Travel to Crimea!

View from Assumption Monastery in Bakhchisarai

Then we came to a small trade square with some orient style cafes and small shop, which is left, I think from Sovjet Union times. By the way here you have last chance to buy drinking water!!  Then we took the upper road, at the beginning of it you will see a big stone with Orthodox rood and sigh in Russian Святоуспенский мужской монастырь (in engl. Assumption Monastery). The road is very nice, along Monastery Cliff,  centuries-long forest, fresh air – 10 minutes slow walking and you are at monastery. There you can observe amazing view on Jehoshaphat’s bottomland and cave town Chufut-Kale on the opposite side. Now on territory of monastery one of the monks provides the guided tour. He told us
about the healing wonders that had happened to simple visitors of Cave Monastery and why an Orthodox person has to wear a cross, and even we heard about the process of production of woman lipstick, why More »

Khan Palace in Bakhchisarai

At first I would like to tell, why we’ve decided to go to one of the most mysterious cave towns of Crimea – Tepe-Kermen, “ mountain – fortress”  is a translation from Turks. This Crimean  mountain  raises on 540 m above the sea level. Usually the tourists who come to Bakhchisarai, first visit Khan’s Palace, learn Orthodox Assumption Monastery, and then gradually enter cave town Chufut-Kale or “Jewish fortress”, whish is considered to be the most convenient for visit. But our tour was aimed to conquer the top of Tepe-Kermen. More »

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The Dormition Monastery, one of the best known and most frequented by tourists, appeared near Bakhchisarai at the turn of the 9^th century. It was an unprotected settlement where cave dwellings and husbandry premises were supplemented with above-ground structures, chapels, burial vaults and other monastery buildings.

Of the monastery buildings, the prior’s house near the road has survived, as well as the ruins of a small chapel, caves used for husbandry and cults purposes cave cells, and a hospice. A wide stair leads from the road to the monastery cemetery and into a cave church with pillars and remains of mural paintings.

In the late 15^th century the Dormition Monastery became the centre of Orthodoxy in the Crimea. It was the residence of the Metropolian. Sometimes captive Christians and Russian envoys attended the services held in the monastery.

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In the first half of the 16^th century Bakhchisarai was mentioned as a ruler’s residence, i.e. the capital of the Crimean Khanate.

The former khan’s palace making now the towns’s focal point of interest is supposed to be erected in early 16^th century, but later on it underwent many a rebuilding and alteration and its presenr-day aspect gives no idea of how it looked at those times. Now the Khan-Sarai (khan’s palace) occupies an area of  hectares, in the 16^th century its area was a great deal larger. The fence and western gates were adjoined by gardens, that made an integral part of the palace-complex. In fact, they gave the town its name (Bakhchisarai means palace-garden or palace in the garden, both words “bakhcha” and “sarai” that form this toponym being derived from Persian).

Thus both the town and the palace were being created side by side at approximately the same time, they are of the same or almost the same age and this irretrievable connection between them has been imprinted in the name itself – “palace-garden”.

What you are to learn during your visit to Khan-Sarai More »

Bakhchisarai, one of the oldest Islamic cities that you will find in the Crimean peninsula, owes its name to the Persian language. Bakhchisarai, or باغچه سرای (bâqce sarây) in Persian literally translates as «The Garden Palace».
Turkic tribes established an old village by the name of Eski-Yurt as early as the 13th century, in the period of the Golden Horde. Then between 1427 and 1449, the Crimean Khanate was founded by Hadzi- Ghirai Khan.

The city calls itself home to about 70% of all Tatar population of the Crimean peninsula. Houses, streets, local cafes wear a quaintly, oriental look. Tatar people will greet you with oriental hospitality and they will tell you with great pleasure about their unique history, Islamic culture and national traditions.
The principal building, the palace, which is better known as the Khan-sarai, was originally erected in 1519 by Abdul-Sahal-Ghirai. For about 250 years, till 1783 the Bakhchisaray Palace was the center of the political, spiritual and cultural life of the state of the Crimean Tatars. More »

Chufut-Kale is one of the best preserved and best known towns. It is located near Bakhchisarai on the plateau of a mountain spur which dominates three deep valleys. Nature itself planned the inaccessibility of this town, while man reinforced the natural defenses with fortifications.

Researchers are not unanimous as to the time of the town’s appearance. Some of them consider it to be a Byzantine fortress founded in the 6^th century. Others are of the opinion the fortified settlement appeared in the 10^th-11^th centuries.

During the early period of the town’s history, it was mainly populated by Alans, the most powerful of a late Sarmatian tribes of Iranian descent. They began penetrating the Crimea from the 2^nd century A.D. Settling down in the mountainous Crimea, the Alans adopted Christianity. They engaged in agriculture, cattle-breeding and handicrafts. According to archaeologist Ye.V.Veimarn, who excavated some sections of the town in the 1950s  and 1960s, it was not only a fortress but primarily a centre of commerce and craft. The ancient name of the town has been preserved. In written sources it is mentioned in the 13^th century under the name of Kyrk-Or (Forty Fortifications). This name lasted until the mid-17^th century.

In 1299 the Tatar horde of Emir Nogai raided the Crimean peninsula. Kyrk-Or was among the sacked towns. Having seized the town, the Tatars quartered their garrison in it.

At the turn of the 15^th century, Tatars settled Karaite craftsmen in front of the eastern line of fortifications; the Karaites built a second defensive wall to protect their settlement, and thus a new part of the town appeared.

In the 15^th century the first Crimean Khan, Hadji-Girei, who realized the fortress’ advantages, turned the old section of the town into his fortified residence. Years later it also safeguarded khans during their internecine strife and was a reliable shelter during their struggle against the Golden Horde for independence.

After the defeat of the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanatr became considerably stronger. The significance of Kyrk-Or as a stronghold declined, and the Crimean Khan Menglis-Girei moved his capital to Bakhchisarai. The old town remained a citadel of Bakhchisarai and a place of incarceration for aristocratic prisoners.

In the late 15^th century the Lithuanian ambassador Lez was imprisoned there and in the mid- 17^th century, the Polish Hetman Potocki. In Kyrk-Or Russian envoys and famous political figures languished in captivity as well, including Vasili Graznoi, a favorite of Ivan the Terrible, Russian envoy Vasili Aitemirov and Prince Romodanovski, sent in the late 17^th century to the Crimea to conclude a peace treaty. The most severe tribulations fell upon the shoulders of V. Sheremetev. This Russian voevode spent 21 years in Tatar captivity (from 1660 to 1681).

In the mid-17^th century Tatars left  Kyrk-Or. Only Karaites remained to live there. They were the descendants of ancient Turkic-speaking Khazars, whose state in the 7^th – 10^th centuries included parts of the Crimea. In the 8^th century the Khazar Kaganate adopted Judaism. Tatars considered Karaites to be Jews, hence the town graudually acquired the name of Chufut-Kale, which in Turkic meant “Jewish fortress”. After the Tatar departure, Karaites lived there for over 200 years. They adopted Karaism, a doctrine which rejects rabbinism and talmudism and bases its tenets on the interpretation of the Pentateuch. With time, the word “Karaite” came to refer to the name of the people.

After the Crimea’s conquest and its inclusion into the Russian empire, the Karaites declared their loyalty to the new rulers. In return the government granted them privileges, enabling them to live anywhere in the empire. From that time on, Chufut-Kale became deserted. Its dwellers left the plateau and settled in cities. By the mid-19^th century the town ceased to exist.

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