Bakhchisaray

Infobox Settlement

settlement_type =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = UKR
subdivision_type1 =Territory
subdivision_name1 =Crimea
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
official_name = Bakhchisaray
native_name = Бахчисарай
Бахчисарай
Bağçasaray
image_shield =


subdivision_type2=Region
subdivision_name2 = Bakhchisaray raion

pushpin_

pushpin_label_position =
pushpin_map_caption =Location of Bakhchisaray within the Crimea, Ukraine
pushpin_mapsize =
pushpin_map1 =
pushpin_label_position1 =
pushpin_map_caption1 =Location of Bakhchisaray
pushpin_mapsize1 =
latd=44 |latm=45 |lats=10 |latNS=N
longd=33 |longm=51 |longs=39 |longEW=E
elevation_m = 300
population_total = 33800|population_footnotes=
year| = 2001
|postal_code_type=Postal code
postal_code = 98400 — 98408
|area_code=+380-6554
website =

Bakhchisaray ( _uk. Бахчисарай, _ru. Бахчисарай, _cr. Bağçasaray, _tr. Bahçesaray) is a town in Central Crimea, centre of the Bakhchisaray raion (district), best known as the former capital of the Crimean Khanate. Its main landmark is Hansaray, the only extant palace of the Crimean Khans, currently opened to tourists as a museum.

History

Located in a narrow valley of the Çürük Suv river which is known as an old local center of civilization (the first artifacts of human presence in the valley date up to the Mesolithic). The settlements which existed in the valley before Bakhchisaray was founded - Qırq Yer fortress (modern Çufut Qale), Salaçıq, and Eski Yurt—are nowadays incorporated into the urban area of the modern Bakhchisaray.

Bakhchisaray, first mentioned 1502, was established as the new khan's residence by the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray in 1532. Since then, it was the capital of the Crimean Khanate and the center of political and cultural life of the Crimean Tatar people. After occupation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1783, it was turned into an ordinary town, having lost administrative significance. However, it remained the cultural center of the Crimean Tatars until the "Sürgün" (deportation on 18 May, 1944).

Name and associations

There are various ways to spell the town's name: original Crimean Tatar: Bağçasaray, Turkish: Bahçesaray, Russian: Бахчисарай - Bakhchisaray, and Ukrainian: Бахчисарай - Bakhchysaray. The name comes from Persian باغچه‌ سرای (UniPers bâqce sarây) and means "the Garden Palace".

The town is best known among Russian speakers for its Romantic associations with Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" (1822). Adam Mickiewicz dedicated some of the finest poems in his "Crimean Sonnets" (1825) to the landmarks of Bakhchisaray.

An asteroid 3242 Bakhchisaraj discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after the town. [ [http://books.google.com/books?hl=ru&q=3238+Timresovia Dictionary of Minor Planet Names - p.269] ]

ee also

* Bakhchisaray Palace

References

External links

*/uk icon/ru icon [http://www.hansaray.org.ua/ Official site of the Palace]
* [http://archeologia.narod.ru/krim/bach.htm History and monuments of Bakhchisaray]
* [http://www.otdihinfo.ru/photo/67.html Photo (1024x768)]
* [http://bahchisaray.net/ Hotel in Bakhchisaray]