Ethnography of Crimea: religion, life and culture of the Crimean Tatars. "Religion of the Crimean Tatars"

State state-financed organization Republic of Crimea "Crimean Ethnographic Museum" was founded in 1992. The museum building is a monument of architecture and urban planning. It was built and "consecrated" in 1869 as the building of the Shelter for Girls. Countess A. M. Adlerberg.

Today the Ethnographic Museum is one of the leading cultural, educational and scientific institutions of the Crimea. Its collection of more than 13,000 exhibits provides an insight into the cultures of 25 peoples and ethnic groups peninsula, employees are actively engaged in collecting, exhibition, research and educational work on ethnic history and ethnography of the Crimea.

Since 1999, visitors to the museum have been getting acquainted with the exposition "Mosaic of Crimean Cultures". It tells about the economic activity, material and spiritual culture, customs, rituals, traditions and holidays of more than 20 peoples of the peninsula - Armenians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Italians, Karaites, Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, Germans, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, French, Gypsies, Mordovians, Moldovans, Swiss, Mennonites, Czechs and Estonians.

In 2009, the museum opened unique exhibition « Crimean casket» about the arts and crafts of the peoples of Crimea in the 19th–21st centuries.

In 2010, the Ethnographic Museum opened the Museum in the Russian Samovar Museum. Tea traditions.

In 2011, the German complex was re-exposed - ceiling paintings (15 fragments) from the former German-Swiss colony Kongrat (Crimea, Makovka village, Sovetsky district) were added.

In 2012, the opening of the Museum of Ukrainian Embroidery named after V. S. Roik took place. The Museum of "Ukrainian Embroidery" includes three exhibition areas - the memorial room of the embroiderer Vera Sergeevna Roik; hall "History of Ukrainian embroidery" and a changing exposition of the works of modern Crimean embroiderers - students of Vera Roik and embroidery masters in various techniques and materials.

In addition, the museum hosts monthly exhibitions on various topics.

The museum is an important information and educational center, a kind of "model" of the Crimea, a unique guide to its peoples and cultures. The museum is an important information and educational center, a kind of "model" of the Crimea, a unique guide to its peoples and cultures.

The accumulated experience allows the Crimean Ethnographic Museum to become one of the centers of research work in the field of ethnography and national cultures Crimea; a center for the collection, storage, study of material and spiritual monuments of the peoples of Crimea; center for the provision of methodological assistance; center of cultural and educational work among all social and age groups; universal center of children's national and aesthetic education.

Historical and ethnographic reference

• Read: Changes in the ethnic composition of the Crimean population in the Middle Ages

Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago, a man first appeared on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. And since that time, in different historical eras various tribes and peoples lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, there were different types of state formations.

The oldest peoples known to us who lived in the Crimea were the Cimmerians, who inhabited the southeastern part of the peninsula in the 15th-7th centuries. BC e. Around the same time, in the 1st millennium BC. e. the southern mountainous part of the Crimea was mastered by the Tauri tribes, who here were engaged in both agriculture and cattle breeding. Exactly By the name of the Taurian tribes in written sources until the 13th century, the Crimean peninsula was called Taurica.

In the 7th century BC e. the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Scythians invaded the steppe and foothill regions of the peninsula. Here they settled and began to engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. On the peninsula, they created a whole Scythian kingdom, and the city of Scythian Naples, which existed from the 3rd century BC, became its capital. BC e. according to the III century. n. e.). The Scythians knew pottery, as well as jewelry.

Almost a thousand-year rule of the Scythians in the III century. n. e. was replaced by the arrival of the Goths in Crimea, who conquered and destroyed the Scythian kingdom. The Goths themselves lived mainly in the south and southwest of the Crimean peninsula.

Even in the time of the Scythians, from about the VI century. BC e. Greek colonization of some areas of the peninsula originates. As a result, the Bosporan state and the Chersonese Republic are created here. Following the Greeks, in the I century. BC e. in the south and in the southwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, the Romans appear.

And in the steppe regions of the Crimea, following the Goths in the IV century. the Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes of the Huns appear, and four centuries later, in the 8th century, Crimea was invaded by those who came from the Lower Volga and North Caucasus Khazar tribes.

