Islam's Northern Mecca

THERE is a historic monument on the bank of the Volga, 30 km downstream from the mouth of the Kama. It is the site of Bolgar, the capital and one-time political, economic and cultural centre of Volga-Kama Bolgari, an early East European state-type formation. There khans had their headquarters, coins were minted and handicrafts flourished. These included metallurgy and metalworking, pottery, jewel-making, stone-cutting and bone-carving. Some articles were exported in large quantities. Well-tanned leather is still known among Turkic peoples as bul-gari.

Founded in the early 10th century, the town of Bolgar became an international trading centre thanks to its convenient geographic location. Its suburb of Agha Bazar was often visited by merchants from Rus, Central Asia, Iran, Byzantium and faraway China.

But the peaceful development of the Bulgar people, which reached an unprecedented level in the 11th-13th centuries, was broken off by the Mongol invasion. Unlike other Bulgar towns, which lost their significance, Bolgar was quick to recover from devastation. The second half of the 13th and first half of the 14th centuries saw a further high in its growth. Russian chroniclers called it Great Bolgar and Eastern sources, the Golden Throne.

Present-day Bolgar is a vast archaeological site surrounded by a rampart and moat over six kilometres long. Concentrated here are the Muslim world's northernmost architectural monuments dating from the 13th-14th centuries, above all the Jami (chief mosque). Construction of the mosque, started shortly after 1236, was completed in the late 13th century. The rectangular 32x34-metre edifice had a wooden pyramidal roof, and there were 20 columns inside it. The mosque underwent a major reconstruction in the early 14th century. Builders added two doorways and several window openings and erected towers on all four corners. That was also when the internal supports were rearranged by erecting six octahedral columns each in six rows. The portal, doorways and window openings were lavishly decorated with plant ornaments and geometrical figures. The mosque with its 30-metre-high minaret is part of a large complex that included the Khan's Palace, the Eastern and Northern Mausoleums and the market-place, none of which has survived.

Architecturally, the Eastern Mausoleum belongs to Muslim-type burial vaults with a hip roof and external portal. Thanks to slants, the rectangular building changes smoothly to an octahedral tier. Its hemispheric dome is amazingly well preserved. The Northern Mausoleum, which is identical to the Eastern Mausoleum in layout, was larger and differed from it in some details. It was restored in the 1960s - the dome was rebuilt, and the monument was encased in lightweight aggregate concrete. There is an exhibition of Bulgar epigraphs inside it.

One of the well-known Bulgar monuments - the Red Palace baths - can be seen from the high Volga bank. Excavations carried out in 1938-1940 unearthed walls still standing 1.5-2 metres high, stone cisterns, traces of sewage and heating systems. The walls were stuccoed outside and inside and painted red and pink, to which the palace owed its name.

The Black Palace is among the best-preserved monuments. It has given rise to many poetic legends. One of them says that as soon as the town of Bolgar was taken by Tamerlane, the Bolgari Khan locked himself up in the courtroom with his family and relatives. The conqueror doomed all who found themselves in the palace to death by ordering that it be set on fire. When the smoke cleared away, the enemy saw a maiden in a white robe. She was the Khan's youngest daughter. Fascinated by her beauty and courage, Tamerlane asked her to become his chief wife. She refused. The enraged ruler ordered that her two brothers, who had been captured and sentenced to death, be brought before him. On seeing them with their necks in the stocks, the Khan's daughter agreed to become Tamerlane's wife if he set her brothers free and gave them fine horses. Tamerlane complied with her wish. The two princes took a farewell look at their sister and galloped away. With her brothers safe, she threw herself onto a heap of logs that were still burning. The legend accounts to a degree for the name of the monument - the building was covered with soot and so came to be called "black". The only detail of the multi-tier architectural complex that still stands is the central part.

Archaeologists have also uncovered the foundations of several mausoleums dating from the late 14th and early 15th centuries. These are all on view for tourists. The stone walls of the mausoleums and the brick tombstones and crypts indicate that those buried there were high dignitaries. It is the most elevated point of the site and commands a good outlook over the panorama of fortifications. In the south and south-east, where there were no natural obstacles, the ramparts are higher and the moats deeper. Centuries ago the moats were filled with water and fenced with stakes while the crests of the ramparts were protected by a wooden wall.

