"War is a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other."

                                                                  ~ Paul Valéry

Legend has it that when Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, visited Crimea in 1787, her lover, Prince Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, came up with the idea of constructing entire villages of elaborate-looking wooden structures to impress her.

These beautifully decorated buildings were supposed to deceive the empress into believing the recently developed region had become prosperous under her rule. According to the legend, Crimea was, in reality, a vacant, desolate land, devoid of human activity, much less of thriving villages and a vibrant economy.