After the Khazars, in the VIII-IX centuries. in the steppe part of the Crimea, settlements of Turkic-speaking tribes were created, which were called Proto-Bulgarians. Proto-Bulgarians in the 4th c. lived in the steppes of South-Eastern Europe, and in the second half of the 7th century. they began to move east. Some of their tribes went to the area of ​​Kama and the Middle Volga, they were called the Volga-Kama Bulgarians. Another part of the Proto-Bulgarians, led by Asparukh, penetrated the Balkans, and here, together with Slavic tribes, formed in 681 the First Bulgarian kingdom. Later, the Proto-Bulgarians dissolved into the Slavic population, together with whom they participated in the formation (ethnogenesis) of modern Bulgarians.

In the VIII-IX centuries, small communities of Karaites (Karai) and Krymchaks appeared in Crimea, which can be attributed to the indigenous Turkic-speaking peoples of Crimea, who have survived to this day.

New Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs appeared in the Crimea by the end of the 9th century, and already in the middle of the 11th century. the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Polovtsians (Kipchaks) invade the peninsula.

Christianity penetrated into the Crimea from Byzantium in the III century. According to available written sources, in Chersonesos Kyiv prince Vladimir adopted Christianity, which later spread to Rus'...

UDC 338.48: 39 (477.75)

CULTURAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC CENTERS OF CRIMEA: PROBLEMS AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

Parubets Olga Viktorovna 1 , Fedorchenko Yulia Nikolaevna 2
1 Sevastopol Institute of Economics and Humanities (branch) IN AND. Vernadsky, candidate geographical sciences, Senior Lecturer, Department of Tourism
2 Sevastopol Institute of Economics and Humanities (branch) IN AND. Vernadsky, Master of the Department of Tourism

CULTURAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC CENTERS OF CRIMEA: PROBLEMS AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

Parubets Olga Viktorovna 1 , Fedorchenko Yuliya Nikolaevna 2
1 Sevastopol Institute of Economics and Humanities (branch) of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution higher education "Crimean Federal University Vernadsky", Ph.D in Geographical Science, senior lecturer of Tourism Department
2 Sevastopol Institute of Economics and Humanities (branch) of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution higher education “Crimean Federal University Vernadsky”, master’s degree of Tourism Department

Bibliographic link to the article:
Parubets O.V., Fedorchenko Yu.N. Cultural and ethnographic centers of the Crimea: problems and development prospects // Modern Scientific research and innovation. 2016. No. 2 [ Electronic resource]..03.2019).

Crimea is rich in its composition of the population. In addition to Russians, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, Germans, Czechs, Estonians, Armenians and other peoples live here. These peoples are unique cultural and ethnographic centers, each of which is unique in its own way and is an interesting tourist product. In these centers, you can meet architectural traditions, culture, way of life and national cuisine of peoples, as well as to take part in national holidays and rituals.

The purpose of this article is to consider the cultural and ethnographic centers of the Crimea, as well as to identify problems and prospects for their development.

There are many places in the world that represent a unique cultural and historical memory of millennia, as well as evidence of the presence of peoples and their cultures. Undoubtedly, Crimea belongs to such places with its multicultural diversity. Ethnographic tourism is a type of cultural and educational tourism, the main purpose of which is to visit an ethnographic object to learn about the culture, architecture, life and traditions of the people who have ever lived or now live in this territory.

The Crimean ethnic heritage is multifaceted and therefore is an extremely interesting object of ethnographic tourism. Despite the ups and downs of history, the peoples living on the territory of the peninsula have preserved their traditions, way of life, language and culture to this day, passing them on from generation to generation. Cultural and ethnographic centers serve to preserve the ethno-cultural heritage of the Crimean peoples and to familiarize everyone with it. Tourists involved in this process show interest in new culture through participation in folk crafts, dances, rituals, festivals, national cuisine, etc.

There are 77 cultural and ethnographic centers in Crimea, among which the Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, German and Czech cultural and ethnographic centers are of particular interest. Little-known ones include Armenian and Estonian. In order to see the difference in the preservation of the culture of the centers, the most famous ones, as well as those centers that almost no one knows about, will be considered.

