CC BY
48
Urban Planning
DOI: 10.23968/2500-0055-2021-6-3-42-48
EARLY CRIMEAN KHANATE SETTLEMENTS AS THE PRECURSORS
OF THE TOWN OF BAKHCHYSARAI
Ramazan Alchikov1*, Zarema Nagayeva2 1Mimar Ltd
Prigorodnaya street, 76, Belogorsk, Belogorsk district, Republic of Crimea, 297600
2V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University
Prospekt Vernadskogo, 4, Simferopol, Republic of Crimea, 295007
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
Introduction: This paper analyzes the formation and development of major medieval settlements that emerged in the 14th-16th century within the boundaries of the modern Bakhchysarai. We studied written and archaeological sources to examine the evolution and structure of these settlements, and provide a general overview of the surviving architectural ensembles and landmarks. Bakhchysarai, the former capital of the Crimean Khanate, is one of those Crimean settlements where the medieval planning structure of the old town and the original organic links to the natural landscape survive to this day. Purpose of the study: We aimed to identify the historical background and specifics of how the Old Town and the surrounding historical complexes formed in Bakhchysarai. Our research involved examining historical, archaeological, and contemporary scientific sources and written media, as well as selecting and analyzing theoretical works, normative documents, and architectural designs relevant to the subject at hand. When making a systemic summary of the data that we examined, we used the following methods: structural and functional analysis, synthesis, deduction, generalization, and the comparative historical method. Results: Our findings show that, at the early stages of statehood in the Crimean Khanate, several settlements thrived in the region: Eski Yurt, which started out as a cultural, administrative, and economic hub and eventually became a major religious center; Qirq Yer, an ancient fortified cave settlement that survived into the early 20th century; and the Salacik settlement at the foot of Qufut Qale, which became the most direct precursor of the new capital in Bakhchysarai. The ruins of these settlements are part of the modern Bakhchysarai's cultural heritage; they lie within its boundaries and greatly influence its modern appearance.
Keywords
Crimean Khanate, Bakhchysarai, settlement, architecture, turbe, historical environment.
Introduction
Bakhchysarai, the former capital of the Crimean Khanate, is one of those Crimean settlements where the medieval planning structure of the old town has been preserved and the organic links to the natural landscape are still being maintained. The new capital of the Crimean Khanate began developing during the first thirty years of the 16th century, reaching its peak in the 17th—18th century.
The town of Bakhchysarai emerged amid the natural terrain of the Quruk Suv River valley. The river valley is "squeezed" between steep rocky plateaus. At the eastern end of the town, stands the Qufut Qale mesa, which splits the ravine into two parts: the Ashlama Dere and Meryem Dere gulches. This creates a unique natural climatic environment where the town grew. The river was highly important for the town's historical development: it cut the urban layout in two and served as the main landmark as
town districts formed around it chaotically. Natural forms are the salient element of the urban landscape; they are notable for their size, which dominates over the scale of the architectural environment.
The capital of the Crimean Khanate did not emerge out of thin air. It had a number of key precursors at different points in time: Eski Yurt, Qirq Yer, and Devlet Sarai. All of these settlements have been partially preserved and currently lie within the boundaries of the modern town of Bakhchysarai. Some of the ensembles and individual structures (such as the Eski Yurt and Eski Turbe mausoleums) are located in the middle of residential development areas, having a significant impact on the town's appearance and at the same time being susceptible to environmental factors.
ESKI YURT SETTLEMENT
In the 14th century, a settlement, later known as Eski Yurt, emerged in the hilly area to the northwest
of the Quruk Suv River valley. During the Crimean Ulus era, Eski Yurt was a large, presumably urban settlement, as evidenced by the scale of Qirq Azizler, the largest and oldest Muslim cemetery in the western half of Crimea (dating back to the 14th—15th century), which has been almost entirely lost to time (Zaytsev, 2015). The choice of location was quite deliberate: the open space was highly advantageous, in that a view of the surroundings was clear from all sides. Furthermore, an ancient trade route, linking Chersonesus and the Isthmus of Perekop, passed through the settlement.
