Поволжская археология

Archive » The Volga River Region Archaeology Vol.1 (1) 2012

Exploration of remains of monumental structure in the south-west of the Cathedral mosque in Bolgar

Baranov V.S., Badeev D.Y., Koval’ V.Y.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24852/pa2012.1.1.158.171

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The ruins of a large brick building were revealed on the Bolgar city site to the southwest of the Cathedral mosque. The structure was studied during the 1989–1993, 2000 and 2011 excavations. It has been found that that its outer walls were built of baked brick and the inside walls were made of mud brick. The roofing could be beamed and resting on light pole supports. The layout of the building and the finds of stock-in-trade items confirm the hypothesis that the structure could serve as the city trade yard (marketplace) or bazaar. The coins found make it possible to date the structure back to the 1340–1350s and its collapse in the fire to the 1360–1370s. The construction features of the building point to its relationship with the architectural tradition of the Lower Volga settlements, that of Iran and Central Asia.

Keywords

archaeologythe Middle Volga river regionthe Golden Horde periodBolgar citytrade yardbazaararchitecture of the Golden Hordebricksstock-in-tradescalesweights

About the author(s)

Baranov Vyacheslav S. Kostroma State Historical, Architectural and Artistic Museum-Reserve. Mira Ave., 7, Kostroma, 156000, Russian Federation; sl.baranov@mail.ru.

Badeev Denis Yu. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation; denisbadeev@mail.ru

Koval Vladimir Yu. Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation; kovaloka@mail.ru