomolsky) and Malo-Kampenkhauzensky (now: Spartakovsky).

Tsar Alexander I also left his mark on the city. He came to Taganrog for spiritual solace at the end of his reign, and settled in a modest single-storeyed palace. Soon after moving to Taganrog he died – at least, it was announced that he did. Rumors arose that he ran off to Siberia and became a holy man, and that the body of a soldier who resembled him was used in the funeral. Taganrog was briefly a shadow capital of the empire.

in April 1833, there happened in Taganrog an important event in Italian history – though the city's inhabitants were not aware of it at the time: Giuseppe Garibaldi, who came to Taganrog as a young merchant marine captain in charge of the schooner Clorinda carrying a shipment of oranges, met fellow-Italian Giovanni Battista Cuneo in a seaport inn and was convinced to join the revolutionary movement which was to take up the rest of his life (see Garibaldi Monument in Taganrog.)

Russian playwright and poet Nestor Kukolnik who settled in Taganrog in 1857 influenced a lot the way the city and the neighboring area developed. Kukolnik was the first to prove the need of university education in the Don River region and on Azov Sea.

His offer to open a university in Taganrog was not successful, but later it proved to be an important foundation for opening the Novorossiysk University in 1865. Kukolnik also proved necessity of a newspaper in Taganrog. It was one of the reasons to open newspaper-publishing houses not only in Taganrog, but also in Odessa and Rostov-on-Don.

Since 1865 Nestor Kukolnik led the workgroup that proved necessity of a railroad line from Kharkiv to Taganrog. This work was success and Russian tsar Alexander II of Russia approved the project in 1868.

He also was the first to raise the issue of environmental protection of the Gulf of Taganrog. But the related project encountered strong resistance from regional leadership and was not realized. Nestor Kukolnik assisted in opening the county court in Taganrog, open after his death in 1869.

In 1887, the Taganrog's status as a borough (Taganrog Governorate) was annulled, and Taganrog was annexed to the Don Voisko Province. According to the "City Statute" of 1870, the City Council (Duma) was established in Taganrog for managing local development, trade, healthcare and public education.

The siege of Taganrog in Crimean War