Old barn

The word shed is borrowed by the Türks from Iranian languages and means “house, palace” ^{[1] [2]} .

The city was founded by Genghisides Batu in the early 1250s. The first mention in the sources dates back to 1254 - in the book of Franciscan Rubruk “Journey to the Eastern Countries” (“a new city built by Batu on Ethilia ”). In the beginning, it was a nomad's rate, which eventually grew into a city. Sarai Batu was the main political center of the Golden Horde, but the economic center probably did not immediately. The first coins were issued here about 30 years after the foundation, around 1282, under the Khan Tuda-Mengu .

Saray-Batu stretched along the left bank of the Akhtuba River for 10-15 km. Its area, according to Franz Vladimirovich Ballod , was about 36 km², which can be reliable only if you take into account the estates and estates surrounding the city itself; urban quarters, according to modern archaeological data, occupied an area of ​​approximately 10 km².

About 75 thousand people lived in Saray-Batu. The population was multinational: the Mongols, Kipchaks , Alans , Circassians , Russians , Bulgars , Byzantines lived here. Each ethnic group settled in its quarter, where there was everything necessary: ​​a school, a church, a bazaar, a cemetery. In the city there were quarters of artisans: potters, jewelers, glass blowers, bone cutters, masters in smelting and metal processing. Palaces and public buildings were erected from burnt bricks on lime mortar, and ordinary houses were built from adobe bricks and wood. Historian Vadim Leonidovich Egorov, a participant in the archaeological expedition, recalled the excavations of the palace, apparently belonging to one of Genghis Khan’s descendants ^[3] :

“There are about 30 rooms. There are stoves on which you can lie (“cans” are called). The walls inside are covered with glazed tiles with gold leaf (such are the domes of churches) and painted with Persian poetic lines. The floor is also tiled with hexagonal brick tiles. ”

In 1261, Sarai-Batu became the center of the newly formed Sarai diocese of the Russian Church , and in 1315 - the center of the Catholic bishopric .

Under Khan Uzbek (reigned 1313–1341), the capital of the Golden Horde was moved to New Saray (Saray-Berke) on the Akhtuba River (near the present village of Tsaryov, Leninsky District, Volgograd Region).

Soon after, the city fell into complete decline, and many of its buildings were demolished. Brick and other materials from which the buildings of the old capital were built were used in the construction of other cities, for example, Hadji Tarkhan.

Saray-Batu was located in the area of ​​the modern village of Selitrenny Kharabalinsky district of the Astrakhan region ^[4] .

In the course of many years of excavation, layers of the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries were discovered on the Selitrenny hillfort. XIII century layers are absent. There is a version according to which the city of Sarai was originally located in the area of ​​the modern village of Krasny Yar (A. V. Pachkalov). On the site of the Red Yar, the presence of urban layers of the 13th century is assumed, in addition, near the settlement there is the necropolis Mayachny Bugor , whose burials date from the second half - the end of the 13th century. It is possible that the capital was transferred to the Selitrenny district only in the 1330s (the appearance of information about the New Sarai at that time could be associated with this transfer) ^{[5] [6]} .

• New Barn
• Saray-Batu (museum)

1. Vasiliev D.V. Islamization and funeral rites in the Golden Horde (statistical and archaeological research). Astrakhan, Publishing House Astrakhan University, 2009.
2. Egorov V. L. The historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII-XIV centuries. / Ans. Editor V.I. Buganov. - M .: Nauka, 1985 .-- 11,000 copies. Archived June 19, 2009 on Wayback Machine
3. Pachkalov A.V. Mints of the Golden Horde and their localization // Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. - Wiesbaden, 2004 .-- T. XIII . - S. 131-181 .
4. Pachkalov A.V. On the location of the Shed (the first capital of the Golden Horde) // Archeology and Ethnology of Europe. Materiali i doslidzhennya. - Odessa: "Druk", 2002. - T. 3 . - S. 177 .
5. Pachkalov A.V. On the location of the Old Shed - the capital of the Golden Horde // XV All-Russian Numismatic Conference. Abstracts of reports and messages. - M. , 2009 .-- S. 73-74 .
6. Pachkalov A.V.,. Transgression of the Caspian Sea and the history of the Golden Horde cities in the Northern Caspian // East - West: Dialogue of cultures and civilizations of Eurasia. - Kazan, 2007. - Issue. 8 . - S. 171-180 .
7. Pachkalov A.V. Medieval cities of the Lower Volga and Northern Caucasus. M., 2018.
8. Pachkalov A.V., Skisov S. Yu. Numismatic finds on the Krasnoyarsk fortification in the Astrakhan region // XV All-Russian numismatic conference. Abstracts of reports and messages. - M. , 2009 .-- S. 75-76 .
9. Poluboyarinova M. D. Russian people in the Golden Horde / Otv. Editor T.V. Nikolaeva. - M .: Science, 1978.- 9300 copies.

• Virtual tour of Sarai Batu
• Saray-Batu // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Museum "Selitrennoe settlement" (neopr.) . Astrakhan State United Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve .
• Selitrennoe fortification (neopr.) . Rudakov V.G. Date of treatment March 6, 2011. Archived on May 19, 2012.

Video

• “Sarai Batu. The first capital of the Golden Horde. ” Documentary
• Sarai Batu. Archaeological site of the 2013 season. (unspecified) . YouTube (08.19.2013).