On May 22, 1877, on behalf of the committee of the Fourth Archaeological Congress, the ruins of the Uzbek Bolgar prof. Shiilevsky and V.V. Radlov. And at that time, the Small Minaret was the best preserved ancient building. In 1892, excavations were carried out and then, by the way, that small space in the shape of a quadrangle, on which the Great Minaret stood until the 41st year, was also excavated; these excavations were discovered at a depth bin no more than an arshin, under the rubble it is mute and filled with stone earth floor, filled with cement, precreating a quadrangular area up to 200 square fathoms in size rum At the same time, the remains of walls and columns of some residential premises were discovered.
scheniya.
Another ancient monument that has not yet been completely destroyed is the so-called Black or Judgment Chamber.
The foundations of the four towers have been preserved to some extent, so so-called quadrangle, in the middle of which, according to some assumptions, there was in ancient times, a mosque, and according to other proposals, a palace. Rest
E with mounds, sometimes with grass. IN. In the year 1892, Yerev told the Society of Archaeologists in Kazan about the results of the excavations he carried out in 1892 in the villages of Bolgar. From this message, by the way, it is clear that, among others, a tract called the Tsarina’s grave was also investigated. According to legend, the Bulgarian Khan loved this hillock so much that he buried his daughter in it, which is where the above name comes from; but the investigation proved that the tract was not a grave at all, but a small “town” located on the ledge of Verkhniy Bor and a deep ravine.
The small minaret is located half a mile north-east of the church in the village of Uspensky. The total height of the building is 7 fathoms; The black chamber is located half a mile from the same church to the poop. The ancient purpose of this building was, it seems, religious; The Black Chamber was probably a mosque; However, there are many that a trial was held in it. Its name, according to devotion, has such an origin.
When Tamerlane attacked the city of Bolgars, the Bulgarian Khan Abdullah with his wives and children locked himself in the Judgment Chamber. Tamerlane ordered to cover it from top to bottom with logs, pour tar on this giant fire and light it. The khan and all his wives and children burned to death, but at the same time one of his daughters escaped and was miraculously saved. The girl was seen sitting in Ofloy clothes on the burnt vault of the chamber and was recognized as a saint; the chamber, smoky and blackened, was nicknamed the Black Chamber.
About 100 yards from the Black Chamber one can see the remains of the walls of the Bfloi Chamber, which once consisted of 10 rooms. As for the foundations of the four towers, they are located near the church itself; There was also a Great Minaret here, which collapsed in 1841. It seems that the reason for the honeydew was that it was too undermined by zealous treasure hunters. That this ancient monument was of significant interest is proven by the fact that Peter Velivy ordered the top to be covered with yellow hoops to prevent further destruction; but, as it turns out, nothing helped: the monument was destroyed, thanks to the gross misunderstanding of the local population and their greedy desire for easy money.
In the Bulgarian kingdom, located in the Kama-Volzhesky region, there was another significant city, Suvar. At least he was mentioned by the Arab writer El-Balkhi (in the 10th century); It is also indicated by the Bulgarian coins discovered by the famous orientalist Fren and associated with the name of the city of Suvara. There were no indications of the location of this city until very recently, when it turned out that the foreigners of Snasskato, Mamadshskato and Chistopol districts call the village of Kuznechikha in the Utk rfk, in Spassky district, “Iski-Suvar,” which actually means the ancient Suvar. The participation of a member of the Kazan Archaeological Society, Mr. Akhmerov, at the International Financial Society gave a completely favorable result; Near the village of Kuznechikha, they inspected a vast settlement and began purchasing a private collection of various Bulgarian household items.
Below, on the right bank of the Volga, the traveler will see a very high mountain, cut by two deep ravines and descending to the Volga with steep cliffs.