Ukrainian cultural and ethnographic center in the Crimea "Ukrainian hut" is located in the village. Novonikolaevka, Leninsky district. Here dwellings of the 19th century have been preserved, and one of them is equipped as a museum "Ukrainian hut". It recreates the interior of Ukrainian settlers of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Inside, everything is sustained in Ukrainian traditions: a characteristic layout, household items, national costumes and jewelry, folklore sketches, embroidered shirts. No less attractive is the two-story house where the Klymenko family used to live (the founder of the cultural and ethnographic center). There is a library with more than three thousand volumes of books of all kinds. There are also poems, legends, and various studies conducted by Yu. Klimenko. IN great hall there is a kind of "kunstkamera". It contains paintings, reproductions, carpets, tapestries, embroideries. Also, tourists can taste national cuisine, buy handicrafts.

The German cultural and ethnographic center "Kronental" is located in the village. Kolchugino Simferopol region. Kronenthal (from the old German - the Royal Valley) was founded in 1810 by Lutheran and Catholic families from Baden, Alsace, the Palatinate and Rhine Bavaria. Initially, it was the German camp "Kronental". A trip to this center will introduce tourists to the hard-working German people who were engaged in agriculture, grew vineyards and was engaged in winemaking. In the museum building itself, you can see national costumes, folk crafts, and household items. And in the basement there is a beer center. Here you can get acquainted with the technology of making beer, as well as taste the famous German sausages. In addition, you can buy folk embroidery, ceramics and toys.

The Crimean Tatar cultural and ethnographic center "Kokkoz" is located in the village. Sokolinoye, Bakhchisarai region, near the Kokkozka river. Kokkozy in Turkic means "Blue Eye". The village is located in one of the valleys of the peninsula, which is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges: Boyko, Ai-Petri and Orliny Zalet. In the village, ancient Tatar dwellings, gardens, caravanserais, mosques, fountains have been preserved to this day - tourists can see all this. At one time, a caravanserai was a resting place for wanderers, where they could spend the night. Near the caravanserai there is a deepening of the fountain. This fountain is named after Prince Ali Bey Bulgakov, the owner of these territories until 1917. Not far from the estate of Ali Bey Bulgakov there is a mosque building, which was built in XIX century. The mosque is asymmetric with an arched front entrance framed by pilasters shifted to the right. Another attraction of the village is the Kurtler Maale mosque. The mosque was built around the middle of the 19th century. This is a squat building made of Gaspri limestone. The mosque is decorated with polygonal masonry with curly lintels made of dense wedge-shaped sandstone and symmetrical facades.

The Crimean Tatar center "Rich Gorge" is located in the village. Rich in the Bakhchisarai region in the Second Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, in the valley that arose thanks to the Suatkan River, a tributary of Belbek. The exact date of the appearance of this village is not known, but only the old name of the village is known - Kokluz. At the same time, there is no translation of this name, but it is assumed that the name comes from one of the languages ​​spoken in the Crimea in the pre-Turkic era. Here the attention is given to the Tatar courtyard with a house, where everything is done according to national characteristics ancient Crimean Tatars. There is a garden, and there are many different flowers, paths and a pond in it. During the tour you can get acquainted with the life, culture, rituals and national cuisine. In the estate itself, objects of the ethnographic museum are presented. And it is here that you can try the best Tatar dishes, taste tea from mountain herbs and attend a coffee ceremony.

Crimean Tatar center "Karasubazar" in Belogorsk. The traditional building of houses of the 19th century is located in the old town. At that time, the houses were erected one-story, built of adobe bricks. The center itself is located in the building of an old Crimean Tatar house, on the walls of which are hung products of Crimean Tatar embroidery with gold threads, photographs, historical documents, old household items from the beginning of the last century. Visitors are treated to national coffee, tea and sweets. Not less than interesting place are the ruins of the Tash-Khan caravanserai. It served to stop and rest travelers, and was built in the 15th century, along the perimeter of which there were 2 floors of the premises. Unfortunately, only the gates and part of the walls have survived to this day.

The Czech cultural and ethnographic center is located in the village. Alexandrovka, Krasnogvardeisky district. The village has preserved the traditional buildings of dwellings with their characteristic layout of rooms and features of the national environment. late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. Main Feature cultural and ethnographic center is the Czech Church of the Heart of Jesus Christ. The building was built in the Neo-Gothic style in 1910 by Czech and German settlers, and the church was one of the richest churches in Crimea. Three bells and an organ were brought from the Czech Republic for the church. On the ceiling were three large crystal chandeliers, three Persian carpets lay on the floor, velvet capes lay on the benches, silk tablecloths on the tables, and the altar was made of white marble. Over time, the church was closed, the spire was broken. The ownerless church of the Heart of Jesus Christ arrived for several decades. In the 90s there were attempts to restore the building, but they were unsuccessful. So to this day the church continues to turn into ruins. Not far from it, parts of the cemetery are noticeable, where Czech and German settlers were buried in the first half of the 20th century.

