It's hard to believe, but a tiny town near Feodosia gave its name to the whole peninsula. In the 13th century, when these places became part of the Golden Horde, the rich trading city located here served as the residence of the emir and was called Kyrym. Over time, the word Kyrym transformed into the familiar Crimea. The city was ruled by Muslims, but Christians - Armenians, Greeks and Italians - also lived here. Therefore, do not be surprised by the ruins of a 10th-century Christian temple and a 13th-century mosque located side by side.
The inhabitants of ancient Kyrym had their main income from the transit of eastern goods from the Genoese ports - Kafa (Feodosia) and Soldaya (modern Sudak) - to Rus' and Europe. After the formation of the Crimean Khanate, the capital was moved to Bakhchisarai, and the city gradually began to lose its importance.
Now Old Crimea is a provincial town, more reminiscent of a village. On the dusty asphalt of the main street, in the shade of walnuts, dogs sleep in the heat, and in the evenings, cows wander home from the pastures past them, not paying attention to tourists and other passers-by.
The main attraction of Old Crimea is hidden among one-story rural houses with vegetable gardens and front gardens. The Uzbek Khan Mosque is one of the oldest surviving Muslim buildings on the peninsula.
The reign of Uzbek Khan became the time of the highest power of the Golden Horde. Having become khan, he converted to Islam and received the name Muhammad. Under him, instead of traditional Tengrism, Islam spread widely. By his order, this mosque was built in Kyrym (or as the Genoese called the city Solkhat) in 1314. It must be said that the attempt to introduce Islam as a state religion met resistance from the Horde aristocracy. But in order to strengthen the new religion, the khan takes radical measures - he orders the killing of shamans, who played an important role in the life of the Golden Horde.
The Uzbek Mosque becomes the main Muslim temple of the medieval city. In 1332, on the initiative of a wealthy woman, Indzhibek Khatun, a madrasah was built next to the mosque. But if the mosque, despite the reconstruction, was completely preserved, then only ruins remained of the madrasah.
The Uzbek Khan Mosque is open even to non-Muslims, but on the condition that you dress according to Muslim tradition and do not step deeper into the temple than a couple of meters. Inside, the mosque is divided into three naves by parallel rows of thin faceted columns.
The mihrab located in the southern wall of the mosque, indicating the direction to Mecca, is decorated with stone carvings and inscriptions in which the date of construction is written.
The portal, except for the light stone at the very top, is authentic and dates back to the 14th century.
Across the road from the Uzbek Khan Mosque (on the right side of Khalturin Street) there are the ruins of a mosque built with the money of the Egyptian Sultanate of Zahir Seif-ad-din al-Salih Baybars. Although there is no consensus among experts regarding the true purpose of this building. Some believe that this is not the mosque of Sultan Baybars at all, but a mint.
However, there is a beautiful legend that the Sultan came from these places, and, apparently, belonged to the Polovtsians. As a child, Baybarsa was captured by the Mongols and then sold in one of the slave markets of the peninsula as a white Mamluk slave. And having already become a famous commander and Sultan of Egypt, having won victories over both the Mongols and the Crusaders, in 1277 Baybars, wanting to perpetuate his name and glorify the place of his birth, allocated 2000 dinars for the construction of a mosque in Solkhat. The temple was erected after his death in 1287-1288, i.e. several decades earlier than the mosque of Uzbek Khan. According to the historian Köppen, the walls of the Baybars mosque, which now look like a gloomy heap of stones, “were covered with marble, and the top was covered with porphyry.”
Just a hundred meters from the mosques, in the garden behind the fence, you can see the ruins of the Christian Church of John the Baptist, presumably built in the 11th-14th centuries. It is believed that this is the first Christian temple to appear in Old Crimea. But they still can’t determine his “nationality.” Some scientists believe that the temple was built by the Greeks, others - that it belonged to the Armenian diaspora of the city.
In Soviet times, the temple was located on the territory of the Tobaksyrye warehouse, guarded by guards. Perhaps this circumstance contributed to the preservation of the building. Now you can’t get to the temple either, because there is a fence around it.
