Bolgar

This article is about a city in Russia; for further terms see Bolgár .

city Bolgar Болгар ( Russian ) Болгар ( Tatar ) coat of arms Federal district Volga republic Tatarstan Rajon Joke mayor Kamil Nugayev Founded 8th century Earlier names Spassk; Kuibyshev City since 1781 surface 116  km² population 8,650 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 75 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 80  m Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone code (+7) 84347 Post Code 422840 License Plate 16, 116 OKATO 92 232 501 Website spasskiy.tatar.ru Geographical location Coordinates 54 ° 58 '  N , 49 ° 2'  E Coordinates: 54 ° 58 '0 "  N , 49 ° 2' 0"  E

Location in the western part of Russia

Location in Tatarstan

List of cities in Russia

Bolgar ( Russian Болгар ; Tatar Болгар Bolğar ) or Veliki Bolğar , unofficially also called Bulgar , Bolgari or Bolgary , is a city in Russia on the banks of the Volga in the Republic of Tatarstan . From the 8th to the 15th century it was the capital and center of the Volga Bulgarians ( Proto- Bulgarians ). Today it is a small town with 8,650 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) and the administrative center of Spassk Rajons .

history

The city was founded in the 8th century by the Volga Bulgarians under Khan Kotrag as their capital. They were joined by Finnish and Slavic populations. At the time of the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlān , who took part in an embassy in 922 to Bolgar to the Volga Bulgarians, the city had about 10,000 inhabitants with about 500 houses. Shortly after his visit, however, the city had been invaded by Russians around 968/969, causing considerable damage to the city's trade. The contemporary reports on trade in Bolgar come mainly from Arabic sources. Bolgar was developed into an important trading center with Arab money loans. Were traded furs , slaves , honey , animal skins which were used as carpets use, Bernstein , walrus teeth , wax and cereals . They prove the close ties between the Volga Bulgarian Empire and Central Asia. Russian traders also came to Bolgar to trade. Despite the trade with Arabia, the Slavic and Bulgarian parts of the population still retained the old Turkish customs and traditions of Tengrism . Science and culture flourished through the Arabic-Bulgarian amalgamation in Bolgar. At the beginning of the 11th century, the city received a wall made of oak.

The archaeological remains on the castle wall in Bolgar suggests for the 10th-12th centuries. In the 19th century, a castle town with extensive long-distance trade connections to the east and west as well as branches of foreign merchants (from Armenia , Rus and Danube Bulgaria ) recognize. The silver and copper coins found here bear some Arabic and some Kufic script and some are beautifully minted. Furthermore, many tombstones with Tatar , Arabic and Armenian inscriptions and sculptures, as well as old weapons , coins and all kinds of equipment have been preserved.

On the orders of Peter the Great , 49 of the grave inscriptions were recorded and attempts to explain. The Arabs date from the Hijra period from 619 to 742 ; among the Armenians there is one from 557 and two from 984 and 986 AD.

Between 1361 and 1367 the city was destroyed by the Golden Horde of the Mongols under Khan Bolod Timur . During Russian invasions in the 14th century, the capital was moved to Bilar ; after its looting and destruction it was moved back to Bolgar until the 15th century. When the Kazan Khanate was founded, Kazan was chosen as the new capital . At this point, Bolgar became a religious center of Islam .

In the 15th century the city was destroyed again by the Russian Prince Vasily II . In 1552 the city and the Kazan Khanate were annexed by the Russian tsarism under Ivan the Terrible .

Russian church and mosque in Bolgar

After the takeover by Russia, impoverished Russian farmers were settled in the area around Bolgar, who used the remains of the once powerful city as building material. For this reason, Tsar Peter the Great issued a special decree for the preservation of the Bolgar ruins, which historically represents the first Russian law to protect a city with a historical background.

In 1781 the city was named Spassk (Russian Спасск , from Спас for ' savior ') as the administrative seat of a Ujesd . Between 1926 and 1935 the city was called Spassk-Tatarsky ( Спасск-Татарский ) to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, such as Spassk-Ryazansky or Spassk-Dalni . From 1935 to 1991 it bore the name of the revolutionary Kuibyshev (Куйбышев) - as did Kuibyshev in Siberia and today's Samara, also on the Volga . In 1991 the city was given back its old name Bolgar .

Since 2011, the city has given its name to the Bolgar Buttress , a mountain in Graham Land in Antarctica.

Population development

year	Residents
1897	2770
1939	6188
1959	7023
1970	7231
1979	8383
1989	8397
2002	8655
2010	8650

Note: census data

Attractions

Today's Bolgar stands within the still largely preserved ramparts of the old Volga Bulgarian capital Bolgar, of which towers (the so-called Misgir Tower are best preserved ) and wall remains. The historical and archaeological complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014 .

literature

• Peter Berghaus , Klaus Zernack :  Bolgar. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1978, ISBN 3-11-006512-6 , pp. 212-213.

Web links

Commons : Bolgar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bolgar on mojgorod.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ^ John Anthony McGuckin: The encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Volume 1, John Wiley and Sons, 2011, p. 79.
3. ^ Hans Ferdinand Helmolt: World history. Volume: Eastern and Northern Europe. Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1921, p. 100.