CrimeaPRESS reports:
Visitors to the Khan’s Palace of Bakhchisarai now have a unique opportunity to appreciate the intermediate stage of restoration of the famous Demir Kapu (“Iron Door”) or the Aleviz Portal. This carved stone portal frames an oak door covered with strips of wrought iron in the Ambassador Courtyard.
As he writes Tourist portal of Crimea, the uniqueness of the monument is that it was made by the Venetian architect Aloisio Lamberti da Montagnana (Aleviz Fryazin Novy). He ended up in Crimea quite by accident during his journey to Muscovy, where he was going to build a temple in the Kremlin. Together with other masters, he was taken prisoner by the Moldavian prince. At the request of the Grand Duke of Moscow John III, his ally the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray managed to negotiate the release and helped the architects get to the border of Muscovy. However, for a whole year, from 1503 to 1504, the famous Venetian master lived in Crimea and created his stone masterpiece in the Khan’s residence.
Demir Kapu or Aleviza Portal is the earliest dated monument of the palace. Researchers suggest that it was moved from the first residence of the khan in Bakhchisarai, which has not survived to this day.
This amazingly beautiful object is made in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. The portal is given splendor by carved details in the form of leaves, flowers and strings of pearls. At the top there are two inscriptions telling about the “owner” of the palace. In the circle of the tympanum is placed the Khan’s tamga — a symbol of the Geray dynastysaid the museum.
According to the head of the department of the Museum of History and Culture of the Crimean Tatars of the Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve, Meryem Seytumerova, the artists have now removed the later layers of painting of the Portal, fixed the lower layer and stopped, since working with painting requires an air temperature of at least +15 degrees. Before the onset of warm weather, it was customary to open the monument for inspection. The restoration of the main buildings of the palace is planned to be completed by 2025. The process will proceed in stages.
We really hope that by the summer we will restore the exhibition of the Khan’s Harem, open the Khan’s Lodge, the Falcon Tower, perhaps the art museum will return to its exhibitions in the Library Building, and new exhibitions will be in the Stables Building. Of course, until the work is completed, you will have to endure some inconveniences. Somewhere construction workers are making noise, somewhere archaeologists are digging. But everything is for the good of the palace. In any case, the museum does not stop working and our visitors see with their own eyes restoration work that is unique in complexity and volume– said Meryem Seytumerova.
Now, during a tour of the Khan’s Palace, you will be able to see: Trambaro Plan — Khan’s Office — Demir Kapu (Aleviz Portal) — Summer Gazebo — Fountain Courtyard — Golden Fountain — Fountain of Tears; in the display from the side of the palace square: Falcon Tower — Harem — Hall of the Divan — Great Khan’s Mosque — Khan’s Cemetery — palace square with two exhibition projects: “Bakhchisarai Craft City” and “Science and Education in the Crimean Khanate”.
Photo: Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve.
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