Old Crimea stands at an altitude of 400 meters above sea level, in a valley, directly under Mount Agarmysh, covering the city from the northern winds. This location creates a special microclimate in the valley, for which people came here to live and be treated for pulmonary diseases. One of those who came to Old Crimea for treatment was Alexander Stepanovich Green. At first, he and his wife rented a room for the summer, and in 1932, having finally moved from Feodosia, they bought a small house, which now houses the writer’s museum. I talked about this house in a previous post.
The Green couple found their last refuge at the Starokrymsky cemetery. It’s easy to recognize the writer’s mogul - there is a sculpture of the Running Girl on it, made by sculptor Tatyana Gagarina
From Old Crimea, Green went to Koktebel to visit Maximilian Voloshin. Now these 18 km, crossing the Ameret Valley, are called the Greene Trail.
Over the years, the Tsvetaeva sisters and Nikolai Zabolotsky visited Old Crimea. The houses where the writer Konstantin Paustovsky, the film screenwriter Alexei Kapler and his wife, poetess Yulia Drunina, lived have been preserved here.
Another attraction worth coming here for is the Armenian monastery of Surb Khach (Monastery of the Holy Cross), located three kilometers from Old Crimea, founded in 1358 during the Armenian colonization of Crimea. And I will tell you more about it.
Old Crimea is one of the oldest cities on the Crimean peninsula; the earliest artifacts found on the territory of the city date back to the Neolithic era. During construction work in the city center, pottery and household utensils from the 5th-4th centuries BC, belonging to the first Greek settlements, were found. The city's heyday began in the 13th century AD, when the Golden Horde ruled the Crimea.
Geographic coordinates of the city of Old Crimea on the map of Crimea N 45.0306 E 35.0853
Old Crimea became the capital of the Crimean Peninsula. The city was on the Silk Road, lived from the taxes of traders and was an administrative center until the 16th century. In the 16th century, Khan Giray built a new capital - Bakhchisarai, and all the nobility moved there. After the Crimean-Turkish War, the city was deserted, the local population partially moved to Turkey, and partially settled throughout the Crimea.
Towards the end of the 18th century, the city was completely rebuilt in a new, modern way of the time. Merchants' houses, relatively straight streets, flourishing park and garden art, fashionable in those days. Today, the city is seaside, located on the main highway Kerch-, if you drive from Simferopol, then you pass through it on the way to and. Located in the eastern part of Crimea. The population of the city is about 10 thousand people, the ethnic composition is 80% Russians and Ukrainians, the remaining 20% are Tatars, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians and other nationalities.
The distance to the sea from Old Crimea is 20-30 km. Basically, tourists and city residents prefer to go to the sea in Sudak, Koktebel or Feodosia, everything is located at a distance of 30 km.
Climate in Old Crimea moderate, the city is protected on all sides by mountains and forest, so there are no strong winds or hot winds.
Old Crimea is rich in historical events and attractions; in the southwest of the city, 3 kilometers away, there is one of the ancient temples of Crimea, built in the 14th century by the Armenian diaspora in Crimea. The temple is well preserved, some parts of it have been restored, but most of it has remained unchanged. A visit to the complex will immerse you in the history of the Middle Ages with magnificent architecture.
Moving to the central part of the city, we come across the ruins of an ancient mosque of 1314, erected in honor of Uzbek Khan, under whom the Golden Horde reached its maximum power. The mosque has survived to this day in good condition and looks very impressive. Near the mosque there is an old Muslim cemetery with preserved tombstones and inscriptions.
In the eastern part of the city there is the Sultan Baybars Mosque, built in 1288. The mosque was lined with marble and was very large and rich at that time; now archaeological excavations are being carried out on the territory of the mosque.
On the eastern exit, not far from the city, is the Kozya Balka safari park, one of the amazing parks of the Crimean Peninsula, where you can see ostriches, deer, antelope and many other animals and birds. The area of the park is about 4 hectares.
