^{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 in an ordinary town, having lost administrative significance. However, it remained the cultural center of the Crimean Tatars until the "Sürgün" (deportation on 18 Vay 1944).}

Bakhchisaray Palace

^{The general look of the Palace has changed a lot since the time when Bakhchisaray was the capital of the Crimea and especially after annexation to Russian Impire in 1783. It is not easy to restore the exact sequence of changes, which has resulted in the present appearance of the Palace. Almost each new Crimean khan built a new construction in the Palace or repaired some of its old buildings. Many rulers of Crimea created eternal monuments to themselves erecting new constructions in their residence.}

^{The main monument to Sahib I Giray is the town of Bakhchisaray itself. Under Devlet I Giray the first mausoleum was built in the Palace; Islam III Giray built the second mausoleum and a court hall. Bahadэr I Giray built one more hall for official ceremonies and Qaplan I Giray was the builder of the Golden Fountain. Selamet II Giray constructed an arbour (which hasn’t remained) but the name of that khan could be still seen on portals of three buildings in the Palace (Big and Smaller Khan Mosques, Divan Hall) restored by him from ruins after destruction of the Khan Palace by Russian forces in 1736. Arslan Giray was the founder of an educational institution (medrese) near the Big Khan Mosque. Qэrэm Giray is known as a person who made a significant contribution to beauty of the Palace and the city of Bakhchisaray itself: he built the Mausoleum of Deljare and “The Fountain of Tears”, he ordered to invite the best artists to decorate the interiors of the Palace. As a Turkish traveller of the 17th century wrote "Each building here is constructed by someone from the khans". The Khan Palace is a true chronicle of the Giray dynasty, many representatives of which made contribution into the magnificence of their patrimonial residence.}

^{The last Crimean khan, known as a great adventurer who led his country to crush, planned to move the capital of the Khanate from Bakhchisaray to Kafa. He even started building the palace at the new site, but after losing his throne in 1783 he didn’t manage to accomplish this task.}

^{Under the Russian Empire the Palace was in jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A police official present here allowed visitors (only those who had got an appropriate paper from the provincial governor) to take a tour in the Palace. From time to time the khans' residence was visited by Russian emperors and members of the ruling dynasty (and that's why it was an object of restricted access). An exception was made during the Crimean war of 1854-55 when the Palace became a large hospital for Russian soldiers.}

^{After the February Revolution of 1917 there appeared a lot of people who wished to misappropriate the unique Palace. Fortunately, there was also a person – a Crimean Tatar artist Husein Bodaninski – who convinced the Provisional Government to arrange a museum institution in the Palace. Thus the Palace became a museum.}

^{The principal features of the present look of the Khan Palace were established in the 18th century. It was the epoch when Crimean Tatar ornamental art and architecture reached the top of perfection. 
The Palace is a unique and marvellous monument, though the visitors see today just remains of its original magnificence.}

^{The first alterations in the Palace were made in 1787 when the conquerors of Crimea prepared the khans’ residence for the visit of Russian empress Katherine II. The further reconstructions in most cases were also performed before the visits of crowned guests. These works were often conducted by occasional people. As a result the internal apartments of the Palace were altered in a "European" style palace showing the worst kind of provincial bad taste: inimitable wall-paintings by famous Crimean Tatar artists were replaced with the “works” of the cheapest-to-employ non-professionals. Number of buildings was simply destroyed instead of being repaired. For example, architect Kolodin in the 1820s destroyed 3 of 4 buildings in the Harem, the entire Winter Palace, a large complex of bathes and several other constructions. Russian tsars after visiting the Palace were disappointed by the distortion of its exotic appearance, auditors found gaps in financial documentation of the reconstruction works– but, of course, it could not help the monument. Almost all reconstructions up to the 1930s were conducted in the same way. To tell enough, the total area of the Palace has been reduced from 18 hectares down to 4 since 1783.}

^{Since the most ancient times the history of the area where Bakhchisaray is situated now was determined by its localization on the boundary between two great historical-geographical provinces: the Eurasian Plains and the Mediterranean Mountains. By one side from that conditional border (in plains and foothills) lands of the nomads laid. After the decline of the Scythian State the dominancy in the Crimean plains passed to Turkic peoples: Huns in the 4th-6th centuries, Qazarians and Bulgarians in the 7th-9th centuries, Bacanaqs (Pechenegs) in the 9th-11th centuries and Cumanians from the middle of the 11th century.}

^{The area to the south from the plains, in the Crimean Mountains and along southern sea-shores of the peninsula, was inhabited by a complicated ethnical conglomerate of descendants of different peoples: Tauris, Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Alanians, partly Turkic peoples as well. The overwhelming majority of the highlanders were affiliated with the Byzantine civilization.}

^{One of the greatest monuments of the Palace is the Fountain of Tears. It’s the monument to eternal love and power of destiny. The fountain was built after the order of Crimean khan Crym Girey who wanted to commemorate his wife Deljare. Nowadays this fountain is a destination of pilgrimage for everyone who loves poetry, because the story of khan’s love was described in Alexander Pushkin’s poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisaray”}

^{You can visit Bakhchisaray Palace by yourself, or with your guide from Discover Ukraine. The palace is open from 9.00 a.m. till 4 p.m. every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.}

Around Bakhchysaray, especially popular with the tourists are Chufut-Kale and the Dormition Monastery in Caves.

The cave Monastery of the Dormition is one of the oldest in the Crimea. It was founded presumably in the late 8th - early 9th c. Recently, the main church of the Monastery of the Holy Dormition was partially restored. In front of the wide staircase hewn in rocks that leads to the church stands the residence of the monastery superior. The remains of a fountain have been preserved. The staircase of 84 steps leads to the plateau where the monastery lands were situated in the past. A picturesque view opens from here on the cave town of Chufut-Kale, where numerous objects of great interest for tourists have come down to our time. First, this refers to the mausoleum of Nenekedzhan-khanym (Dzhanike-khanym), a daughter of the Khan Tokhtamysh, built ili 1437. Among the sights of the cave town there are the remains of an old mosque built in 1346 and two kenassas. In the main street, opposite the kenassas, was the peninsula's first print-shop founded in 1731.

Of great interest is the Jehoshaphat Valley, named after the valley near Jerusalem. Since olden times, the rocks, stones and desolateness of the Jehoshaphat Valley attracted many artists. In the 1860s, the prominent Russian artist I. N. Kramskoy came here to make sketches and studies for his painting Christ in the Desert.

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