Anatoly Migov

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 "mountainous Crimea" or "steppe Crimea". But it turned out - a city in the Eastern part of the Crimea. Quite a small town, only about ten thousand inhabitants, and terribly provincial. It stands at an altitude of 400 meters above sea level, in a valley, right under Mount Agarmysh.
In the photo - the outskirts of the Old Crimea, a new area, which the locals call the "Field of Miracles". Why this is so, and what is wonderful about it, I don’t know yet, maybe on my next visit I’ll figure it out and let you know.

1. The road to the Old Crimea from Simferopol.

Very beautiful scenery here. I stop every time to take pictures. Drive from Simferopol 90 km. Two-strip. 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, because now this is a strategically important road, it goes from Kerch to Simferopol.

2. The central street of the Old Crimea. Here it is importantly called the "Golden Mile".

On the Golden Mile there is the city administration, the Gorny restaurant, several cafes, one canteen and many shops.

3. Not the front of the 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 on the eve of the 1917 revolution.

There was also a pharmacy and a residential building. Then the Bolsheviks expropriated the house, and then housed some institution. 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 raised such a price that I abandoned this idea. So this house is still not sold.

6. These are the dead roads in the city.

This is a heavy legacy (or legacy) of the Ukrainian authorities. The improvement of the city was practically not engaged in all post-Soviet times. In fairness, it must be said that the new authorities have not yet changed anything for the better. I was in Stary Krym for the last time two months ago, I saw that road workers were sluggishly swarming on the main street - they were doing patching of asphalt.

7. A beautiful new mosque at the entrance to Stary Krym.

8. And this is a beautiful old mosque. Built in 1314. This is one of the sights of the Old Crimea, called the mosque of Muhammad Uzbek Khan.

Khan Uzbek is the ruler of the Golden Horde. In Stary Krym, on his orders, this mosque and madrasah were built. It is hard to believe, but once Stary Krym was a large and rich city, the capital of the Crimean Khanate. The city was then called Kyrym. According to its name, the whole peninsula was named. Another ancient name of the city is Solkhat, as the Genoese called it. And Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky suggested renaming the city to Levkopol, Catherine II approved, but this name did not take root.

9. The Uzbek Mosque is operational, but the entrance is free for everyone, you just need to follow simple rules.

10. And this is what is left of the medieval madrasah. I hope someday it will be restored.

11. For some reason, the provincial Old Crimea attracted writers and poets. Voloshin, Tsvetaeva, Zabolotsky came here. Green, Paustovsky, Drunina lived here for a long time. This is the house-museum of the writer Konstantin Paustovsky.