One of the stories associated with the city is the story of the name of the city, because it was from this city that the entire Crimean peninsula received its name - “Crimea”. Gradually in the history of the peninsula, it increasingly began to be called “Crimea” and the name “Tavrida or Tavria” became lost, and to avoid confusion, the city received the prefix “old”, and so it began to be called Old Crimea.
If you are vacationing in, then be sure to visit this amazing city and plunge into its history and attractions.
Old Crimea June 27th, 2015
Five years ago I didn’t even know such a city existed. When I first heard “Old Crimea”, I thought that it was something like “mountain Crimea” or “steppe Crimea”. But it turned out to be a city in the eastern part of Crimea. A very small town, only about ten thousand inhabitants, and terribly provincial. It stands at an altitude of 400 meters above sea level, in a valley, directly under Mount Agarmysh.
The photo shows the outskirts of Old Crimea, a new area that locals call the “Field of Miracles”. Why this is so, and what’s wonderful there, I don’t know yet, maybe on my next visit I’ll figure it out and let you know. 
1. The road to Old Crimea from Simferopol. 
Very beautiful scenery here. I stop every time to take photos. Drive 90 km from Simferopol. Two stripes. If there are few cars, you can fly in an hour, but usually it takes about an hour and a half, since there is often a continuous lane and overtaking is prohibited. In the near future, construction of a new highway will begin, it will have at least 4 lanes, this is now a strategically important road, it goes from Kerch to Simferopol.
2. Central street of Old Crimea. Here it is important to call it the “Golden Mile”. 
On the Golden Mile there is the city administration, the Gorny restaurant, several cafes, one canteen and many shops.
3. The not ceremonial Old Crimea looks something like this. 
4. Cows on city streets are normal. 
5. And this is the pharmacist’s house. Well, that is, it was built by a local pharmacist just before the 1917 revolution. 
There was a pharmacy and a residential building here. Then the Bolsheviks expropriated the house, and then was located some kind of institution. And now this house is for sale. My wife liked it, and I even wanted to buy it a couple of years ago, but the owner set such a price that I abandoned the idea. So this house has not yet been sold.
6. These are the dead roads in the city. 
This is a grave legacy (or inheritance) of the Ukrainian authorities. There was practically no improvement of the city in all post-Soviet times. To be fair, it must be said that the new authorities have not yet changed anything for the better. I was in Old Crimea for the last time two months ago, I saw that road workers were sluggishly swarming around on the central street - doing pothole repairs to the asphalt.
7. A beautiful new mosque at the entrance to Old Crimea. 
8. And this is a beautiful old mosque. Built in 1314. This is one of the attractions of Old Crimea, called the Mohamed Uzbek Khan Mosque. 
Uzbek Khan is the ruler of the Golden Horde. In Old Crimea, on his order, this mosque and madrasah were built. It's hard to believe, but once upon a time Old Crimea was a large and rich city, the capital of the Crimean Khanate. The city was then called Kyrym. The entire peninsula was named after it. Another ancient name of the city is Solkhat, as the Genoese called it. And Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky proposed renaming the city Levkopolis, Catherine II approved, but this name did not stick.
9. The Uzbek Mosque is operational, but entry is free for everyone, you just need to follow simple rules. 
10. And this is what remains of the medieval madrasah. I hope it will be restored someday. 
11. For some reason, the provincial Old Crimea attracted writers and poets. Voloshin, Tsvetaeva, Zabolotsky came here. Green, Paustovsky, and Drunina lived here for a long time. This is the house-museum of the writer Konstantin Paustovsky. 
