Khan's tombs in Bakhchysarai

"To him who sought to obtain Allah's mercy, they said: Welcome! ... Death is the cup of wine that all living beings drink. The grave is the abode to which every person enters…". This poetic epitaph was carved on the tombstone of Khan Selim II Giray (died in 1748), which was located under the wall of the great Khan's mosque in Bakhchisarai. In the political tradition of the time, the tombs of ancestors were a mandatory attribute of the capital, as they symbolized the antiquity of the dynasty and its right to rule.