Islamic traditions of water-supply construction in the Crimea

Abstract

Research objective: To reveal Islamic traditions for creating water sources and fountains in the Crimea, their stone-cutting ornamentation, and to discuss their typology according to their purpose and volume-compositional solutions. Research materials: The art of the construction of Crimean fountains and their semantic aspects were analyzed in the publications of M. Ginzburg and A.N. Malinovskaya. Ornamentation and semantics of stone plastics of Muslim structures (fountains and gravestones) were studied by S.M. Chervonnaya and E.A. Aybabina. The issues of organization, typology, ornamentation and semantics of water sources of the 15th-19th centuries have not been practically analyzed so far. On the basis of a small number of extant buildings, as well as archival materials and descriptions of travelers, the author of the article offers an insight into the variety of forms and ornamentation of waterworks of the indicated period. The novelty and the results of the research: The study of traditional forms of Crimean Tatar artistic creativity contributes to our wider knowledge of the culture of the Crimea, developed at the peninsula since ancient times. Forced relocation, long-term actual prohibitions of the existence and development of the Crimean Tatar art, loss and destruction of its material remains and documents, and the influence of the cultures in the areas of deportation led to the loss of the ethnic memory of the people, as well as reliable and complete information about their traditional art, its symbolism and ornamentation. The identification of the specific characteristics of the artistic language and style, and the recovery of forgotten technologies, encourages a deeper and complete understanding of the genuine folk art and the revival of folk traditions in contemporary art.