12. House-museum of the writer Alexander Green. 
13. Local police department. 
14. Music school and sculpture of a Crimean Tatar boy playing the flute. 
15. Local fire department. 
16. Cozy old Crimean courtyard. 
17. One of the modern stylish houses in Old Crimea. 
18. And there are such rich mansions here too. 
19. And here, judging by the artistic pillars, either chess lovers or lovers of medieval fortresses live. 
20. Wooden pediment with a peacock. 
21. House of two snakes in love. 
22. I don’t know the owners of this house, but I already like them... 
23. What a cute garage door! 
24. Local announcements. 
25. Old Crimea stands away from the sea. But it’s only 30 km to Koktebel, and 20 km to Feodosia. 
26. In this photo I am with Petrovna
Very small and very provincial... Old Crimea. History has decreed that this city has lost its former greatness over the centuries. Now it is one of the smallest cities in Crimea with a population of less than 10 thousand people, which is administratively subordinate to the village of Kirovskoye (Islyam-Terek). And there was a time when Old Crimea was a large medieval city and was even the capital of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde.
Old Crimea is located in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula. The highway connecting Simferopol and Feodosia passes through it. If you are following this route, why not stop in the town and see the sights of Old Crimea, which are hundreds of years old, and it will also take no more than two hours.
Several years ago, as a group of fifteen people, we rented a minibus and went from Sevastopol to Old Crimea. Among us was a great connoisseur of history and a lover of traveling around Crimea, who compiled our route and also found a local guide who gave us a wonderful excursion. In Old Crimea we visited - the Uzbek Khan Mosque, the ruins of the Baybars mosque, the ruins of an ancient Christian church, the church and chapel with the holy spring of Panteleimon the Healer, the city cemetery where many famous people are buried, including Alexander Greene, not far from the Old Crimea - the Armenian monastery of Surb -Khach, ruins of the Armenian monastery of Surb Stefanos. It turned out to be such a religious tour, but we were more interested in history.
Old Crimea is located in a valley surrounded by mountain ranges of the inner ridge of the Crimean Mountains: from the north - Agarmysh (725 m), from the south - the higher Karasan-Oba ridge. Natural conditions made this area attractive for human life. The fact that the valley has been inhabited since ancient times is evidenced by many archaeological finds. These include flint tools, clay shards and even burial grounds with stone tombs. Around the city there are mounds left by the Kemiobin, Taurus, and Scythian tribes. Many traces of ancient settlements have been discovered, scattered throughout time, starting from the 9th century BC. These settlements were not full-fledged cities, therefore, today it is generally accepted that Old Crimea as a city appeared only in the 13th century. Probably, the settlements were even called something, but the name of the medieval city has reached us, when it was called Kyrym and Solkhat. At least now, historians and archaeologists have come to a consensus that since the 13th century the city had these names, and at the same time. There are still disputes about their origin, the most reasonable version is that the name “Kyrym” came from the Turkic word meaning “ditch”, and “Solkhat” from the Italian “furrow, ditch”, since the city was surrounded by a ditch. It is possible that the Perekop ditch, separating the peninsula from the mainland, was meant. The Turkic population was local, inhabiting the steppe Crimea and the newly arrived Tatar-Mongols called the city “Kyrym”, and the Genoese living in the Genoese colonies on the southern coast of Crimea called “Solkhat”.
In the first half of the 13th century, the Tatar-Mongols repeatedly raided the Crimean Peninsula, and gradually began to settle here. As a result, by the middle of the century, Crimea became one of the provinces (ulus) of the Golden Horde. The capital of the Crimean ulus, where the residence of the Golden Horde governor was located, appeared on the site of previously existing settlements in close proximity to the trading cities of the Genoese colonies of Caffa (Feodosia) and Soldaya (Sudak). After some time, Kyrym (Solkhat) became a large trading center, grew rapidly and actively developed. The 14th century was a “golden era” for him. At this time, many mosques and other buildings were built in the city, some of which have survived to this day. One of them and the most preserved is the Mosque of Khan Uzbek, which became the first point of our excursion route around Old Crimea.
The Uzbek Khan Mosque was built in 1314 during the first years of the reign of Uzbek Khan of the Golden Horde, during which Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Now the mosque is operational, you can look inside. The interior space of the mosque is divided by two rows of faceted columns. Opposite the entrance there is a mihrab - a niche facing Mecca. This is the only colorful detail in the interior decoration.
