Mosque of Khan Özbek and the madrasa, Staryi Krym
The oldest surviving mosque in Crimea, of 1314, and the ruins of a madrasa of 1332.
Solhat was the capital of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde, and the mosque of Khan Özbek is the oldest mosque in Crimea to have survived; the date is carved on its portal together with the names of the builders. The madrasa attached on the south side was founded by İnci Bek Hatun in 1332, and today only ruins of it are left. The mosque was closed in 1921, and on 18 May 1944 the Crimean Tatars of Staryi Krym were deported along with the whole people: according to NKVD reports 191,044 people were deported from Crimea, 7,889 died on the way, and estimates of mortality in the special settlements diverge — Soviet figures give 20–25%, the Crimean Tatar national movement's own census 46%. Under occupation a Hermitage expedition in 2014–2015 excavated the burial chamber of the madrasa's founder herself, and in the winter of 2017 a contractor reinforced the vaults with modern cement mortar — by December 2017 Crimean restorers had recorded a build-up of moisture in the authentic lime mortars.
Travel here is impossible while the occupation lasts; the madrasa remains a ruin under a temporary canopy that has become permanent.