Staryi Krym (; ; ; in all four languages) is a small historical city and former bishopric in
Kirovske (Isliam-Terek) Raion of
Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. It has been occupied by Russia since 2014 (see
Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...
). It is located in the Eastern
Crimean Peninsula
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...
, approximately 25 km (15 mi.) west of
Theodosia. Population:
Names
During the late 13th century, the town was known as either ''Solkhat'' (''Solkhad'', ''Solghad'', ) or as ''Qrım'' ( ). Neither name is attested prior to the 13th century, but on the authority of
al-Qalqashandi, ''Solkhat'' is the older of the two, dating to the period prior to the Mongol conquest in mid-1238. Both names coexisted during the 14th century, but the name ''Qırım'' came to displace ''Solkhat'' by the early 15th. The origin of either name is uncertain. Some consider ''Solkhat'' to be related to the Greek ''Colchis''.
Before the Mongol period, mention is made in Greek hagiography of the residence of the
Khazar
The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...
governor of the eastern part of the peninsula, as a fortress named
''Phoulla'' or ''Phoullai'' (Φοῦλλαι, although other sources identify this place with
Chufut-Kale) along with ''Sugdaia'' (
Sudak); it is likely that the site of this fortress corresponds to the site of ''Solghat''.
[E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 4]
pp. 1084f
The name ''Qirim'' may continue the old name ''Cimmerium'' (after the
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into W ...
).
The
Strait of Kerch was known as ''Bosporus Cimmerius'' in the
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
(as reported by
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
,
Polybius
Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...
, and
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
), after the city of
Cimmerium which stood nearby. The promontory or peninsula on which it stood was known as ''Promontorium Cimmerium'' (Κιμμέριον ἄκρον).
The 13th-century toponym ''Qrim'' is likely explained as a corruption of the name ''Cimmerium''.
There are however alternative suggestions, such as derivation from the Greek ''Cremnoi'' (Κρημνοί, in post-classical Koiné Greek pronunciation, Crimni, i.e., "the Cliffs", referenced by Herodotus 4.20.1 and 4.110.2) or from a
Mongolian appellation.
The name "Crimea" (for the
Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
, and later also for the peninsula itself) is derived from the name of the city). It became adopted as an alternative term for what used to be known as ''Tauris'' or ''
Tauric Peninsula'' in western languages from the 17th century.
Since the annexation of Crimea by
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
in 1783, the town has been known by the Russian name Staryi Krym (Russian ''staryi'' meaning "old", rendered in Crimean Tatar as ''eski''; also transliterated as ''Staroi Krim'' and variants). Although officially the town was renamed ''Levkopol'' after the ancient Greek name of ''Leukopolis'' (White City), this never gained popularity,
perhaps because the town already styled a name from antiquity.
History

The town was probably the site of an earlier
Khazar
The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...
fortress before the Mongol conquest of the Crimea in mid-1238. The Mongols under
Batu Khan
Batu Khan (–1255) was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His '' ulus'' ruled over the Kievan ...
fortified the town and thereafter it became a capital of the Crimean Yurt (Crimean province of the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...
) and a home for the Emir of Crimea.
Before the 1270s, Qrim had been a village surrounding a fort at best, but by the early 14th century it had grown into a prosperous city.
Kaykaus II was given Qrim as a fief in c. 1265.
Tatar coins were struck in Qrim from 1287/8 (AH 686) and in the same year, an Egyptian architect was sent there to build a mosque to be named after the Egyptian sultan.
From that period remain the
Ozbek Han Mosque, built in 1314 by
Uzbeg Khan, and the ruins of a
madrassa built in 1332.
