Biuk Sarai

[Sarai_Porretta]

The book Romanov Autumn (pgs. 112-13) mentions that Alexander II bought a house in the Crimea in 1872 for his mistress, Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, called Biuk Sarai in the Tartar language. It says that Ekaterina would discreetly follow the Tsar's annual progression to the Crimea each autumn and stay at that house, which was where her two daughters were born. She sold the house in 1892.

Naturally, the name caught my attention, and I am curious to know what this name means in the Tartar language (my own name is from the Bible), and also if anything else is known about this house, such as any pictures or what happened to it after it was sold.

[Mike]

In Turkish and other Turkic languages Buyuk Saray means "Big Palace". There is a palace of that name in Istanbul. Biyuk is the Tartar variation.

The word saray has also entered Russian, where it means "shed".

[hikaru]

Dolgorukies had other estate before the revolution -
Miskhor .
It was the famous Naval Hospital during and after the WWII. My grand grand father lived in the palace and worked in the Hospital at the end of 40ths.

[Lucien]

http://www.hansaray.org.ua/e_index.html