Non-Documented Find Excavated at Indzhi-bey Khatun Madrasah in Staryi Krym ; Беспаспортная находка из раскопок медресе Инджи-бей Хатун в Старом Крыму

The ruins of the madrasah built in the town of Qyrym (present-day Staryi Krym) in 733 AH (1332/1333 AD) at the order of Indzhi-bei Khatun are an inexhaustible source of valuable information for researchers of mediaeval architecture. Along with the wall masonry that survived, numerous individual architectural parts, mostly isolated and of unclear origin, have significant importance. As a rule, these parts are related to the madrasah. Among them there is a large fragment of carved stone artefact, lying ownerless in the courtyard of the madrasah. This non-documented find is the extreme part of a massive limestone slab with a relief floral ornament on the front face. Due to the rather expressive shape and décor, the fragment’s provenance is quite definable. Moreover, at least two episodes correlated with it have documentary evidence. The earliest images of the find date back to 1926. They occur among numerous photographs with general views of the ruins of the madrasah, which were made during archaeological excavations of 1925–1928. The fragment of the slab is depicted in situ, in the layer of destruction of the building, which formed from 1783 to the mid-nineteenth century. The artefact corresponds to two architectural details obtained during excavations in 1983 and 1979. It possibly made a single whole with the first and formed the general system of decoration of the building with the second. With a fairly high degree of probability, it can be argued that they were decorative merlons of the main facade of the madrasah, completing the portal and the eastern wall of the building. The closest analogies to them were found in Anatolia, historically and culturally related to the Golden Horde Crimea. ; Руины медресе, построенного в г. Крым (совр. Старый Крым) в 733 г. х. (1332/1333 г.) по указанию Инджи-бей Хатун, являются неиссякаемым источником ценной информации для исследователей средневекового зодчества. Наряду с уцелевшими кладками стен не меньшее значение имеют многочисленные архитектурные детали, преимущественно ...