In the vicinity of Kerch, there are many ancient quarries that stretch underground for many kilometers: Adzhimushkaysky, Starokarantinnye, Bagerovsky. Even in ancient times, shell stone was mined here for the construction of dwellings, defensive structures and other buildings. Often, the underground labyrinths of the quarries served as a reliable shelter from the enemy for the people of Kerch. So it was during the civil war, when partisan detachments were hiding in the quarries, and during the Great Patriotic War.
On May 20, 1942, when the Nazi troops captured the Kerch Peninsula for the second time, the detachments covering the crossing of the Crimean Front troops to the Taman Peninsula descended into the Adzhimushkay quarries. Today it is not known exactly how many of them gathered in the adits: they name a different number - from 10 to 15 thousand people. Here, in the adits, there were also residents of Kerch who had taken refuge from the bombing - women, old people, children. One hundred and seventy days lasted an unprecedented struggle against the enemy by the well-organized underground garrisons of the Central Quarries under the command of Colonel P.M. Yagunov and Small Quarries - under the leadership of Lieutenant M.G. Important. They lived and fought - without sunlight, water, almost without food. During the gas attack on May 24, 1942, several thousand people died - soldiers, children, women, the elderly. The Adzhimushkais held out steadfastly from May until the end of October 1942. When the Nazis undertook the last assault on the quarries, only a handful of exhausted fighters were alive in them. In May 1967, the underground museum was opened Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarries in 1942. Visiting the museum is only for groups, accompanied by guides. At the entrance to the underground museum - a memorial in honor of the heroes. The authors are Kiev sculptors B.E. Klimushko and E.E. Gorban, architect S.N. Mirgorodsky.