- Bilär
Bilär (Tatar Cyrillic: Биләр; also "Bilyar", "Bülär", Бүләр) was a medieval city in
Volga Bulgaria and its capital before theMongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria . It was located on the left bank of theLittle Cheremshan River in modern-dayAlekseyevsky District ofTatarstan .The city was founded by the Bilär tribe of the
Volga Bulgars . It was also known as "Great City" ("Великий город") in the Russian chronicles, because the number of citizens was reputedly in excess of 100,000. Bilär was the main trade center in Middle Volga, and served as the capital of Volga Bulgaria in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1236, the city was sacked by the hordes ofBatu Khan . The city was later rebuilt, but it never regained its former size or power. The city's ruins (nearly 8 km²) were explored by Rychkov,Tatischev , Xalikov and Xucin.Bilär today is a Russian village founded in 1654 as a border fort. In 1930-1963 it was an administrative center of
Bilyarsky District . As established by the 2000 census, its population was 2,270. It is the birthplace of chemistAlexander Arbuzov .References
*TES|Биләр}
External links
* [http://www.tatar.ru/english/append91.html#Bilyar_Historical,_Archaeological_and_N The Site of Bilyar]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