Eski Yurt had two large burial sites:
• Qirq Azizler («Forty Saints»in Ottoman) was located in the northwest at the outskirts of the settlement (in the vicinity of the modern Kizyakovy Dachas along Podgorodnyaya Street);
• The other large cemetery, Aziz, lay in the center (in the New Town area, near what is now Budyonny Street). It was known for its mausoleums and the symbolic grave of Malik al-Ashtar en-Nahai, a companion of Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliph) Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Ottoman explorer Evliya Qelebi described the cemetery as follows (based on a Russian translation by Bakhrevsky (Qelebi, 2008): «In this part of the cemetery, under three lead-coated domes, lie, forever silent, the Kings of Kings...».
S. V. Karlov (2010) theorizes, citing archaeological research data, that the period of Eski Yurt's prosperity falls on the second half of the 14th century, but as soon as by the first quarter of the 15th century, the residents abandoned the area. The most likely version is that they moved from the old settlement to the cave town of Qirq Yer and the nearby Salacik. The road passing through the Bakhchysarai valley connected Eski Yurt and the new capital: the Qirq Yer fortress.
The settlement's name, Eski Yurt, is Turkic in origin and can be translated as "the old seat of power". Eski Yurt did not receive this name until the Khans' residence was moved to Qirq Yer and the old settlement lost its erstwhile administrative and economic influence. The original name of Eski Yurt is unknown.
Either way, the former residents and their descendants did not forget about the sacred landmarks of Eski Yurt. A Sufi sanctuary (tekije) appeared near the Aziz cemetery; the building was eventually destroyed in 1955. Aziz was the final resting place for local nobles. Several of the House Giray turbe mausoleums have survived until today (Karlov, 2010). Eski Yurt remained a prominent spiritual center, where people continued to make pilgrimages all the way into the 1920s (Zaytsev, 2015).
After the war, new districts grew actively in the area. In the early 20th century, part of the medieval Eski Yurt settlement came to be considered a
suburb of Bakhchysarai (Karlov, 2010); before long, it was absorbed by the rapidly expanding town. Unfortunately, only very few (see figure 1) of Eski Yurt's numerous landmarks have made it to modern times: a small minaret (the last remaining part of the tekije complex) and four turbe mausoleums.
QIRQ YER FORTRESS (QUFUT QALE)
Qirq Yer (also known as Gevher Kermen or Qufut Qale) is located on the plateau of a standalone mesa to the southeast of the historical district of Bakhchysarai. The easiest way to access the settlement is from the east. The other three sides of the plateau have steep slopes with a drop of up to 30 m.
What is particularly notable is that this seemingly impossible-to-access area had already been inhabited for a while by the time the Crimean Khanate was founded. Even after the Crimean Tatars left the fortress, it was not entirely abandoned and kept functioning until as late as the 19th century. Today, historians (Gertsen and Mogarichev, 1999) traditionally distinguish the following periods in the evolution of Qirq Yer (Qufut Qale):
• the pre-fortress period (before the 5th century AD);
• the Byzantine-Alanian period (roughly 5th to 14th century);
• the Golden Horde period (14th century to 1441);
• the Crimean Khanate period (1441 to the turning of the 15th—16th century);
• the Karaite Judaism period (early 16th century to 19th century).
The settlement can be divided into three zones: the so-called New Town, which occupies the narrow eastern strip of the plateau; the Old Town, located behind the New Town; and finally, Cape Burungak, which, unlike the first two zones does not have any surviving medieval structures except for fortifications.
Researchers A. G. Gertsen and Yu. M. Mogarichev (2016) studied the Khanate's jarligs (edicts), giving them a reason to suggest that at the dawn of the Crimean Khanate, Qirq Yer was not just an administrative and political center. Historical sources also point to the local population's ethnic and religious diversity, which is a distinctive feature of eastern trade and craft centers.
The settlement's layout was shaped by the changes in the Main Defense Line. While the development in the so-called Old Town is older, it took place in the section of the plateau where some structures, dating back to the inception of the fortress, already existed (Nabokov, 2016). When Evliya Qelebi (2008) explored the fortress, he saw a "single-layer wall" with three towers, presumably the Middle Defense Wall, which had clearly lost its original defensive function by the 17th century. He also described 1530 homes of the local Jewish residents, with red-brick roofs; notably, 200 of them
Figure 1. Surviving landmarks in the Aziz cemetery in Eski Yurt. Sources (from left to right): https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 0ai/m:EskiYurt.MehmedGiray.JPG (by Oleksa Haiworonski, 2005); https://po-krymu.ru/eski-yurt.html; https://aquatek-filips.livejournal. com/345685.html (by Sergey Anashkevich, 2011); https://mangup.su/travel/bahchisaraj-sledy-ischeznuvshego-goroda.html (by Andrei Vasiliev, 2011); https://aquatek-filips.livejournal.com/345685.html (by Sergey Anashkevich, 2011)
were located between two walls. The explorer also mentions a "small iron gate" (Qelebi, 2008; Nabokov, 2016).
