ANCIENT SETTLEMENT OF THE BULGARS IN THE CONTEXT OF P.S. PALLAS’S EXPEDITION
The article deals with the condition of the Bulgar ancient settlement at the time of its visiting by members of academic expedition headed by Academician of St Petersburg Academy of Sciences P.S. Pallas. The earliest evidence of existence of the capital of the Volga Bulgaria is the manuscript of Ibn Fadlan. In the times of Almush, first wooden and stone buildings were constructed. Then they were destroyed due to the Mongol-Tatar invasion. But the town Bulgar was restored under Batu Khan. The stay of Peter the Great in the settlement should be considered to be the most important and crucial event. The Imperor ordered the governor A.P. Saltykov to deliver construction materials to the Bulgar settlement and repair the monuments. Catherine the Great visited the ancient settlement in 1767. Monuments of the Bulgar ancient settlement should not be attributed to the neighboring Suvar tribes. However, the Suvars’ successors - the present-day Chuvash - have retained a number of architectural styles (e.g. rope ornaments on gate posts). Pictures of main stone buildings made by P.S. Pallas’s group are attached to the article. The materials collected by the expedition prove that more than 40 structures remained by 1768. The most notable of them are the Great Minaret, the Khans table-tomb, and the Black Chamber. The sepulchral stones and coins found in this area are definitely of interest.