Watchtowers of the Caucasus. Watchtowers of the North Caucasus. Life and customs of the castle residents

With the support of Nikon, in the fall of 2015, Nikon Ambassador Alexander Zheleznyak made a long research trip to the Caucasus to find the descendants of the builders of the famous ancestral towers of North Ossetia. Upon his return, Alexander told amazing story about this photo expedition, about the reasons for the trip to this amazing region, as well as about what we managed to see there and capture in photographs.

In my childhood there was a magazine called “Soviet Photo”. Then I looked through all my grandfather’s files, I really liked the photographs. And somehow a report from North Ossetia with these harsh mountains and battlements of dilapidated towers caught my eye. And when I found myself in the Digori Gorge for the first time five years ago, I suddenly realized that this was the same place that I saw in that magazine as a child. We have many underrated places from a tourism point of view, and North Ossetia is definitely worth a trip.

my main task, as with any journey, it was about filming a good human story. That is, not just a single photo to later show: “Oh, look, what a frame!”, but a whole reportage, where there are characters and the space in which they live. The shot itself is often just luck. But to pull out stories, characters, human stories– this, it seems to me, is more important. Every photographer, of course, wants to shoot something that no one else has ever shot, that no one else has seen. And, by and large, if we talk about nature, almost everything was probably filmed. A lot of things have already been recorded and documented.

What can we surprise people with now? Only with a new emotion that you convey through the frame. Towers for me are material evidence of human existence in this space many centuries ago. They have been here for so long that they have already merged with nature. It is like a continuation of the mountain, carrying the spirit of history, the spirit of the people who once lived here. It’s also interesting that now the historical owners are returning here. And I was just hoping to find those towers where people still live, and to find those families who are restoring their ancestral towers. I have always been captivated when a family keeps its history and knows its roots. In the era of globalism, which mercilessly blurs cultural differences, these towers are a kind of opposition to globalization. Something you can hold onto and preserve history and traditions.

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There are many amazing things in Digoria beautiful places, which with skillful management will become popular tourist routes. Now there is a need for such tourism - our people have traveled around the world and now want to receive similar services at home. And in North Ossetia there is more than enough texture. Digoria is considered one of the most untouched gorges in the North Caucasus. Only now a normal road has been built here; it will allow tourists to come here, and not just fans of off-road driving in SUVs. Higher up the gorge it begins national park Alanya, and the development of ecotourism here will definitely be in demand.

When entering North Ossetia, all guides in Digoria first show the Devil's Bridge. The place is truly impressive! They even bungee jump from the bridge, but to be honest, I would be afraid. The Devil's Bridge is located in the narrowest part of the gorge, where the river has made a narrow passage to the plain. And from above there is an excellent shot for the first shot. When you stand at the top point of shooting, from this angle you almost always get a beautiful composition. I was too lazy to take a tripod with me, so I used the railing to take a long exposure shot and blur the texture of the water. Due to the difference in the texture of the water and the rocky terrain, the river sticks out in the frame, as if it were painted.

This is how our report begins: we found a car, a horseman driver and drove to the Digor Gorge. Good driver and good car- these, by the way, are very important conditions for successful photography while traveling. In general, organizational issues very often either drag out a report or kill it. Therefore, when planning a trip, you need to look not just for a formal driver in a junked car, but definitely for a fan of the region who knows the locals, how to communicate correctly, and is himself inspired by the idea of ​​making a good photo. And, of course, the machine should not be afraid mountain roads or lack thereof.

We arrived in North Ossetia in early October, when autumn was just beginning and the larches were still turning a little yellow. A great time for photography here is at the end of October when mountain slopes and the terraces burn with the yellow-red fire of autumn leaves. But you can't predict the weather. Of course, we also lacked the sun at some points, but in short trip you always use the weather as it is today - maybe tomorrow it will rain like a wall, and there will be no visibility at all, let alone landscapes. In some places I deliberately stayed a little longer to wait for the sun to highlight the top with the tower and get a beautiful shot. At such moments, I remember the stories of the master of Soviet landscape photography, Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter, who told me how he spent a week in a tent on the banks of the Lena River, waiting for that same light...