The carved pattern of the mihrab has been preserved. It echoes the stone lace of the entrance portal.
On two sides of the mihrab there were originally windows, laid after a madrasah, a Muslim educational institution, was built adjacent to the mosque, presumably in 1333. Although, some researchers believe that this building is a tekie - a Muslim monastery.
Now the structure of the madrasah is very destroyed, but even from the surviving ruins, you can see what this building was like: square in plan with an internal open courtyard, around which there were cells - small rooms with narrow windows, like loopholes. Each of them was covered with an arched vault. Galleries stretched along the cells - canopies on stone supports.
The land of Old Crimea is interesting to explore. Already in 1925-26. An archaeological expedition worked here, the object of study of which was a madrasah. Now archaeologists are also working on its territory. The excavation site was covered with a special structure.
Not far from the Uzbek Khan Mosque are the ruins of the Baybars Mosque. Today there is no complete certainty that these are the ruins of a mosque built in 1287-88. with the money of the Sultan of Egypt Baybars I. However, it is believed that this is so. Why did Baybars send 2,000 dinars for the construction of a mosque in the Golden Horde province even before it adopted Islam? According to one version, he was a Polovtsian (Kipchak) by origin and a native of the Crimean steppes. From the surviving ruins one can only judge the size of the mosque, and not a trace remains of the former luxurious marble cladding.
Also near the mosque of Uzbek Khan are the ruins of a Christian church. On the wall of the church there is a plaque dating back to the times of the USSR, which indicates the period of construction of the temple in the 10th-12th centuries.
To date, it is not known exactly when the church was built (the time range of the X-XIV centuries is allowed), as well as its nationality. It is believed that the church was either Greek or Armenian. The temple is named after John the Baptist, on the days of celebration and veneration of which services are held right in the open air at the ancient walls of the church.
For its venerable age, the building is well preserved. In one of the walls, two arched windows protrude directly from the ground. This suggests that over a thousand (or so) years the ground level has risen greatly.
The ruins of the church are overgrown with ivy. If you don’t notice the houses nearby, you get a very atmospheric place.
A hundred meters from the ruins of the Church of John the Baptist, the Church of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon was recently built.
From an architectural point of view, the temple building is not of particular interest. In historical terms too. The same cannot be said about the chapel of the same name, located on the mountainside south of the city.
The first chapel of Panteleimon the Healer was built at the holy spring in 1893. The place where the source is located is considered a “place of power,” and the source itself, either due to the chemical composition of the water or because of the energy component, has healing properties. At least some cases of healing are attributed to it (which I sincerely believe). The current chapel of St. Panteleimon was built in 2001, and is already the third (the first two burned down in 1904 and 1949).
The last point of our tour of Old Crimea was the city cemetery. What could be interesting in a cemetery in a small provincial town? Strangely enough, famous and even famous people found peace there. First of all, Alexander Green, whose grave is visited by fans of his talent.
In 1930, Alexander Stepanovich Grinevsky (Green) and his wife Nina Nikolaevna moved to Old Crimea, where they bought a small house, which is now the A. Green House Museum. Before that, they lived in Feodosia for several years, but were forced to move to a cheaper place to live. The family was in great need, since Greene's works were no longer published due to inconsistency with Soviet ideology. Alexander Green was seriously ill and died on July 8, 1932. Initially, there was an unremarkable monument at his grave, but in 1980 another one was installed with a touching sculpture “Running on the Waves.”
During our visit, at Greene’s grave there was a notebook sheet of paper, weighed down by a pebble, with a message of gratitude to the writer.
“The whole earth, with everything that is on it, has been given to us for life, for the recognition of this life wherever it is.”
Thank you! Thank you! For magic and dreams!
She is from Sevastopol.
Other famous people are buried at the Starokrymsky cemetery: film playwright Alexei Kapler and his wife, poetess Yulia Drunina, who bequeathed to bury themselves here; science fiction writer and engineer-inventor Vadim Okhotnikov; poet and translator Grigory Petnikov.
