Bilär or Bilyarsk (; ) was a medieval city in Volga Bulgaria and its second capital before the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria. It was located on the left bank of the Small Cheremshan River in Alexeeyevsky District of the

Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

. Its erstwhile location is from the current village of the same name and from

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

History

The city was founded around 10th century by the indigenous Bilär tribe of the Volga Bulgars. In Russian chronicles, it was also known as the "Great City" (), because its population reputedly was in excess of 100,000. Bilyar was one of the main trade centers in the Middle Volga, and alternatively with the Bulgar city and Nur-Suvar, served as the capital of Volga Bulgaria in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1236, the city was sacked by the army of Batu Khan. The city was later rebuilt, but it never regained its former size or power. The city's ruins (nearly ) were explored by Rychkov, Tatischev, Khalikov and Khuchin. Bilyar was the capital of the Volga-Kama-Bulgaria from the 10th century until the early 13th century. It was also one of the largest cities of medieval

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. The end of the city in 1236 also resulted in the loss of its monumental architecture. In 1654, near the site of Bilyar, a Russian border fort called Bilär was founded. Bilyar Point on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Bilär.Bilyar Point.

SCAR A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...

Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...

In popular culture

Bilyarsk was the home of a fictional Soviet air force base in Craig Thomas' ''

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

'' novel and subsequent

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, about the fictional MiG-31 Firefox aircraft stolen by

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

pilot Mitchell Gant. In reality, Bilyarsk has no airport and the closest full-service airport is in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, northwest of Bilyarsk.

Notable people

* Alexander Arbuzov (1877–1968), chemist

Gallery

File:Wikiexpedition to Bilyar 15.jpg, Bilyar Historical Archeological Museum File:Wikiexpedition to Bilyar 23.jpg, A piece of Bilyar mill File:Wikiexpedition to Bilyar 14.jpg, Old Bilyar map File:Wikiexpedition to Bilyar 10.jpg, Old pots from ancient Bilyar

References

Resources

* Fayaz Sharipovich Huzin , BILYAR - BULGARIAN GREAT CITY
Publisher "Zaman" Republic of Tatarstan
. Russian (Хузин Фаяз Шариповичь , Биляр - Великий Город Болгарский
Издательство «Заман» Республика Татарстан
)

External links

* ttp://www.bulgars.ru/english/volga.htm Where the Volga Bulgaria has disappeared?br>50th Anniversary of Bilyar Archaeological Expedition: results and issues of Great Town investigation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilar History of Tatarstan Volga Bulgaria Defunct towns in Russia Archaeological sites in Tatarstan Former populated places in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Tatarstan Razed cities Populated places in the Golden Horde