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AF-S VR NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED

For landscape photography, it is first of all important that the composition be multifaceted, so that the picture turns out to be three-dimensional and deep in content. Then you start thinking about light and color. Sometimes there are no differences in depth or relief, but unexpected spots of light complement and make the picture deep. In the foreground we have, for example, a river that glitters like a silver snake. On the second there is a ridge with many towers. And then there are several more ridges, and the most jagged peak at the top is the Greater Caucasus Range, followed by Georgia. The resulting landscape is very rich. Such pictures can take a very long time to shoot, because sometimes the light changes, sometimes the wind drives clouds, sometimes rays break through. Serious landscape photography, of course, requires a lot of time. But you won’t be satisfied with landscapes alone, and therefore it’s worth devoting special time local cuisine. Not in the sense of consumption, but as a reportage photograph. Any region has established culinary traditions, and when you find yourself in the kitchen where the hostess is preparing something completely ordinary in her opinion, then for you this turns out to be the very case when the hero is busy with work and has no time to pose for the camera.

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Then we came to the village of Akhsau. Many people know this name from the same name. mineral water, which is sold throughout Russia. The village has preserved a whole defensive complex of several towers. Our guide Fidar says that the complexes were built back in the Alan era. Wherever Alans settled, residential towers and defensive complexes were built. Masuk - defensive towers, ganah - residential. Then, outbuildings grew around the tower, gradually ancestral towers different families turned into a single fortification. In Akhsau we found one restored tower. At the ground level there was usually a barn and all sorts of household affairs, higher - a tier with a fireplace, even higher - a residential level, then a warehouse, and already on the roof - a signal and defensive platform. There were no cannons in the mountains in those days; there was no room for battering guns to deploy on such terrain. Therefore, in autonomous mode, such a tower could live and defend itself for at least several months, if there were enough provisions and water. Towers were built throughout the gorge in such a way that one could see the other. If the enemy was approaching, a signal fire was lit on the roof, and after five minutes the entire gorge knew about the danger, when the enemy was just entering the gorge from the plain.

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Only wealthy families could build family towers. Each processed stone had a considerable price. Again, transporting materials from the quarry to the construction site along paths using special devices was also not cheap - carts were not used then, and there were no roads for them. One stone could cost a whole lamb or even a bull. They say to build Egyptian pyramids it was easier than carrying out such construction in the mountains. There were several masters throughout Digoria. In fact, from the stones of the tower you can count how many flocks of sheep you had to have to begin construction. Depending on the complexity, one tower required from a month to several years of labor.

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One of the towers in the village of Akhsau belongs to the Buzoev family, or, as they say here, surnames. The entire family raised funds and carried out the restoration on their own. By today's standards, restoring the tower, depending on its condition, could cost several million. And the Telokurov family, for example, still has a whole castle complex. The number of restored or at least mothballed towers in modern Ossetia is small. The towers are architectural monuments, but in their restoration the families have to rely only on their own strength.

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Today it is difficult to say how many towers there were and how many remain for the whole of North Ossetia. Archaeologist and ethnographer of the North Ossetian Research Institute of History, Philology and Economics Vitaly Tmenov published a book on this issue, but even this thorough work did not include all the mountain architectural heritage, which in the old days could number several hundred towers. The turrets are scattered throughout the mountain gorges of North Ossetia. With their help, the mountains became absolutely controlled territory. They can be compared to modern webcams. Towers are not only about fighting invaders. Danger in the mountains can come from a completely different direction: mudflows, glaciers, earthquakes. Remember the Kolka glacier and the tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge. It’s not a one-time thing, this glacier is constantly growing and breaking off, two or three times in a hundred years.

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In general, it must be said that the plan of our short expedition was simple. We drove from tower to tower, looked into almost every residential courtyard, talked with people and asked about the fate of clans, towers, villages, hoping to find representatives of the families who guard architectural treasures. And, of course, just chatting is not about Ossetians. When the old people found out that we had come for the towers, they immediately took us into the house. Then the granddaughters and granddaughters came, Ossetian pies and something stronger than tea appeared on the table. They happily talked on camera, as if it didn’t exist at all. Each such spontaneous acquaintance with the family ends with a table, lunch, dinner, and, of course, nice trip In Ossetia it takes not three days, not a week, but a month or two. I had to fight off the endless “eat” calls. It all usually started like this: “It’s our pleasure. Thanks a lot". Then: “We’ve already eaten too much, this is no longer possible.” And at the end: “Let’s go, let’s go, otherwise we’ll die here from overeating!”