The town prospered during the 14th century, but it was completely destroyed during the civil unrest under
Mengli Girai in the later 15th century. Qrim seems to have retained its position as capital of the newly established
Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
for some years, as coins struck here are dated to as late as 1517 (AH 923), after which point in 1532 the capital of the Ottoman vassal state was moved to
Bağçasaray, and the city declined into relative obscurity. After the Russian conquest of the Crimean Khanate in the 1770s, the city of Staryi Krym was given the Greek name of ''Leukopolis'' (''Lewkopol''),
[ but this name never entered common usage.] In 1863, the town had a population of 1,085, of which 43.4% were Armenian Christian, 42.8% were Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
, 13.1% were Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, and 0.7% were Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
. In the late 19th century, the inhabitants were mostly employed in gardening, tobacco cultivation and farming.[
In 1812, shortly before Napoleon's invasion, the Countess Jeanne de Gachet, wife of a French ]emigrant
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
and victim of the revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
, had been living in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
for some time. She said she was aware of many events at the court of Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
. Tsar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
Alexander I then wanted to meet her in person and, once met at her palace, she confessed to him that she was actually the Countess Jeanne de La Motte-Valois, the sad heroine of the necklace affair. Naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
Russian for some secret services rendered to Russian diplomacy, Alexander was the only person she confided in. Having admit her past guilt, as a Vendean she had long followed the heroic bands that had resisted the republican armies. In 1824, by order of the emperor who did not grant the extradition
In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...
of the state criminal requested by the French ambassador, she was exiled to the Crimea with a group of pietists, settling permanently in a modest peasant house in the small village of Staryi Krym. Two years later, in the spring, sensing that she was close to death, after having destroyed all the papers and burned the compromising documents in her possession, she asked the Armenians of the church that her body be buried with the clothes she was wearing at the moment, without being stripped. Falling from a horse, she died on April 23, 1826. However, according to local custom, her body had to be washed before burial, so her recommendations were not heeded. It was then that, while cleaning the body, she noticed her branding on her right shoulder and chest, proving her real identity. As a result, by express order of the new Emperor Nicholas I, her belongings were shipped to the Russian capital.
Staryi Krym was the city where the famous Russian writer Alexander Grin
Aleksandr Stepanovich Grinevsky (better known by his pen name, Aleksander Green / Grin (spelling varies in non-Russian literature), rus, Александр Грин, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɡrʲin, a=Ru-Aleksandr Grin.ogg, 23 August 1880 – 8 July 1 ...
lived and died, and now has a museum dedicated to him.
The city is home to an important cardiac
The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissu ...
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence.
Sanatoriums are often in a health ...
, formerly run by notable heart surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...
Nikolai Amosov.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the German occupiers operated a ''Sicherheitsdienst
' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...
'' prison in the town.
Demographics
Ethnic groups
As of the Ukrainian national census in 2001, the town had a population of 9,960 people. The population mostly consists of ethnic Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
and Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...
. The share of ethnic Ukrainians
Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...
living in the town barely exceeds 10%, which is the lowest percentage recorded in any major settlement on the whole Crimean peninsula
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...
. The exact ethnic composition was as follows:
Ecclesiastical history
As Phulli, it was one of the bishoprics in the Roman client-state, later province, of the Bosporan Kingdom
The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (; ), was an ancient Greco-Scythians, Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, centered in the present-day ...
, where no imperial metropolis was established, and it faded under heathen rule.
The diocese was nominally restored in 1929, as a Latin Catholic titular archbishopric (Curiate Italian name Fulli).
It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank:
* Francis Joseph Beckman (1946.11.11 – 1948.10.17)
* Gabriele M. Reyes (1949.08.25 – 1949.10.13)
* Pasquale Mores (1950.01.31 – 1960.05.15)
* Willem Pieter Adrian Maria Mutsaerts (1960.06.27 – 1964.08.16)
Gallery
File:Мечеть Узбека.JPG, Ozbek Han Mosque
File:120829 Церква Сурб-Ншан06247.jpg, Surb Khach Armenian monastery
File:Starokrymskii sanatorii.jpg, Health resort in Staryi Krym
Notable people
* Abraham Kirimi, medieval Karaite rabbi
* Leonid Tkachenko (1953-2024), Ukrainian-Russian football player and coach
Notes
External links
* http://www.iccrimea.org/monuments/monuments.html
* http://tatarworld.com/history.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070929191951/http://www.go2crimea.com/en/index.php?p=31&s=10
* http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/russia/crimeapre1478.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060214212726/http://archnet.org/library/places/one-place.tcl?place_id=8092
The murder of the Jews of Staryi Krym
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, at Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
website.
GCatholic - Phulli, with titular incumbent links
{{Authority control
Cities in Crimea
Kirovske Raion
Cities of district significance in Ukraine
Holocaust locations in Ukraine
Populated places in the Golden Horde