The Khan`s Palace is located on the edge of the high bank above the Volga River, 130 meters from the Cathedral`s Mosque of Bolgar. For a long time, archaeologists could not find the ruins of the Khan`s palace. They thought that the palace was under the Assumption Church. In 2007, the ruins of the Khan`s Palace were found in another place.
Archaeological excavations at the site of the Khan`s Palace are made as a museum exhibition, thus you can imagine the size and layout of the house of the Bulgarian khan. During the excavations of the Khan`s Palace, archaeologists found treasures with coins of the Golden Horde of the 13th-14th centuries, as well as various household utensils. These artifacts are now stored in the Museum of Bulgarian Civilization, which is located near the pier on the Volga River.
The size of the foundation of the Khan`s Palace is 24 x 29 meters. It is called the "House with Towers", as four towers towered on the edges of the palace. The Khan`s palace had a layout typical for southern countries with blank exterior walls of red brick and an inner courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by an arcade with columns, behind which were the rooms of the palace. In the center was a tent.
During the restoration, an open pavilion with a glass roof was erected over the excavation site of the Khan`s Palace. It allowed the excavations to be preserved in the form of a museum exhibition. Visitors can see the masonry elements of the 13th-14th century, parts of columns and capitals from the Khan`s Palace. Wooden carcasses of even more ancient dwellings of the Bulgarian settlement were found under the foundation of the Khan`s Palace.
Next to the Khan`s Palace are the ruins of the Khan`s Bath (Eastern Chamber) of the 13th century. In those years, the bathhouse was an important part of the Khan`s Palace. The khan received guests and rested there. In the following centuries, the stones of the Khan`s bath were used for the construction of other buildings of the Bolgar, so only the foundation has been preserved from it.