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Ossetians, of course, consider the Digor Gorge the most beautiful in the Caucasus. And there is a reason, of course. Locals also say that Prometheus was chained to the rocks here. But, to be honest, there are so many “Promethean” rocks in the Caucasus, as if a titan was on tour.

Finally we reached ancient Galiat, which was once a rich city and where the most tall towers Ossetia. On one of them, their diapers were calmly drying, as if this monument of the Middle Ages had never interrupted its measured rural life with its everyday life.

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Travel is amazing because, even if it is planned, there is always room for chance encounters and unusual things. We visited a modern Galiatian. At his house we saw a photographic reproduction of what the city was like in the 19th century, and literally right outside the door we compared how the mountain town had changed over the years. Of course, in Galiat we also ended up at a feast and risked being drunk to the point of unconsciousness by the hospitable host. We arrived in the afternoon, and the last video was filmed by headlights. But what a feast it was - with conversations about ancient city, Odin, the great Thor Heyerdahl and Roerich... Sometimes it seemed to me that it was something like a sport for them - to get a guest drunk. And therefore you need to know the local feast traditions. There is even a special toast. If you need to leave, you need to raise your glass and say: “Over the threshold.” This means that after this toast you should be released, because the road awaits you. So it’s always better to study the background of the place where you’re going, otherwise the shooting, of course, may be completely disrupted due to the enthusiasm of the local population. Therefore, working in Ossetia is difficult, but very interesting.

Next, our path lay in the neighboring Dargavskoe gorge, in which the city is located dead Dargavs. This is a whole complex of semi-underground crypts. A couple of years ago they laid here good road, and I highly recommend going to these places if you travel around Ossetia. These are ideal views for landscape photography. You climb onto one of the shelves, put on a wide-angle lens and get just crazy shots of the valley from the top angle. The dead in these crypts were not buried in coffins, but were left on hollowed-out wooden pies. And today it is clearly visible that many generations of the family are buried in each crypt. This city of the dead looks like in ancient Greek myths - on one side of the river there is life, and on the other - the last refuge.

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In the Kurtatinsky Gorge we met the Alborov-Lazarov family, who restored their tower, and now on major holidays they come to it, young and old. Their tower was destroyed almost to the first floor in the 18th century. And then one day the elders convened the backbone of the family from all over the republic for a meeting, pulled up the youth, and in free time whoever could came to work. The modern family has 150 households - that's more than five hundred people. So, in three years, they restored their ancestral symbol on their own. Everyone put their hand to the family shrine. Honestly, I would also like to have such a family tower. This is such a centuries-old connection of one family, definitely a reason for pride!

On this tower we were able to climb to the roof, and if it were not for the signaling function of the platform, I would say that the ancient Ossetians were great lovers of landscape photography, because they built ideal high points for shooting.

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Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR

Since we are talking about mountains, I would like to note the survivability and reliability of Nikon equipment in such difficult conditions. We may be in a car, but we are on a hike. Mountains mean sand, dust, humidity, uneven surface and height. This means, according to the rule of the gun on the wall, the camera will at one point experience this height on itself. So, my Nikon D810 can be dropped in a valley, then found - it will work. If absolutely necessary, you can use this device to hammer in nails and then continue taking photographs. Since I wanted to see a lot of places, and the travel time was very limited, this meant there was no time to wait for ideal conditions. Let's say we got to the tower and got inside, and that's it, the sun has set. Ten years ago I would have just given up, or there would have been trouble with a flash and a tripod, but now I just raise the ISO to 12000 and continue shooting. As for lenses, the AF-S VR NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED and AF-S VR NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED turned out to be indispensable on this trip. Both lenses are universal and suitable for both landscape photography and reportage photography, which is exactly what I needed on this trip so as not to overload myself with unnecessary equipment.

