The Caravanserai is not located in Tatarstan or Bashkiria, nor in Astrakhan, but in the steppe of Orenburg, near the Perovsky Park. It was built between 1838 and 1846. Inside the courtyard of the administrative buildings, there is a mosque with a minaret. To gain the support of the Bashkirs, whom the local governor considered to be just as capable in military matters as the Cossacks, the authorities allowed them to build the Caravanserai. A thousand Bashkirs participated in the construction, and materials such as Bashkir timber, stone, and lime were brought here. Up to 15% of the funds were collected from Bashkir villages. The completed complex housed the Bashkirmeshcheriatskoye military unit, an inn, workshops, and a Bashkir school. Twenty years later, the authorities were disappointed with the Bashkirs, disbanded the military unit, and took the building for provincial needs. The Bashkirs protested and complained, but they were able to save only the mosque, which the authorities had intended to relocate elsewhere. It is symbolic that the mosque is the only part of the complex that still serves its original purpose (although it did serve as a planetarium during the Soviet years). The Caravanserai once housed a technical school, a military unit, and Orenburgggeology. Today, it is home to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and various law enforcement agencies. However, the Bashkirs did not abandon their attempts to reclaim the building. The revolution helped them, and Lenin personally instructed that the building be returned to the Bashkirs. However, it was no longer called the Caravanserai, but the Bashkir People's House, where the governing bodies of the newly established Bashkir Republic held their sessions. After they moved to Ufa, the building once again became part of Orenburg. Only nearly 70 years later did Bashkortostan and Orenburg Oblast sign an agreement for the joint use of the Caravanserai, finally ending all disputes. Alexander Bryullov (the brother of the famous painter) was not an expert in Eastern architecture, so the Caravanserai and mosque turned out to be his own creations. His inspiration came from Bashkir villages with the elder's yurts and light nomadic tents.