Oct 21, 2013

Crimean Tatars: 700th Anniversary Of Uzbeg Khan Mosque To Be Celebrated in 2014


Crimea will hold festivities in 2014 to celeberate the 700th anniversary of the Uzbeg Khan Mosque and madrasah, one of the oldest religious buildings in Eastern Europe.

Below is an article by Interfax:

In 2014 Crimea will hold festivities on the 700th anniversary of Uzbeg Khan Mosque and madrasah which are among the oldest religious buildings in Eastern Europe.

An Interfax correspondent reports that a corresponding decision was made on Friday at a regular session of the Supreme Soviet of the autonomy.

The mosque and nearby madrasah were built in the town of Stary Krym (until 14th century Solkhat) in 1314 in honor of Khan Uzbeg of the Golden Khorde.

The Crimean parliament bound the government to set up an organizing committee for the anniversary events and approve a corresponding plan of events. The Crimean government was also bound to assign relevant funds from the 2014 budget of the autonomy.

During the debate on the issue head of the standing commission of the Crimean parliament for ethnic relations Enver Abudraimov noted that celebrating the 700th anniversary of the mosque and madrasah would help promote knowledge about the culture and history of medieval Crimea as well as the mosque itself.

He said that any mosque is an important religious building for Muslims while the Khan Uzbeg mosque and madrasah constitute part of the culture of Crimean Tatars. What makes the place unique is that the mosque is one of the oldest not only in Ukraine but in Eastern Europe as a whole.

In Abduraimov's opinion, the mosque and madrasah are symbols of Stary Krym, therefore their pictures could be used as a logo of the town.