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Most high point Our journey was the pass from Kurtatinsky to Alagirsky Gorge. It was possible to take the best panoramic shot there. The higher we climbed into the mountains, the more nature changed. Alpine meadows, mountain tundra, shumsha berries, which I had previously only seen in the mountains Kola Peninsula and in Kamchatka, dwarf birch, rhododendron fields... If you find yourself in North Ossetia with a camera at the end of June, all the slopes here will be covered with rhododendrons. Landscape photography is good because at any time of the year and even day it will be completely different colors, different frames. The main thing in the work of a landscape painter is not to be lazy. Get up in the dark, climb a higher mountain, look for shots that will be only yours.

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I spent my childhood and adolescence in North Ossetia, so I was glad to have the opportunity to go there on an excursion. And the program offered was interesting: Kurtatinskoye Gorge, Fiagdon Basin, Dargavs- these are places where shrines and historical monuments have been preserved North Caucasus.

We began our acquaintance with the sights of Ossetia with a visit to the huge Uastyrdzhi monument above Ardon. Uastirdzhi is the Ossetian embodiment of St. George the Victorious.

North Ossetia-Alania is the only republic of the North Caucasus, the majority of whose population professes Orthodoxy. And the patron saint of Ossetia - St. George the Victorious, In the republic great amount sanctuaries, chapels, churches dedicated to this saint, places where he performed his deeds. As they say, Ossetians do not begin any business without praying to St. George.
I always associate the Caucasus with ancient fortresses and ancestral towers. And I read somewhere that in the mountains of North Ossetia there was preserved greatest number these structures. Including in the Kurtatinsky Gorge, most famous for its historical and architectural Ossetian monuments.
The first stop in the Kurtatinsky gorge is at the bridge opposite the village of Dzivgis.

In the center of the village, consisting of several modern rural houses, there are the ruins of a tower, and above the village...
It took my breath away - I clung to the steep walls of the gorge impregnable fortress! It looked like a natural continuation of the rocks, so it was not easy to notice it right away and, to its credit, our guide played up the presentation of this ancient monument masterfully: having told that in the vicinity of the village there are many Christian and pagan sanctuaries, he simply said - Look at the rock above the village…. A fleeting tetanus hit everyone, after which it seemed that everyone exhaled at the same time and rushed towards the rock.

According to legend, the Dzivgis fortifications blocked the road to the Kurtatin Gorge for the Persian Shah Abbas in the 16th century, who was moving from Transcaucasia.
The Dzivgis cave fortress is one of the most powerful fortifications not only in Ossetia, but also in the Caucasus. The fortress consists of six buildings attached to the entrances of natural caves located at different heights. The main fortification is large in size and is located on the lower level; access to it is possible via a stone staircase. There was a passage to the rest of the fortress buildings from the neighboring ones along paths carved into the rocks and hanging stairs, which were removed if necessary. Therefore, during the battle, communication between the fortifications was impossible, and each of them was an independent, autonomous center of defense. The function of these small fortifications, built at a height of 10-20 m and accommodating up to a dozen soldiers, was to provide flank cover for the main one. The Dzivgis fortress was seriously damaged during one of the punitive expeditions of the Russian tsarist troops.
Here in the village is located Dzivgisy dzuar(Dzivgisy Uastyrdzhy) - christian temple XIII-XV centuries. St. George, crypt burial grounds.
Dzivgis is the first village on the side of the plain, located in the Upper Fiagdon basin, which has long been the center of the Kurtatinsky Gorge. And, having driven away from the village, I no longer looked away from the window: snowy peaks Greater Caucasus, gray-yellow rocks and green slopes of the basin, Ossetian towers and ruins of fortresses everywhere - the grandeur of what he saw was mesmerizing!
And even the natural background of the excursion minibus did not distract.
The basin of Upper Fiagdon is a world of towers. They were everywhere: in abandoned villages on the slopes of the basin, and in residential roadside yards.
It was noticeable that some towers were being restored.

The beginning of tower construction dates back to the early Middle Ages - to the times of the Alan era. Perhaps even to an earlier period. The typical style of the Caucasian Ossetian tower with its characteristic features developed in the late Middle Ages, approximately in the 17th-18th centuries.
Towers were built as defensive, combat, and often residential buildings. In addition to purely military significance during the raids of invaders, many towers in North Ossetia appeared as a means of protection against blood feud.
Ancestral towers were revered as shrines because they were considered the habitat of the holy spirit. Family towers were a stronghold and guarantor of the integrity and continuity of the clan and family name. The role of the towers in Ossetia was so important that over time they became objects of cult.

