Bakhchysarai (Crimean Tatar: Bağçasaray; Ukrainian: Бахчисарай; Russian: Бахчисарай; Turkish: Bahçesaray) is an urban-type settlement in central Crimea, located in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Bakhchysarai Raion (district), as well as the former capital of the Crimean Khanate. Its main landmark is Hansaray, the only extant palace of the Crimean Khans, currently opened to tourists as a museum.

Located in a narrow valley of the Çürük Suv river which is known as an old local center of civilization (the first artifacts of human presence in the valley date up to the Mesolithic). The settlements which existed in the valley before Bakhchisaray was founded - Qırq Yer fortress (modern Çufut Qale), Salaçıq, and Eski Yurt—are nowadays incorporated into the urban area of the modern Bakhchisaray.

Bakhchysarai, first mentioned 1502, was established as the new khan's residence by the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray in 1532. Since then, it was the capital of the Crimean Khanate and the center of political and cultural life of the Crimean Tatar people. After several wars with Russia from 1737 when Burkhard Christoph von Münnich burnt down the capital of Khanate and occupation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1783, it was turned into an ordinary town, having lost administrative significance. However, it remained the cultural center of the Crimean Tatars until the Sürgün (deportation on 18 May 1944).

The Khan's Palace or Hansaray is located in the town of Bakhchisaray, Crimea, Ukraine. It was built in the 16th century and became home to a succession of Crimean Khans. The walled enclosure contains a mosque, a harem, a cemetery, living quarters and gardens. The palace interior has been decorated to appear lived in and reflects the traditional 16th century Crimean Tatar style. It is one of the Muslim palaces found in Europe, the most well known others are Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, Yıldız Palace, Aynalıkavak Palace, Edirne Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace, Çırağan Palace in Turkey and the Alhambra in Spain.

The city of Bakhchisaray and the palace were commissioned by the Crimean Khan dynasty, who moved their capital here from neighbouring Salaçıq in the first half of the 16th century. The palace's complex design and minarets were constructed by Russian and Ukrainian slaves in the 16th century under the command of Ottoman, Persian and Italian architects. Later damages required partial reconstruction, but the structure still has a resemblance to its original form. Some buildings currently in the palace were attached later, while some of the original buildings could not stand past the 18th century.

Vladimir Vlasov (25 December 1902 (OS)/7 January 1903 (NS) Moscow – 7 September 1986 Moscow) was a Russian composer and conductor. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1924 to 1931 under such teachers as Georgy Catoire, Abram Yampol′sky, and Nikolai Zhilyayev. In 1936 he founded the Music and Drama Theatre in Frunze, working as the company's artistic director until 1942. He worked as the artistic director of the Moscow PO from 1942 to 1949. He was made a People’s Artist of the RSFSR and of the Kirghiz SSR.

As a composer, Vlasov is known for his numerous operas, six of which were written in a Soviet government assigned collaboration with Vladimir Fere and Abdïlas Maldïbayev. The collective is usually hypenated as Vlasov-Fere-Maldi'bayev. Vlasov also composed the Kirghiz national anthem.

His work has been recorded and issued on media including:

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин, tr. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin; IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr sʲɪˈrɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] ( listen); 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

Born into the Russian nobility in Moscow, Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo.

While under the strict surveillance of the Tsar's political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama Boris Godunov. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832.

Notoriously touchy about his honour, Pushkin fought a total of twenty-nine duels, and was fatally wounded in such an encounter with Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès. D'Anthès, a French officer serving with the Chevalier Guard Regiment, had been attempting to seduce the poet's wife, Natalya Pushkina. Pushkin's early death at the age of 37 is still regarded as a catastrophe for Russian literature.