Bakhchisaray's Khan Palace

Edit 20/02/2010:  A few people have misinterpreted this post, thinking that I agreed with or was persuaded by the bias materials my tutor gave me in class, or thinking that I considered these stories research for my project.  Please note that I do not agree with the views of my Russian tutor.  I do not view history the way that she does.  When I wrote out specifically in this blog the things she had me repeat, it was because I wanted to show how she was trying to manipulate my thoughts and views even though she told me she had no problems with my project.  You will see that I then say I had asked her to bring newspaper articles about education.  After this lesson, I began to provide the material for the lessons.  When she asked me to "review" the lesson the following day, I refused.  I do not consider the Russian language legend she gave me research material, I do not agree with it, and it did not change my view of the Crimean Khanate.  My research project in Crimea is separate form my Russian lessons:  I have an advisor at ТНУ and I conduct research in the Gasprinski library.  I have nothing but deep respect for Crimean Tatars, their struggles, history, and great accomplishments.  In the future I will be more careful to articulate my views so there will not be such a misunderstanding.

     A quick visit Monday to the Khan's Palace Museum in Bakhchisaray on the way back home from Sevastopol and election observations.   Speaking of history and memory, the Crimean Khanate and this Palace are also sites of dispute and competing ideas of history and cultural heritage in today's Crimea..

 The Fountain of Bakhchisaray

     My first Russian teacher in Simferopol told me immediately that she did not want to discuss my project (Crimean Tatar language education and revitalization efforts).  She did read a version of the legend of the Fountain of Tears, which can still be seen today in the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisaray.   In the story, the cruel Khan falls in love with a woman taken as a spoil of war.  She dies of heartbreak and homesickness, and he builds a fountain in her memory.  It is a beautiful story, of which there are many versions.  Below is my mug next to the Fountain of Tears in the Bakhshisaray Palace.

     The Fountain of Tears is not only famous for its beauty and legend.  It was immortalized by Pushkin in his poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray." It is said that this fountain and reverence for Pushkin's work is what saved Bakhchisaray from a new, improved Soviet name after the Crimean Tatar deportation.  A few people have mentioned to me that Russians left the name "Bakhchisaray" only out of love for Pushkin, so that the poem would retain significance.  I have also heard the idea that the poem saved the Khan's Palace from destruction.

     So this fountain represents a few things.  It represents a legend, a love story.  It represents a time before Crimea was taken into the Russian Empire.  It is a landmark made unforgettable by the beloved Pushkin.  It is loved by Russians, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and visitors from around the world, but perhaps for different reasons.  

Zgibnew, a fellow UCCA observer, in front of the Fountain of Tears

What did the Khan do?  How did the Khan rest?

     I eventually got a new teacher, who I was told had no problem with discussing my project.  Today we had an interesting lesson that I think she thought somehow related to my interests.  We also read a Crimean Tatar legend.  In this legend, both the Khan and his son are in love with the same girl, also taken as a spoil of war. The Khan and the son fight over the girl, so the Khan decides that she must die.  They take her to a cliff, and she falls into the Black Sea.  The Khan realizes he cannot live without her, so he also jumps down into the water.  The son becomes the new Khan.

     After we finished reading the story, my teacher had prepared two very specific activities for me.  I was to find the answers to the following questions in the text:  What did the Khan do? and How did the Khan rest?  Of course she had already written out the answers for me, and when I couldn't immediately find them in the text, she pointed them out on a handwritten worksheet that she had made.  

"How did the Khans work?  They waged war.  They went to the Russian lands, they came back with rich spoils and new women.  They left behind them horror, ashes, corpses and blood."

"How did the Khans and murzas rest?  They rested like this.  They enjoyed women, they arranged feasts and celebrations, they played games, they shot Russian peasants in the eye with bows, they drank wine, and they gave glory to Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, and the Khan."

     She made me repeat these sentences until I said them without making a mistake, and tried to get me to recite them from memory.  My homework was to write down these sentences.  The story was 8 pages long, but we only worked on these two paragraphs.

     I find it interesting that both teachers point me to Crimean Tatar legends taking place hundreds of years before the time period of my research interests.  What kind of articles had I requested we read in class?  Newspaper articles about education in Crimea or Ukraine.

The Museum, then and now

     I don't know what to make of this museum.  It certainly is beautiful, and filled with gorgeous artifacts:  books, Korans, embroidery, woodwork.

     There is also a collection of photographs of the area and the museum at various times.  Below is a  photograph of exhibit in the museum sometime in "the 20th century," which is both quite recent and long.  A quote from Lenin is written in Russian and Crimean Tatar:  "Science and culture will become the heritage of the working masses.  It is the only way to win the revolution."  I had some trouble translating it, so a big thank you to Nicholas's roommate Halya.

     I can't help but wonder when in the long 20th century this photograph was taken.  How has this museum changed over the years, with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, the deportation and return of the Crimean Tatars?  How do Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars see this place, and the history of the Crimean Khanate as related to today's ethnic tensions?  As my project will bring me back to Bakhchisaray in the near future, I hope to learn more about this museum and get some perspective on these questions.