Estonian cultural and ethnographic center "Konchi-Shavva" is located in the village. Krasnodarka, Krasnogvardeisky district. Initially, two independent villages Konchi and Shavva were located here, but in the second half of the 19th century. they were merged. Now about 50 Estonian families live in this village. The village is located 25 km from Krasnogvardeysk. Regular buses do not run now. There is no post office, shops, school, first-aid post in the village. Civilization did not affect this place, preserving, in a way, the originality of the center in question. The people were able to preserve their culture, customs, national cuisine, traditional dwellings and language. One of characteristic features Estonian culture is choral singing, whose traditions have been preserved among the Estonians of the Crimea.

Surb-Khach Armenian Cultural and Ethnographic Center is 3 km away. from the city of Stary Krym. Surb Khach is an Armenian monastery. On the territory of the monastery there are: the Church of Surb-Nshan (St. Signs); refectory of the monastery, 18th century completed at the end of the 19th century. second floor; cells (fraternal building) of 1694; two springs and stairs in the monastery garden of the 18th-19th centuries. The church was built in 1358 during the Armenian colonization of Crimea. Later, a gavit (porch) with a bell tower was added to the temple, and in 1719 a fraternal building with cells for monks was added. The refectory is located to the west of the temple. Under the building there were basements, which were located above the refectory. In the northern hall of the building there is a fireplace with an arched lintel and a stove. The cells (fraternal building) and the courtyard are adjacent to the southern facade of the church and the gavit. The garden of the monastery was laid out in several terraces on a gentle mountain slope. All these attractions are free for tourists.

Consideration of the most famous cultural and ethnographic centers of the Crimea gives the realization that the Crimea is unique and rich in its cultural heritage. Even those cultural and ethnographic centers that are almost unknown to anyone managed to preserve their original way of life and culture. However, there are factors hindering the development of ethnographic tourism. As you know, ethnographic objects are divided into movable and immovable. The real estate includes outbuildings, architectural structures, buildings of religious buildings, cemeteries, places of ritual worship, etc., to movables - decoration of dwellings, household items, objects of religious worship, traveling ethnographic exhibitions, etc. The use of these objects in recreational activities is associated with a number of problems. Some of the ethno-objects identified in the Crimea, due to their uniqueness, deserve the attention of tourists, but are in an unattractive condition or have poor transport accessibility. Lack of funding leads to the fact that many of the buildings and structures of the centers that have dilapidated from time to time are being destroyed more and more every year, falling into an emergency state.

Their low popularity is also a serious problem. Many residents of Crimea do not know about ethnographic centers, not to mention those who come to summer season tourists. To overcome these problems, it is necessary to develop comprehensive program to popularize and promote the cultural and ethnographic centers of Crimea at the state and regional levels, offering, among other things, options for interesting excursions to the cultural and ethnographic centers of the peoples of Crimea. Funds received from ethnographic tourism can serve as financial support for the functioning of the centers and contribute to the development of tourism infrastructure around them. In addition, by attracting tourists deep into the peninsula, it will be possible to somewhat “unload” the coastal areas, which suffer from oversaturation of tourists during the high season.

It is important to emphasize that cultural and ethnographic tourism in the Crimea is promising direction development of the tourism industry, as there is a rich resource base for this. In addition, the interest of tourists in the culture, history, craft of the peoples of Crimea is growing.

“Currently, among the Crimean Tatars, there is high level religiosity. Crimean Tatars are very actively reviving their native culture, traditional arts, national cuisine. In my opinion, Crimean Tatars are very proud of their self-identity.”

Islam Today: In the halls of the museum of ethnography, the diverse material and spiritual culture of the ethnic groups of Crimea is presented in evolutionary development. It is very pleasant that such gifted and strong ethnic groups have returned to Russia, preserving their historical roots. How is the adaptation to the Russian ethno-cultural environment, entering the museum and scientific-ethnographic communities of Russia going?