Behind the mining village of Verkhniy Fiagdon (the mines are now closed), the construction of the Alansky Holy Dormition is being completed monastery on the site of a 19th century church. The monastery buildings are stylized as traditional Byzantine architecture and are closely adjacent to the ruins of medieval Ossetian buildings.

This concludes our cursory examination of the Upper Fiagdon valley. I would like to see more, to get to the ruins of abandoned villages, but I cannot grasp the immensity... We still have Dargavs and its legendary City of the Dead ahead of us!

The road from the Kurtatinsky gorge to the Gizeldon valley, in which the village of Dargavs is located, gave us, residents of the plains, a lot of thrills and made us tightly cling to the arms of the chair!

Village Dargavs quite large, but there is practically no permanent population. This is due to the collapse of the Kolka glacier in September 2002, which destroyed the road leading to the village, and Dargavs was left without communication with the outside world.

Dargavs is famous for its battle towers and the “city of the dead”.

The Dargavsky necropolis is the largest in the North Caucasus (95 above-ground and semi-ground crypts). It is sometimes compared to the Valley of the Pharaohs in Egypt.
Some experts associate the creation of the “city of the dead” with the terrible plague epidemic, when the population of Ossetia decreased from 200 thousand to 16 thousand people. But research shows that the necropolis functioned from the 9th to the 18th centuries.

Unusual architectural forms in the poor Middle Ages gave rise to the most unusual assumptions about the creators of the necropolis. They called Mongols, Nogais, and aborigines - Kobans. But now it is considered established that the original builders were Alans, the ancestors of the Ossetians. Archaeological finds confirm that already from the 6th century these places were densely populated by Alans. But this did not eliminate many mysteries. It is surprising that the dead were often placed in small boats, which is not found among any other people of the Caucasus; sometimes an oar was placed nearby, despite the fact that there are no navigable rivers in Ossetia. Crypts were used for a very long time and became last refuge for entire generations of highlanders.
It so happened that by the final stage of the excursion my fellow travelers were apparently tired. Most of them did not go to the necropolis, preferring to explore it from the foot of the mountain. Therefore, I was lucky to be in this place alone. I had with me a good piece of Ossetian pie with cheese and some cognac.
I sat among the crypts, sipped cognac and snacked on a pie. I looked at the valley below and the mountains surrounding it. It was calm and peaceful. I am sure that the spirits of those resting here did not consider my liberties to be sacrilege.

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Some information about North Ossetia-Alania

Slightly less than half of the territory of North Ossetia-Alania is located in the mountains, north of the Main Caucasian ridge, on the Bokovy, Skalisty, Pastbishchny and Lesistny ridges lying parallel to it. The ridges are cut by gorges, the main of which are Daryalskoye, Genaldonskoye, Kurtatinskoye, Kassarskoye, Alagirskoye and Digorskoye.
The republic borders: in the north, where the Terek-Kuma Plain stretches, with the Stavropol Territory; In the west along the Kabardian inclined plain with Kabardino-Balkaria, in the east along the Ossetian inclined plain with Ingushetia, and in the south Ossetia’s neighbor is Georgia. The border here is the mountains of the Main and Side ranges.
North Ossetia is located on the same parallel with Bulgaria, Central Italy and Southern France.
When I was very little, I had a book by Yu. Libedinsky “The exiled hero, his friends and enemies.” So I met the wonderful tribe of Narts, dashing both in battles and at feasts, responding with a blow of a sword to a blow of a sword and friendship for friendship... And it just so happened that for a long time I believed that playing backgammon meant a little to be Soslan and Syrdon, Uryzmag and Khamyts... Then, of course, I figured it out... Backgammon is a fascinating ancient game, widespread in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia...

Since ancient times, the towers have attracted the attention of historians, travelers and ethnographers. Being one of the most durable types of structures, they have appeared in the cultures of various peoples over many centuries. These are complex and expensive works of architecture.