How to get there:
The area of Old Crimea is small - all attractions are within walking distance.
Uzbek Khan Mosque – st. Khalturina.
Ruins of the Beybars Mosque – st. Krasnoarmeyskaya.
Ruins of the Church of John the Baptist - st. Osipenko.
Church of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon – st. Kalinina.
Chapel of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon and the holy spring - the southern outskirts of the city from the street. Green on a dirt road.
City cemetery - st. Chapaeva.
From Old Crimea we went to.
Mosque of Khan Uzbek and other sights of Old Crimea
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- January, 25th 2016Old Crimea is a city in the east of Crimea, located in the valley of the Churyuk-Su River, known for its healing climate and attractions. This ancient corner gave its name to the entire peninsula (before that it was called Tavrika or Gazaria).
The heyday of Old Crimea
Old Crimea reached its heyday in the 14th century, when the Silk Road from Asia to Europe ran through it. Here one could meet both Muslims (Polovtsians) and Christians (Russians, Genoese). It is believed that Baybars, the Sultan of Egypt (13th century), famous for his military and other reforms, was a native of this city. It was with his generous hand that a mosque was built in his homeland, which is now the oldest Muslim religious building in Crimea.
Gradually, Old Crimea lost its strategic importance, and after becoming subordinate to the Russian Empire, it was completely deserted (only by the 20th century its population grew from 114 people to almost 5 thousand). But this city has preserved something more - unique historical attractions, on the basis of which modern travelers can recreate in their imagination the life of our distant ancestors. Tourists “plunging into the arms” of Old Crimea are thoroughly saturated with the spirit of antiquity, finding themselves several centuries back without a time machine.
Heritage of the Middle Ages
What historical sights of Old Crimea have survived to this day? Basically, these are architectural monuments. They can be divided into two eras - the Medieval and the era of Russification.
The already mentioned Baybars Mosque appears to the modern traveler in ruins. Its architectural silhouette can now only be recreated in the imagination. But the mosque of Khan Uzbek, located not far from the Beybars gift, is still functioning. Although it was built not much later than the oldest mosque in Crimea.
Uzbek Khan ordered the construction of a new religious building to begin in 1314. And 20 years later, a madrasah (religious school) was also added to it. Now only picturesque ruins remind of it. But the mosque itself continues to receive believers.
Three and a half kilometers from the city there is an ancient Armenian monastery called Surb-Khach. It was built in the fourteenth century, when the Armenians, not wanting to be enslaved by the Mongols, fled to the peninsula.
In the 17th century, Surb-Khach became a center of pilgrimage for all Armenians of Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region. During the reign of the Soviets, there was a pioneer camp and a hospital here. And only on the eve of our century the monastery returned to the fold of the Armenian Church and continued its original mission.
To the south of Surb-Khach, the ruins of another Christian monastery, Surb-Stepanos, have survived to this day. According to scientists, it is even older and at one time was even larger. But natural vibrations of the earth and mountain landslides had a destructive effect on this stronghold of Christianity.
Legacy of the era of Russification
The sights of Old Crimea during the Russification era have a literary basis. The most popular of them is the Greene Trail. The road along which the writer loved to walk on the way to Koktebel. Also famous among tourists is the house-museum named after. Green, opened in 1960 thanks to the efforts of his wife.
There is also a house-museum of K. Paustovsky, a writer and great admirer of Green’s work.
You can visit the literary and art museum, whose activities are dedicated to famous people whose life and work had a connection with the city. And there were many of them - the poets A. Akhmatova, M. Tsvetaeva, M. Voloshin, the famous surgeon N. Amosov and many others.
Among the natural attractions of Old Crimea, one can highlight the unique source of St. Panteleimon.
Church over the spring of St. Panteleimon
Its miraculous healing power was known four centuries BC. In Soviet times, they tried to eliminate it by covering it with sand. But thanks to the efforts of the Old Believer K. Tokareva, the source did not dry up, and today many, having bathed in its waters, feel significant relief and a surge of strength.
