Alupka was first founded as a Greek settlement. The name originates from Greek for Alepu or fox. After the Greeks, Alupka came under control of the Byzantine Empire. The first written mention of Alupka dates to 960 in a document about the Byzantine Emperor Romanos II. Later on, Alupka was controlled by the Crimean Tatars. After the Crimean campaigns, the city came into possession of Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, governor-general of the Novorossiya Krai. In 1798, the city had a population of 211, consisting mainly of farmers.
At the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Alupka was a famous resort. In the middle of 19th century it was even more popular, than Yalta, mostly because of the work of Governor of NovoRossia - Mikhail Vorontsov, who build here a Palace (or even better say, Castle)