In the North Caucasus, towers served both a residential and defensive function, which is why they most often served as clan guards. Due to enemy invasions, most of these structures were not preserved. Some of the towers were family ones. According to custom, the tower should have been built no more than a year, otherwise the family could be considered dysfunctional; It was usually built near a settlement. Early watchtowers (XV–XVII centuries) differed from the ancestral watchtowers in height and location.

Village of Itsari

On the outskirts of the plateau, near the Dagestan village of Itsari, there is a round ancestral watchtower. Locals They built it on the outskirts of the village to protect themselves from attacks from the neighboring community. The tower has a decorative hanging cornice that replicates hinged loopholes for vertical shelling of the enemy. The entrance is located on the second floor level. The thickness of the walls decreases towards the top. The tower was assembled from chipped stones coated with clay mortar. Small stones were used to level the masonry. This type of construction is typical for Dagestan.

Village of Musrukh

A seven-story ancestral watchtower on a steep mountain slope in the village of Musrukh was built by the Keleb community. It was necessary for protection from tribal communities from the Gidatl valley. The tower, installed in the central part of the village, occupies a dominant position both in it and in the basin of the Keleb Valley. The height of the structure and its placement on a rocky platform provided excellent visibility.

Aul Khulam

In Balkaria, in the upper reaches of the Cherek-Balkarian and Khulamo-Bezengi gorges, towers were built at strategically important points. They were a perfectly thought-out defensive system. The Khulam ancestral watchtower is located above the Khulam village, on the left side of the Khulamo-Bezengi gorge. It was erected on a hard-to-reach horizontal site. It was possible to get to the tower only along a dangerous mountain path, which ended with a barrier wall between the rocks.

Mamiya-Kala Tower

The Khuzruk three-story tower (Mamiya-Kala) was erected on the top of Mount Kala-Basha. The arched entrance is located at the ground floor level. Communication between floors was carried out via ladders through hatches in the interlevel ceilings. Mamiya-Kala has a square base. The walls consist of perfectly adjacent hewn stones coated with a lime mixture. On the walls of each level there are ledges for the interfloor beams. Near the entrance there is a well hollowed out in the wall and lined with stones. Food supplies and fuel were stored in it.

Amirkhan Tower

Amirkhan Tower near the ancient village of Shkanti - an outpost of the defensive system Cherek-Balkarian Gorge. It was built on a five-meter boulder, made of cut stones coated with lime mortar. According to historian I.M. Miziev, the tower consisted of two floors.

Bolat-Kala complex

The main attraction of the village of Upper Balkaria is the Bolat-Kala tower complex, considered the most powerful defensive structure of the Cherek-Balkarian Gorge. Initially, it was a single-chamber structure with a fortified barrier wall. Then a two-chamber extension was erected next to the main tower; through its windows and loophole the entire surrounding territory was clearly visible. The entrance to the complex is in a wall opening adjacent to the cliff face. Several wells in the corner of the main tower were used for household needs.

Erzi complex

The Erzi castle complex in the Dzheirakh region of Ingushetia is considered the largest and best preserved. It consists of nine combat, twenty residential and two semi-combat towers. Archaeologists believe that the complex was created from hewn boulders in the 14th–17th centuries. The towers have no foundation, they are located on a rocky terrace, and behind them rise Mountain peaks. Five-tier battle towers almost entirely survived to this day.

Towers as a symbol

Many tower complexes and ancestral watchtowers are also found in the eastern part of Balkaria, near the border with North Ossetia.

The North Caucasus towers symbolize the honor of the clan, unity and courage, being the pinnacle of construction and architectural skill of the highlanders of the North Caucasus.

“The builder of the tower, before placing the stone in the wall, turned it a hundred times. And when he found the face of a stone, he placed it so that it looked outward,” says the ancient legend.

Looking at the Ossetian towers, you begin to believe it. Only with such an attitude to work were they able to survive for seven centuries. Not just stand still, but still remain surprisingly level. But, after all, the stones simply lie on top of each other, they are stacked without cement!



2. Savings on building materials can be explained. Firstly, lime, eggs and sour cream, from which the solution was made in those years, still need to be mined in the mountains. Secondly, during the attack, the tower itself was used as a weapon - loose stones were dropped from above onto their heads.