At the exhibition of the Crimean Kulibin "Mechanics of Leonardo da Vinci" 27 mechanisms were exhibited, made of wood and metal according to drawings and notes from the diaries of the great genius: bearings, an automatic hammer, a knee shaft, a parachute, a perpetual motion machine, a gearbox, a jack, a lifebuoy, propeller, tank, searchlight…

Elena Lagoda: The Crimean Ethnographic Museum has been very successfully integrated into the Russian museum space. Totally agree last six months the exhibition area of ​​the institution hosts three Russian museums. interactive exhibition"Hymn of Russia", which came to us from Moscow. At present, an exhibition of the Russian Ethnographic Museum is on display, and from December 26, the Museum of Vologda Lace will show a worthy collection that has no analogues. In the spring of 2014, an agreement on friendship and cooperation was signed with the Russian Museum of Ethnography, and we look forward to serious scientific cooperation with this institution.

Islam Today: The life of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group has been recreated in the interior of the Museum with love and diligence. What period of time do the exhibits reproduce?

E.L.: In general, our museum reflects the era of the late 19th - mid-20th centuries. As for the Crimean Tatar exposition, it shows a fragment of the interior of the southern coast Crimean Tatar house of the early 20th century, as well as the exposition complex "Religion of the Crimean Tatars", which presents a reconstruction of a mehrab and a mullah's costume.

Exposition complex "Crimean Tatars"

Islam Today: What is the level of religiosity of the Crimean Tatars?

E.L.: By religion, Crimean Tatars are Muslims, the overwhelming majority are Sunnis. By the time Crimea was annexed to Russia (1783), there were about 1,530 mosques on the peninsula, dozens of madrasahs and tekkes. After a series of emigration waves from the Crimea to Turkey, the number of mosques decreased to 729 by 1917, and Muslims became a religious minority in Crimea.

IN Soviet time all mosques in Crimea were closed as religious institutions, but some of the oldest churches were restored. For example, the Juma-Jami mosque, founded in 1552 in Gezlev (now Yevpatoria), began its restoration in 1985, and in 1990 it was returned to believers. Or the Great Khan's Mosque, which is part of the architectural complex of the Khan's Palace of the stunningly beautiful Bakhchisarai Historical and Architectural Reserve, was founded in 1532, closed in Soviet times, but reopened to believers in the 1990s.

At present, a high level of religiosity remains among the Crimean Tatars. In many villages where the Crimean Tatar population lives compactly, there is a mosque. Popular among young people are, for example, competitions for reading passages from the Koran from memory. Young boys and girls compete in three categories, demonstrating to the public their knowledge of the rules for reading Holy Book, the beauty of the voice and the quality of memorization. This year Simferopol hosted a themed evening for Islamic girls of the peninsula with a fashion show of national clothes. In new Russian conditions in Crimea, they plan to pay special attention to the revival of traditional Islam, which will help stop the processes of radical Islamization on the peninsula and in Russia as a whole. The revival of the Crimean Islamic traditions is one of the main methods of combating the spread of radical religious movements on the peninsula.

"Religion of the Crimean Tatars"

The exposition "Crimean Tatars" presents a reconstruction of a mehrab (a niche-like place marking the side of Mecca), which was made by the artist of the Crimean Ethnographic Museum E. A. Melnichenko. The paintings are the work of 4th year students of the Crimean Industrial Pedagogical University I. Teslenko and E. Mustafayeva.

Islam Today: Does the Ethnographic Museum carry out research on Islamic culture in Crimea? And the second. In Russia, we know little about the fact that the Crimean Tatars are subdivided into sub-ethnic groups, do all three groups consider themselves to be a single Crimean Tatar people?

E.L.: There is a Crimean Tatar sector in the Crimean Ethnographic Museum, which studies and popularizes the issues of culture and religion of the Crimean Tatars.

Ethnically, Crimean Tatars are divided into three groups:

1. Steppe or Nogai, they have the most pronounced Mongoloid facial features, the basis of this sub-ethnos was the Polovtsy, Kipchaks and partly Nogais - a people who now live in the North Caucasus;
2. South Coast or Yalyboylu, these are the descendants of the Greeks, Goths, Turks, Circassians and Genoese who assimilated and converted to Islam, outwardly they look like Greeks and Italians, but there are blue-eyed and fair-skinned blonds;
3. Mountain Crimean Tatars or Tats are a transitional group, which included the descendants of assimilated tribes and peoples who inhabited Crimea since ancient times: Tauris, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Greeks, Circassians, Khazars and others. Outwardly, tats are similar to the inhabitants of Eastern Europe.

