View source for Bolghar

{{Short description|UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia}}
{{for-multi|the modern nearby town which serves as the administrative center of Spassky District|Bolgar, Spassky District, Republic of Tatarstan|the historic Turkic people|Bulgars}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| image         = Булгарское городище 9.JPG
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption       = 
| official_name = Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex
| location      = [[Tatarstan]], [[Russia]]
| criteria      = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii), (vi)}}(ii), (vi)
| ID            = 981rev
| coordinates   = {{coord|54|58|44|N|49|03|23|E|display=title,inline}}
| year          = 2014
| area          = {{convert|424|ha|sqmi|abbr=on}}
| buffer_zone   = {{convert|12,101|ha|sqmi|abbr=on}}
| locmapin      = Russia
| map_caption   = 
}}
'''Bolghar''' or '''Bolgar''' ({{langx|ru|Болгарское городище}}; [[Tatar language|Tatar]]: Болгар, بلغار, ''Bolğar''; [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]]: Аслă Пăлхар, ''Aslă Pălhar'') was intermittently the capital of [[Volga Bulgaria]] from the 10th to the 13th centuries, along with [[Bilär|Bilyar]] and Nur-Suvar. It was situated on the bank of the [[Volga River]], about 30&nbsp;km downstream from its confluence with the [[Kama River]] and some 130&nbsp;km from modern [[Kazan]] in what is now [[Spassky District, Republic of Tatarstan|Spassky District]]. To the west of it lies a small modern town known as [[Bolgar, Spassky District, Republic of Tatarstan|Bolgar]] since 1991. The [[UNESCO]] World Heritage Committee inscribed Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex (ancient Bolghar [[hill fort]]) to the [[World Heritage List]] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/981/|title=Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|access-date=2019-08-09}}</ref> 
[[File:Bolgar1839.JPG|thumb|200px|Hill fort before reconstruction (lithography of XIX)]]
[[File:Bolgar.JPG|thumb|200px|Common view to hill fort]]
[[File:Булгарское городище 4.JPG|thumb|200px|Temples of hill fort]]

== History ==
Bolgar was originally established in the 10th century.{{sfn|Curta|2019|p=145}} The city was supposedly  the capital of [[Volga Bulgaria]] from as early as the 10th century. As a result of Russian incursions along the Volga, and internecine fights, the Volga [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] kings (khagans) were forced to intermittently move their capital to [[Bilär|Bilyar]].

During the [[Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria]] in the 13th century, the [[Golden Horde]] conquered the realm. A Russian annalist wrote: "In the autumn of 6744 (1236), there came from the countries of the East into the Bulgar lands the godless Tatars and sacked the good city of Bolgar and killed everyone from the old to the young and the tiniest suckling, and looted a lot of goods, and set the city on fire, and captured the whole of their land".{{sfn|Bukharaev|2014|pp=118–119|loc="...but of the year 1236 the Russian annalist wrote with great sadness: 'In the autumn of 6744 (1236), there came from the countries of the East into the Bulgar lands the godless Tatars and sacked the good city of Bolgar and killed everyone from the old to the young and the tiniest suckling, and looted a lot of goods, and set the city on fire, and captured the whole of their land"}}

After the destruction of Bilyar during the Mongol invasion, the former capital lost its status due to the Mongol policy prohibiting the reconstruction of capitals.{{sfn|Bukharaev|2014|p=137}} It lay outside the ''ulus'' itself, but had direct Mongol presence.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=47}} The Mongols eliminated the existing socio-political structure of the Volga Bolgars.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=47}} Volga Bulgaria became decentralized as a result and the new city of [[Kazan]], known as ''Bolgar-al-Jadid'' ("the new Bolgar"), became prominent.{{sfn|Bukharaev|2014|p=137}} The taxation of regions such as Bolgar, Khwarizm, Crimea and Azerbaijan filled the Golden Horde's coffers with great wealth, and the Mongols replaced the sitting rulers of Bolgar and Khwarizm with their own.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=47}}

The late 14th century saw a marked decline in its fortunes. It was sacked by {{ill|Bulat-Timur|ru|Булат-Тимур}} in 1361 during the [[Great Troubles]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} The [[Muscovite–Volga Bulgars war (1376)]] saw [[Grand Duchy of Moscow|Muscovy]] and [[Principality of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal|Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal]] briefly capture Grand Bolgar and installing their own ''doroga'' and ''tamozhnia'' (customs collector), which probably were existing offices at the time, before the Tatars retook the city.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=57}} It was endangered by [[Timur]] during the [[Tokhtamysh–Timur war]]. As a Muslim religious center Bolgar persevered until the mid-16th century when the [[Khanate of Kazan]] was conquered by the Russian Tsar [[Ivan IV]] and incorporated into the Russian state.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

During Tsarist rule the site of the ancient town was settled by Russian commoners. Tsar [[Peter the Great]] issued a special ukase to preserve the surviving ruins, which was the first Russian law aimed at preserving historical heritage.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

=== Little pilgrimage ===
During the Soviet period, Bolgar was a center of a local Islamic movement known as ''The Little [[Hajj]]''; Muslims from Tatarstan and other parts of the [[Soviet Union]] could not participate in the hajj to [[Mecca]], so they travelled instead to Bolgar.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

== Monuments and temples ==

<gallery>
File:Eastern mausoleum, Bolgar.JPG|Eastern mausoleum
File:Khans' mausoleum, Bolgar.JPG|Khans' mausoleum
File:Northern mausoleum, Bolgar.JPG|Northern mausoleum
File:Black chamber, Bolgar.JPG|Black Chamber
File:Белая палата.JPG|White Chamber
File:Булгарское городище 6.JPG|Big manara
File:Keçe manara.JPG|Small manara
File:Bolgar mosque.jpeg|New Bolghar [[White Mosque (Bolghar)|White Mosque]]
</gallery>

== Importance ==
[[File:Bolgar mezartasi.jpg|thumb|A gravestone written in the Bolghar language (amongst the Turkic Languages) with Arabic transcript]]
The Tatars refer to the medieval capital of Volga Bolgaria as ''Shahri Bolghar'' ({{langx|tt-Cyrl|Шәһри Болгар}}), that is [[Persian language|Persian]] for "the City of Bolghar". The town is part of their cultural heritage, because Volga Bulgaria is the predecessor state of the [[Khanate of Kazan]], which in turn is in a way the predecessor of today's Russian republic of [[Tatarstan]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Today, the capital of Tatarstan is [[Kazan]], but many Tatars consider Bolghar to be their ancient and religious capital and to allow a glimpse of Muslim Bulgar life before the [[Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Bukharaev |first1=Ravil |title=Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons |date=3 June 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-80793-0 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Islam_in_Russia/vIy3AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Curta |first1=Florin |title=Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) (2 vols) |date=8 July 2019 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-39519-0 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Eastern_Europe_in_the_Middle_Ages_500_13/-sqiDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last=Halperin|first=Charles J.|year=1987| title=Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History |pages=222 |isbn=9781850430575}} (e-book).
* Turnerelli, Edward Tracy, ''Kazan, the Ancient Capital of the Tartar Khans, 1854'', pp 196–261

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline}}

{{World Heritage Sites in Russia}}{{Authority control}}

[[bg:Болгар (град)]]

[[Category:Populated places on the Volga]]
[[Category:Former cities in Russia]]
[[Category:Islam in Russia]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Tatarstan]]
[[Category:Volga Bulgaria]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Russia]]
[[Category:Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Tatarstan]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Golden Horde]]