3. We are in the village of Lirsi in the Mamison Gorge. 14 towers, of which seven have survived, and many extensions created a small labyrinth town.

4. Come in and explore, the place is sparsely populated - there are not even trodden paths in the grass.

5. No guards, no tickets, not even “No Trespassing” ribbons or “Do not touch with hands” signs.

6. They lived and defended themselves in the towers. They usually had three or four floors. On the first there are livestock, on the second there is a hearth and a bedroom, above there is a room for guests and storage rooms.

7. Later towers were built with a binder mortar. I climbed into this one from below, where the sheep came in, and the gap above was the door to which the ladder was attached.

8. The towers had everything necessary; they could withstand a long siege and even setting them on fire was useless.

9. But by the 18th century the Ossetians moved to the plain and mountainous areas empty.

10. Nobody built new ones - they could no longer resist modern weapons. And by that time, the first brick factories had already appeared in Vladikavkaz, significantly simplifying construction.

11. While processing this photo in the evening, I increased the light in the shadows and got scared - there is a head there! But I was all alone inside! Ugh... it's me...

12. Rock cave fortresses are another amazing type of Ossetian structures.

13. Higher in the mountains, in inaccessible places, fortresses were built around caves.

14. Dangerous paths carved into the rocks connected the structures, and the entrance was rope ladders.

15. Dzivgis fortress is the largest in the Caucasus; it could house dozens of soldiers.

16. Here, too, they will tell you a legend. About the cat that was released in the fortress and how it came out through the cave passages on the other side of the ridge.

17. How they scared her that she didn’t come back, how they realized that this was exactly the cat and how someone on the other side was able to meet her, history is silent.

In the territory where Ossetians live there are a large number of architectural monuments, the most prominent of which are medieval towers and castles, widespread in the mountainous area.
The beginning of tower construction dates back to the early Middle Ages - to the times of the Alan era. Perhaps even to an earlier period. The typical style of the Caucasian Ossetian tower with its characteristic features developed in the late Middle Ages, approximately in the 17th-18th centuries.


Defensive structures of the Ossetians are divided into combat (“mæsyg”) and semi-combat residential towers (“gænakh”), castles (“galuan”), rock and cave fortresses, and defensive walls. Each of these types of monuments is characterized by certain methods of construction, a special layout and a specific purpose. Ossetian craftsmen were invited to build towers and other structures in Balkaria, Georgia and other regions of the Caucasus.
In Ossetia, more than three hundred towers of varying degrees of preservation have been noted, the best preserved are the military towers, and the residential towers are in much worse condition. A large number of towers and other fortifications were destroyed or damaged during the punitive expedition of General Abkhazov in Ossetia in 1830. The destruction of the Shanayev tower in the village of Dargavs, three towers in the village of Chmi, the villages of Barzikau, Lats, Khidikus, Ualasykh, 10 in total have been documented settlements were burned and destroyed. Also, Ossetian towers and fortresses were massively destroyed during various punitive expeditions to South Ossetia.
About sequential destruction Ossetian towers mentions Kosta Khetagurov in the ethnographic essay “Person” (1894):
Currently, in the Nara Basin, and in all of Ossetia, there is not a single tower that has been preserved intact; all of them, by order of the Russian government, were destroyed in the forties and fifties of the last century.

In the depths of the Kurtatinsky gorge, on one of the plateaus southern slope rock massif Kariu-hokh, at an altitude of about 170 m from the foot of the mountain, is located unique monument middle ages, architectural complex Tsmiti village.
The hand of time has erased the traces of wealth and splendor of this ancient Ossetian settlement, but the Ossetians have preserved the legend that there was a rich city here, safe from all predatory raids, and serving great place for trade.
In the village of Tsmiti, ancient military and residential towers have been preserved. They were built on three floors. The first served as a stable for livestock, the second housed the family, and the third was used as a guard or defensive structure.

Ancestral towers were revered as shrines because they were considered the habitat of the holy spirit. Family towers were a stronghold and guarantor of the integrity and continuity of the clan and family name. The role of the towers in Ossetia was so important that over time they became objects of cult.

👁 Do we book the hotel through Booking as always? In the world, not only Booking exists (🙈 for a huge percentage from hotels - we pay!) I have been practicing for a long time

 

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