All three groups have their own dialects with significant differences. The basis of the literary Crimean Tatar language was the language of the Tats - it combines the features of the "northern" and "southern" dialects. At present, the Crimean Tatars themselves consider themselves a monolithic people, despite differences in ethnogenesis.

Islam Today: What Kinds applied arts most characteristic of modern Crimean Tatars? At what level is the attitude of the ethnic group to cultural and historical roots in your opinion?

E.L.: The modern Crimean Tatar arts and crafts are dominated by ceramics, gold embroidery, jewelry, and the manufacture of copper utensils. Crimean Tatars are actively reviving their native culture, traditional arts, and national cuisine. In schools, Crimean Tatar children have the opportunity to study native language and literature.

Our museum often hosts joint exhibitions with Crimean Tatar masters, the Sevastopol Fund for the Revival of the Crimean Tatar Culture named after. Professor S. O. Izidinov. In Simferopol, there is the Crimean Tatar Museum of Art, where visitors can get acquainted with works of historical and artistic value, with ethno-cultural values, not lost identity and spiritual wealth of the Crimean Tatars.

On the basis of the museum, scientific conferences, seminars, master classes are regularly held, the purpose of which is to study the origins and traditions. The Crimean Tatar channel "ATR" operates on the Crimean television. In my opinion, the Crimean Tatars are very proud of their self-identity, and even young people sacredly honor the traditions of their ancestors. For example, it is now very popular to celebrate a wedding in national costumes according to old wedding traditions.

Crimea in political history

"In the heart, in the minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an integral part of Russia. This conviction, based on truth and justice, was unshakable, passed down from generation to generation, and time and circumstances were powerless before it."

Vladimir Putin.

Crimea in the economy

The Russian government has decided to allocate more than 13 billion rubles from the federal budget to support Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014.

Financial assistance to Crimea in the form of subsidies "to equalize budgetary security" will amount to 10.7 billion rubles, and to the budget of Sevastopol - 2.4 billion rubles. Moscow is going to fulfill all the social obligations of Crimea and Sevastopol.

In Crimea, it is planned to create a special economic zone. Russian investors are ready to carry out $5 billion projects in Crimea.

Crimea in literature

The freshness of mountain waters and mountain peaks, not yet completely free of snow, perhaps even the freshness of the sea, which you can smell behind the mountains, breathes in the steppe air; the grass is brighter, more colorful, thicker. Between the hills wind valleys, that is, gardens without end. These gardens of the Crimean valleys have nothing like them in Russia. Their beauty is difficult even to exchange for the rocks and the sea, which are newer for us. Beautiful Italian poplar, slender, transparent, now gracefully grouped, now running away in rows - this is the main charm of the valley. Without a poplar, Crimea is not Crimea, the south is not the south. I saw these poplars here in Russia too, but I never imagined such a wealth of charm in them. At the first thought of the Crimean landscape, poplar rises in my head. It starts with it, it ends with it. It is impossible to explain this impression; but I am sure that every Crimean traveler, not devoid of a living sense of nature, was immediately fascinated by the Crimean poplar.

Evgeny Markov, "Essays on Crimea (Pictures of Crimean life, nature and history)", 1902

Crimea through the eyes of Prince Yusupov

Crimea is a wonderful land. It resembles the French Cote d'Azur, but its landscapes are more severe. Around - high Rocky Mountains; on the slopes - pines, all the way to the shore; the sea is changeable: peaceful and radiant in the sun and terrible in a storm. The climate is mild, there are flowers everywhere, a lot of roses.

The population was - the Tatars, the people are picturesque, cheerful and hospitable. Women wore bloomers, bright fitted jackets and embroidered skullcaps with a veil, but only married women covered their faces. Young people have forty braids. Everyone painted their nails and hair with henna. The men wore astrakhan hats, brightly colored shirts, and boots with narrow tops. Tatars are Muslims.

Above flat roofs The minarets of mosques rose from whitewashed Tatar houses, and in the morning and in the evening from a height the voice of the muezzin called to prayer.

Prince Felix Yusupov. "Memoirs"

Svetlana Mamiy, Moscow