Kahn’s Palace (or Bakhchysarai Palace) was built in the 16th century and was home to a series of Crimean Khans. Bakhchysarai means Palace of Gardens and is an example of Tatar-Muslim architecture. We visited the palace by bus from Sevastopol.

Khan’s Palace is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered the gem of Moorish architecture comparable to the palaces of the Alhambra in Spain and the Topkapi in Turkey.

Crimean Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group and nation native to Crimea and were the majority of Crimea’s population until the mid-19th century. Russia invaded Crimea in 1783 and tried to purge the area of Tatars by physical violence, intimidation, forced resettlement. But it was under the Soviets that most of the Crimean Tatars were finally driven out of Crimea. In 1996, they were recognized as an indigenous people by the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine, and granted a limited number of seats in the 1994 Crimean election. You can read more about this and about their situation after the Russian takeover of 2014 here. You can read more about the palace and what has happened to it after the Russian takeover here.

Below is the interior and ceiling of the Small Khan Mosque.

The Fountain of Tears, left below, was created by a Khan in memory of his beloved wife. In the middle is the Golden Fountain. And at right is a Mihrab — a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying.

Below left is a view of the moat and wall of the palace. At right is a view out of the palace to the hills beyond.

And more shots from the bus. At left below is Cave Monastery Inkerman, founded in 1850 on the site of a medieval Byzantine monastery where the relics of St. Clement were supposedly kept before their removal to San Clemente by Saints Cyril and Methodius. At right is a pretty church along the road.

More in this series:
Sevastopol 2013
Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 2013
Shopping and dining in Istanbul, 2013
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul 2013
The Trees of Topkapi Palace, 2013
Bosporus Sightseeing Cruise, Istanbul 2013
Transfiguration Cathedral Seriously Damaged, Odesa, Ukraine
Derussification of Ukraine, 2014
More from around Odesa, Ukraine
Odesa, Ukraine

References:
Khan Palace on Wikipedia
Tatar Mosque on Wikipedia
Crimean Khanate
Cave Monastery Inkerman

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 2nd, 2023 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Architecture, History, Tourism, Ukraine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.