In the court circles of Alexander I, pietism, a Protestant teaching emphasizing personal piety and a constant sense of being under 'God's eye', was very popular for a certain period. It is said that the emperor himself was fascinated by this movement for a time. However, the largest colony of its supporters formed in Crimea.

This colony was founded by the noblewoman Anna Golitsyna. In the summer of 1824, nearly a hundred people from the Volga region, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kuban set out for Taurida with her. The journey was not easy: during a storm, the barque with the converts nearly sank, but thanks to Anna Sergeyevna, who cut the mast at a critical moment, the vessel was saved.

In Crimea, the settlers acquired the estate of Koreiz and established their colony there. Golitsyna became its absolute mistress, wore men's clothing, and always had a whip with her. In her memoirs, Maria Sudareva wrote that Anna Sergeyevna 'rode around the surroundings, shot at stray livestock that wandered onto her territory, and ordered it to be sent to the kitchen. She was a despot who instilled fear even in the local authorities. She was nicknamed the Old Woman from the Rock.'

The Taurida governor Kaznacheyev, who received numerous complaints about the 'mad witch', invited Golitsyna for a conversation and tried to reason with her. 'You are a fool! I do not wish to listen to you!' she declared in front of a large entourage. She also treated the local Tatars harshly, who were so afraid of her that they tried to avoid approaching Koreiz to not disturb the mistress.

Golitsyna died in 1837 and was buried in the church she built herself. Later, Felix Yusupov, one of Rasputin's assassins, erected his castle nearby. In Yalta in 1945, a Soviet delegation hosted a dinner for U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill. Such is the story.