Staryi Krym

Staryi Krym Старий Крим Старый Крым Eski Qırım
Konstantin Bogaevsky Stary Krym, 1903
Flag Coat of arms
Staryi Krym Location of Staryi Krym within the Crimea, Ukraine
Coordinates: 45°1′45″N 35°5′19″E / 45.02917°N 35.08861°E / 45.02917; 35.08861Coordinates: 45°1′45″N 35°5′19″E / 45.02917°N 35.08861°E / 45.02917; 35.08861
Country	Ukraine
Territory	Crimea
Region	Kirovske raion
Area
– Total	9.97 km2 (3.8 sq mi)
Elevation	300 m (984 ft)
Population (2001)
– Total	9,960
– Density	1,000/km2 (2,590/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	97345
Area code(s)	+380-6555
Former name	Solkhat ('till XIV cent.)

Staryi Krym (Ukrainian: Старий Крим, Russian: Старый Крым, Crimean Tatar: Eski Qırım) is a small historical town in the Eastern Crimea, approximately 25 km (15 mi.) west of Theodosia. The population of Staryi Krym in 2001 was 9,960 people.

History

The town has a long history. It was probably founded in the first half of the thirteenth century when Crimea was taken by Batu Khan. The Mongols fortified the city and thereafter it became a capital of the Crimean Yurt (Crimean province of the Golden Horde) and a home for the Emir of Crimea. During that period the city had two names at the same time: Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the Crimean Yurt named it Qırım (Crimean Tatar: qırım - my hill), while Italian traders usually called it Solcati (Italian: solcata - furrow, ditch). Solkhat is a turkified form of the Italian name.

The 14th century Armenian monastery of Surb Khach

Another theory given on the etymology of the town's name is that it was a corruption of the name of an Armenian monastic complex in Staryi Krym, built in 1338 and known in Armenian as "Surb Khach," Armenian: Սուրբ Խաչ or Holy Cross.^[1]

The Turkic name of the city - Qırım was eventually given to the whole peninsula.

In the 13th and 14th centuries the city of Qırım was a large, prosperous city referred to by Arabic contemporaries as the second Baghdad. From that period remain the Ozbek Han Mosque, built in 1314 by Uzbeg Khan, and the ruins of a madrassa built in 1332.^[2] Early Crimean Khans had their capital in Qırım until the first part of the 16th century. After the Crimean Khanate capital was moved to Bakhchisaray, the city declined into relative obscurity.

Since the annexation of Crimea by Catherine II of Russia in 1783, the town has been known by the Russian name Staryi Krym (literally "Old Crimea" - Russian translation of the original Crimean Tatar name Eski Qırım). It was the city where the famous Russian writer Alexander Grin lived and died, and now has a museum dedicated to him.

The city is home to an important cardiac sanatorium, formerly run by notable heart surgeon Nikolai Amosov.

40.8% of Eski Qırım's populations is native Crimean.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Maksoudian, Krikor (1997). "Armenian Communities in Eastern Europe" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. Richard Hovannisian (ed.) New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 57. ISBN 1-4039-6422-X.
2. ^ "Crimean Tatar Architecture". International Committee for Crimea. http://www.iccrimea.org/monuments/monuments.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
3. ^ http://www.ut.net.ua/art/167/0/2263/

External links

• http://www.iccrimea.org/monuments/monuments.html
• http://tatarworld.com/history.htm
• http://www2.let.uu.nl/Solis/anpt/ejos/pdf4/24Kancal.pdf
• http://www.go2crimea.com/en/index.php?p=31&s=10
• http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/russia/crimeapre1478.html
• http://www.ccssu.crimea.ua/eng/crimea/sights/architec/temples/uzbekhan/index.html
• http://archnet.org/library/places/one-place.tcl?place_id=8092