Historical topography of the Hansaray: to the question of the periodization of building stages of the complex

This work is about a study of ancient earthquake that significantly damaged the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai at the end of the 1600’s. Today, however, it is almost impossible to find evidences of this catastrophic event in walls of the Hansaray. Our research shows that this may be explained by the large numbers of repairs and restorations that are constantly carried out on the monument. Only due to the fact that one object of the Khan’s Palace (“eastern building”) was raided in the 2013, we can fix the internal structure of its walls and find evidences of seismogenic deformation of the plinth arch with repair. We carried out a search for analogies to date this ancient seismic event. Similar damages were found in walls of the Eski-Durbe, monuments of the first palace of Crimean khans in Salachik (Zangirli madrassah and durbe of Haji-Geray) and the Great Kenassa from Chufut-Kale. The comparison of the chronology and characteristics of seismic deformations of “eastern structure” and other monuments gave the possibility to associate their damages with the “Salachik” earthquake of April 30, 1698, with seismic rupture located along the West-Crimean seismogenic zone and local intensity near Bakhchysarai Il = VIII–IX points (MSK-64). The magnitude of the event is not yet clear and can be estimated with more data. However, it is obvious, that the “Salachik” earthquake should be considered not only from the point of the seismotectonics and long-term seismic forecast for the Crimea, but also as major event of building periodization of the Hansaray. Our studies showed that this earthquake with high degree of probability had destroyed the Sahib Geray Divan Hall and had forced to make a significant rebuilding of the Khan’s Palace, which was unknown before our studies. These rebuilding significantly changed the monument and began the formation of late topography of the Hansaray, which has remained almost unchanged until now. Ancient part of the palace and Sahib Geray’s buildings sustained significant damage during the “Salachik” earthquake. From those buildings the history of construction of the palace complex, and also the city of Bakhchysarai, has began.