Bakhchysarai, Crimea Region, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Bağçasaray, also known as Bakhchysarai (Бахчисара́й) is a town in central Crimea, a territory recognised by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and annexed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea. It is the administrative centre of the Bakhchysarai Raion (district), as well as the former capital of the Crimean Khanate. Its main landmark is Hansaray, the only extant palace of the Crimean Khans, currently open to tourists as a museum.

Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, it has been occupied by the Russian Federation.

Geography Bakhchysarai lies in a narrow valley of the Çürük Suv [uk] river, about 30 Kilometers south-west of Simferopol.

History The earliest known artifacts of human provenance found in the valley date from the Mesolithic period. Settlements have existed in the valley since Late Antiquity. The founding of Bakhchysarai was preceded by the Qırq Yer fortress (modern Çufut Qale), Salaçıq, and Eski Yurt — these have become incorporated into the urban area of modern Bakhchysarai.

Bakhchysarai first appears in historical documents in 1502. In 1532 Sahib I Giray, the Khan of Crimea from 1532 to 1551, established his residence there. From that time it served as the capital of the Crimean Khanate and the centre of political and cultural life of the Crimean Tatar people. In 1736 the town was burned during the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). Following the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1783, Bakhchysarai became an ordinary town, having lost administrative significance. However, it remained the cultural centre of the Crimean Tatars for several decades afterward, fostered by Ismail Gaspirali (1851-1914) who founded the local newspaper Tercüman in 1883.

During the Crimean War of 1853–56, Bakhchysarai essentially became a hospital town as wounded Russian soldiers from the battlefield were brought in to be treated. The Battle of the Alma, one of the earliest battles of the war, took place not far from the city in 1854. But although the city was close to the front line, the Turks and their European allies never took it, as the port city of Sevastopol was their primary wartime objective.

With the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 and the unification of several socialist republics that had been part of the Russian Empire, Bakhchysarai became part of the Soviet Union (established 30 December 1922) in 1922.

The Sürgün, the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviets during the Second World War, took place on 18 May 1944 in Bakhchysarai. The expulsion was prompted by accusations that the Tatars had collaborated with the Axis occupiers (1941-1944). Although deportation of some Tatars in Crimea had begun as early as 1860, during the era of the Russian Empire, the Sürgün delivered the final blow, as the city was rendered empty of Crimean Tatars. They were not to return to the city until 1989, when Soviet policies relaxed.

Bakhchysarai became a part of newly independent Ukraine in 1991. However, it became a de facto part of the Russian Federation when Russian Armed Forces invaded and annexed the city and the whole of Crimea in 2014.

Name and associations Spellings of the town's name in different languages include: • Original Crimean Tatar: Bağçasaray • Turkish: Bahçesaray • Russian: Бахчисарай - Bakhchisaray • Ukrainian: Бахчисарай - Bakhchysarai

The name comes from Persian باغچه سرای bāghche-sarāy, which means the Garden Palace. In Crimean Tatar, bağça means "garden" and saray means "palace".

Russian-speakers associate the town with the Romantic connotations of Alexander Pushkin's poem The Fountain of Bakhchysarai (1822). Adam Mickiewicz devoted some of the finest poems in his Polish-language Crimean Sonnets (1825) to the landmarks of Bakhchysarai (Polish: Bakczysaraj).

An asteroid, 3242 Bakhchisaraj, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979, takes its name after the town.

Attractions Famous attractions within or near Bakhchysarai are: • Eski Yurt • Eski Dürbe • Chufut-Kale • Khan's Palace • Orta Juma Jami • Tahtali-Jami Mosque • Uspensky Cave Monastery • Zincirli Madrasa

There is a network of well marked hiking trails around the town. All the main attractions are connected with red-marked trail.

From 2011, the town's Tourist Information Centre was supported by the Czech Government and USAID. Support was cut off in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Education • College of Construction, Architecture and Design (Branch), Crimean Federal University.