Archaeological evidence and written sources reveal the existence of two-story dwellings with courtyards and cellars, surrounded by stone fences. The Old Town had three large (by Qufut Qale standards) streets that ran lengthwise along the plateau: Burungak Street, Middle Street, and Kenassi Street (Aqgoqraqli et al., 1929). There were a number of major religious buildings in this part of the fortress, in the state of ruins: the supposed palace in the west, a mosque, the Djanike Khanim turbe, and the Greater Kenesa. These structures likely emerged no later than the 14th-15th century (the Smaller Kenesa would be erected in the area later, by the end of the 18th century) (Nabokov, 2016).
Eventually, Qirq Yer became one of Crimea's wealthiest settlements. One of the fortress's colloquial names, Gevher Kermen, i.e., the Fortress of Jewels (Qelebi, 2008), comes from a legend that claimed that the town's walls were inlaid with precious gems. The fortress had its own mint, as evidenced by its coin production, which started around the middle of the 15th century (Lomakin, 2017). Out of the surviving fortress elements, the following date back to the Islamic period: the 15th-16th century Djanike-Khanim turbe (tomb), the ruined mosque, and various blocks and other building fragments, which were occasionally reused for the construction
of more modern structures (Berthier-Delagarde, 1920, Dombrovsky, 1848). Supposedly, the mosque could have been converted into a residential building (Lomakin, 2017). N. I. Repnikov (1940) proposed a hypothesis that there might have been madrasa ruins not far from the mosque.
Even though no traces of the khans' residence have been found in the fortress to date, A. G. Gertsen and Yu. M. Mogarichev (2016) claim that "the Khanate's ruler must have had a palace in town. <...> Oral stories about a palace that once stood near the southern gate, where ruins of monumental structures lie hidden, may be considered evidence of the fact."
Over time, various accumulating factors pushed towards moving the capital to the foot of the mountain range:
1. as the national borders became more secure and foreign conflicts were settled, the fortress-like structure became obsolete;
2. the fortress was confined to the plateau, which ultimately became too constricting for urban development;
3. water supply issues began emerging.
As a result, a new settlement, called Salacik, formed at the foot of the mountain, in the modern Staroselye district. It grew around the khans' residence in Devlet Sarai.
After the Muslims left the town behind, the Karaite community (followers of Judaism) remained
in Qirq Yer, earning it the name Qufut Qale (Jewish Fortress). Evliya Qelebi (2008) reported that "...all of Bakhchysarai's Jewish shop keepers and wealthy merchants... descend from this fortress every morning and reach their stores in Bakhchysarai in a single hour."
After the khans' seat was moved to Bakhchysarai, a decision was made to expand the development in the Old Town, which is reflected in the residential districts that are adjacent to the Djamke-Khanim mausoleum. The atmosphere in Crimea's steppe and mountain foothill regions was relatively peaceful at that point, which affected the role of this fortress type: with time, Qufut Qale completely lost its military significance (Nabokov, 2016).
Evliya Qelebi (2008) explains that Gevher Kermen evolved into a residential and, in part, warehouse complex, which occasionally served foreign ambassadors as lodgings but did not have any infrastructure, such as stores, gardens, active Muslim places of worship, and a properly developed water supply system. "The wealthy Jewish merchants likely resided in properly maintained homes, while their poor neighbors huddled in the nearby caves" (Nabokov, 2016).
The New Town development is also currently represented by ruins, for the most part, except for the residence of Abraham ben Samuel Firkovich and the restored Qal-Boryu House, where Solomon Beym used to live. These structures illustrate what the local residential buildings looked like during the latter period of the fortress's history. Firkovich's house originally used to have just one floor, with an upper floor added at a later point. Other houses in the area were likely subjected to similar renovations (Nabokov, 2016). The New Town has only one major street, Main Street, along with a single important building: the Karaite Community Hall, dating back to 1896 and currently in ruins.