Near the southern gate of Bolgar lies Maly Gorodok, a site enclosing a rampart and moat and several stone buildings. Worthy of special note are the huge monolithic columns and the foundations of the front arch. Maly Gorodok apparently served as at once a caravanserai and southern outpost.

In 1969 the site and its architectural monuments and archaeological relics were declared a historic and architectural reserve.

Numerous Tatars living in the republic and Russian regions still regard Bolgar as a holy site, a place of worship, a place where ancient rites and traditions are preserved and multiplied.

WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT of the reserve and the adoption of a long-range plan for the restoration of monuments and their exhibition to tourists, archaeologists stepped up their work. Research done every year involves not only the staff of the reserve but the State History Museum (Moscow) and Institute of Archaeology (Moscow) as well as the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan. Archaeologists explore primarily the socio-historical topography of Bolgar. Excavations in the central and north-eastern parts of the town have revealed interesting material relating to the rise of the town in the 9th- 10th centuries and the reconstruction carried out in the second half of the 13th century.

The Bolgar Reserve does research according to a scientific concept attaching special importance to the preservation of monuments as museum exhibits and the presentation of further exhibits. The architectural monuments and fortifications of one-time Bolgar are an open-air museum. The monuments contain exhibitions, and new ones are planned. Located in the Northern Mausoleum is an exhibition of 13th-14th-century gravestones, an invaluable source of the Volga Bulgars' language and ornaments. In the Eastern Mausoleum, which is estimated to date from the 1330s, archaeologists have unearthed wooden and stone crypts, epigraphs, graves. Long-range plans provide for exhibiting a smelting hearth, a pottery kiln, 13th-14ih-century water supply lines and other industrial objects. The idea has been advanced to put some of them back into operation by reconstructing, say, a potter's or bone-carver's workshop. The Bolgar Reserve included museums of archaeology, history and the fine arts displaying original exhibits.

The reserve's medieval architecture and historical landscape attract numerous tourists. Tourist traffic has grown since a moorage was built. This year the reserve has already received 70,000 tourists, including about 5,000 foreigners. Most tourists arrive from Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Britain. Tourists from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and other Muslim countries are particularly numerous this year, which is understandable because since the 10th century Bolgar has been well known in the East as a site where the northernmost medieval monuments of the Muslim world survive. In 1989 the Bolgar Reserve hosted events dedicated to the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam in the Middle Volga region.

Growing tourist traffic calls for the provision of hotels, a trading network, restaurants, recreation rooms. We pin great hopes in this respect on the newly established Bolgar Foundation, whose purpose is to preserve Bolgar and other cultural values of the Republic of Tatarstan. Under construction is Almush Khan, a four-star hotel, and there are stores, news-stands, a restaurant specialising in Tatar cuisine. They all belong to the tourist complex. Plans include measures to provide beaches with modern conveniences and build a boating station.

Reserve staffers who show tourists around offer them explanations in Tatar, Russian and English while groups of pilgrims are offered a special programme that includes a visit to Gabdrahman Sehabeh Qoyosi (Captain's Well), Rabigha Kul (Lake) and other places sacred to every Muslim. The reserve organises Qurban Bairam events for believers and everyone else who cherishes old rites and traditions. The history of Bolgari and the region has been included in syllabuses, and the reserve helps schoolchildren by faking them on excursions and offering them lessons on various exhibits. A successful competition for the best composition on "My Bolgar" has been held.

The reserve participates in Miras (Heritage), a program for the preservation, restoration and utilisation of our cultural heritage. The first decree on preserving immovable monuments to be issued in Russian history has to do with Bolgar. After a long interval, the name of Bolgar is back on the map of Tatarstan. This district capital of 9,000 is likely to become in time a tourist Mecca thanks to its geographic location. Welcome to the ancient town of Bolgar.