Lot Essay
Bakhchisarai is a town in Central Crimea, best known for its Romantic associations with Pushkin's poem The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1822). Located in a a narrow valley of the Çürük Su river, Bakhchisarai was established as the new khan residence by the Crimean khan Sahib I Giray in 1532. The Crimean Khanate was occupied by the Russian Empire in 1783. The Palace of the Khans, or Hansaray is the last surviving example of Crimean Tatar palace architecture in the world.