After Crimea became part of the Russian Empire in 1783, the previous restrictions (Shchegoleva, 2005) were lifted from the Karaite and Krymchak residents, but Qufut Qale still remained the center of Karaite culture and religion in Crimea. Cape Burungak and the Old Town were scarcely used at that point, but the New Town remained full of life up until the end of the 19th century (Troinitsky, 1904).
DEVLET SARAI: THE KHANS' RESIDENCE
The core of the terrain in question is formed by the terrace in the upper reaches of the Quruk Suv River and by the intersecting slopes of several gulches at the foot of Qufut Qale Mountain. The gulch sides shield the area from the wind, creating a relatively milder climate and good conditions for economic activity. At the same time, the fact that the residence was located on the bottom of the valley (albeit still very close to the fortress, making it possible to seek shelter there in the event of an attack) testifies to the nascent tendency to forego
fortification, which manifested more fully in the later concept of Bakhchysarai.
According to Evliya Qelebi (2008), the settlement of Salacik, which had formed around the Devlet Sarai residence, was surrounded by gardens.
There is reason to believe that the construction of the khan's palace was overseen by Italian architect Aloisio the New, who styled it after a public-type Italian palazzo (Borisov, 2019; Qelebi, 2008). At this stage of history, Devlet Sarai is completely lost: not even its ruins have survived. The only reminder of how opulent the Salacik residence used to be is the lavishly adorned Demir Qapi gateway, which was moved to the Bakhchysarai Palace in the first half of the 16th century. Not far from Devlet Sarai, in the Ashlama Dere gulch, nestled Ashlama Sarai, one of the khan's "smaller" palaces that served as a private residence for his family.
Other structures that have been preserved until this day include a historical mausoleum complex (the final resting place of the first Crimean khans) and the Zincirli Madrasa religious school. In the early 21st century, ruins of the Menli Giray Mosque, public baths, and a 16th-18th century Muslim graveyard were unearthed in Salacik. Zincirli Madrasa was built during the reign of Menli Giray, at the beginning of the 16th century. It is one of the oldest and best-known parts of the Salacik ensemble. B. N. Zasypkin's description of Zincirli Madrasa (1927) contains a note that "this small and modest space has served, until almost very recent times, as a hub for Tatar culture and education...".
Throughout the Crimean Khanate's entire existence, the Meryem Dere gulch (located not far from the capital) was home to the main stronghold of the Orthodox Christian faith in central Crimea: the Panagia Monastery, or the St. Anastasia Assumption Monastery (Popov, 1888). A Greek settlement called Mariampol was also located in the same gulch. Aside from the ancient Byzantine Greek community, the local Christian population was also represented by a fairly large Armenian community. The gulch that reached the central part of the town from the north was occupied by the Armenian quarter and the Armenian Holy Mother of God Church, which was located inside a cave (Sargsyan, 2006).
The construction of the Bakhchysarai Khans' Palace began in 1532, further downstream along the Quruk Suv River. Thus, the Crimean Khanate's last and most famous capital was born. Salacik, meanwhile, remained populated, effectively transforming into the eastern suburb of Bakhchysarai.
Conclusion
The town of Bakhchysarai took shape over the first third of the 16th century, reaching its peak towards the 17th—18th century, when the Crimean Khanate was flourishing. Presumably, the ruler's residence (and the other residential and public
complexes) was built around the initial architectural core: the Grand Mosque.
The towns across the Crimean Khanate, Bakhchysarai included, were characterized by an irregular planning structure. Aside from cultural specifics, the layout of Bakhchysarai was under major influence from the surrounding natural terrain. The core of the town's landscape is formed by the river valley. The districts stretched from east to west, which provided proper ventilation, even though the winds were blocked out by the rock sides (Abibullaeva, 2015).
The northern and southern boundaries were formed by the rocky slopes of the Quruk Suv River valley; and the eastern and western boundaries, by the old seats of power, functionally closely related to Bakhchysarai. Among them, was Eski Yurt, which had transformed into a major cultural hub by the middle of the 16th century and kept receiving pilgrims from all over the region up until the early 20th century, and the Qirq Yer fortress, which, along with the adjacent Salacik, was already considered an ancient residential area as the new capital reached its peak, and yet continued fulfilling some vital administrative functions (for instance, the fortress housed the treasury and had its own active mint for a fairly long time, while Salacik's Zincirli Madrasa served as a major education center).
The main element that formed the urban layout of the medieval Bakhchysarai was the route that passed at the bottom of the valley along the Quruk Suv River bed and connected the administrative units listed above. The main streets all joined this highway. Ottoman explorer Evliya Qelebi reported that "to the east of this gorge, the road leads to Eski Salajik; to the west, the road leads to Eski Yurt <...> of course, there are many other footpaths along the rocks, akin to those goats use. In many places, they are difficult to traverse. Until you climb to the top of the rocks, you will not be able to see Bakhchysarai, which lies in the valley below, from the roads that lead there
from four sides."
E. E. Abibullaeva (2015) studied the Kadiasker Notebooks (court records), allowing her to conclude that the expansion of the settlement and the emergence of new districts (mahalle) followed the direction from Salacik to Eski Yurt.
During the construction of Salacik, the capital's architectural core was formed by a set of structures that included the khans' residence, the stone mosque, the khans' graveyard with the turbe (tombs) of the noble families, the madrasa, and the public bathhouses, built as a gift for the residents. The same list was followed during the creation of the Bakhchysarai complex. On top of that, each quarter of the new capital had its own place of worship and, occasionally, an extra public facility like a hammam, a coffee shop, and a school (madrasa or maktab). This gave the quarters certain functional self-sufficiency (Khalit, 2014).
Each house within a quarter had its own (often irregular and asymmetrical) layout that blended organically into the natural terrain. B. A. Kuftin (1925) defines a number of distinguishing features of Bakhchysarai's residential development, including the division of the land plots into terraced levels (lower and upper courtyard) due to the inclined terrain, standard land plot layouts, and the placement of the house in the depths of the courtyard. Even though the individual land plots appeared to be isolated, neighboring courtyards were linked with pathways (Kuftin, 1925), making it possible to move through the town without actually setting foot in the street.
Under the influence of a number of factors, the historical part of the Old Town lost most of the important development elements in the 20th century, while still retaining the historical urban planning structure and the one-of-a-kind ensemble. Most of the structures erected in the historical center of Bakhchysarai have been shaped by the natural terrain and by the medieval planning structure, with the palace complex of the Crimean Khans at the core.
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ПОСЕЛЕНИЯ ЭПОХИ РАННЕГО КРЫМСКОГО ХАНСТВА КАК ПРЕДШЕСТВЕННИКИ ГОРОДА БАХЧИСАРАЙ
Рамазан Линурович Альчиков1*, Зарема Садыковна Нагаева2 1ООО «Мимар»
ул. Пригородная, 76, Белогорск, Белогорский район, республика Крым, 297600 2Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского проспект Академика Вернадского, 4, Симферополь, 295007
*Е-таП: [email protected]
Аннотация
Статья посвящена анализу формирования и развития крупных средневековых поселений, возникших в XIV-XVI вв. в границах современного Бахчисарая. На базе письменных и археологических источников изучены становление и структура данных поселений, дана общая характеристика сохранившихся ансамблей и памятников архитектуры. Город Бахчисарай - бывшая столица Крымского Ханства - является одним из крымских городов, где сохранена средневековая планировочная структура старого города и первоначальная органическая связь с природным ландшафтом. Цель исследования: Выявление исторических предпосылок и особенностей формирования Старого города Бахчисарая, а также окружающих его исторических комплексов. При проведении исследования были изучены исторические, археологические и современные научно-публицистические письменные источники; осуществлен подбор и анализ теоретических трудов, нормативных и проектных материалов по теме исследования. При систематизации изученных данных использованы методы структурно-функционального анализа, синтеза, дедукции, обобщения, сравнительно-исторический метод. Результаты: Выявлено, что в период становления государственности Крымского Ханства переживают расцвет несколько поселений - Эски-Юрт, изначально культурный и административно-экономический, а затем крупный культовый центр; крепость Кырк-Ер - скальное укрепление и древний пещерный город, просуществовавший до начала XX в.; поселение Салачик у подножья Чуфут-Кале, ставшее ближайшим предшественником новой столицы в Бахчисарае. Остатки этих поселений являются памятниками культурного наследия, и, будучи включенными в городскую черту современного Бахчисарая, оказывают значительное влияние на облик города.
Ключевые слова
Крымское Ханство, Бахчисарай, поселение, архитектура, дюрбе, историческая среда.
