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.
More than three hundred towers of varying degrees of preservation have been noted in Ossetia, the best preserved battle towers, residential ones 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 Shanayevs' tower in the village of Dargavs, three towers in the village of Chmi, the villages of Barzikau, Lats, Khidikus, Ualasykh, 10 in total has been documented settlements were burned and destroyed. Also, Ossetian towers and fortresses were massively destroyed during various punitive expeditions to South Ossetia.
Kosta Khetagurov mentions the sequential destruction of Ossetian towers in his ethnographic essay “Osoba” (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 of the southern slope of the Kariu-khoh rock massif, at an altitude of about 170 m from the foot of the mountain, there is unique monument middle ages, architectural complex Tsmiti village.
The hand of time has erased the traces of the 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.
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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 the 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
The Amirkhan Tower near the ancient village of Shkanta is an outpost of the defensive system of the 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 main tower a two-chamber extension was erected; 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. The five-tiered battle towers have survived almost entirely 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 Caucasian towers symbolize the honor of the clan, unity and courage, being the pinnacle of the construction and architectural skills of the highlanders 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 there, 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 the mountainous areas were deserted.
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 a 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.
I’ll start the post with thoughts from one LJ, which I accidentally came across while searching for information on this topic. Moreover, the author has exactly the same questions as me.
Tower of Kurt and Tag in the Kurtatinsky Gorge
“I’m not a historian, not an archaeologist, I’m a photographer. I’ve been doing photography for a long time and, according to some, successfully. Most my archive consists of photographs of various places in North Ossetia, my homeland. Naturally, my collection also has a section dedicated to the medieval architecture of Ossetia. After all, our unique tower complexes, lonely medieval towers and crypts are not an adornment of the republic, but the face of it, and even, to some extent, the philosophy of our life.
Tsmyti - the most beautiful tower complex in Ossetia
While traveling and filming towers, admiring the courage of the architectural and engineering solutions of our ancestors, taking into account their modest technical capabilities, you involuntarily ask the question - “For what? For what purpose?". As a child, when, without hesitation, I believed everything that was said by my elders, I was quite satisfied with the military-defensive version of the construction of these towers. Lighting fires, throwing stones at attackers, a lookout point, climbing into an inaccessible place and waiting... But, judge for yourself. Why was it necessary to erect a heavy architectural structure just to light a fire on it in a moment of danger, when there is a suitable stone or rock nearby and it is enough to build a light shed for storing brushwood? For defense, many of the medieval towers (from the point of view modern man) are also not very suitable. I climbed many of them, tried to imagine myself as a medieval warrior... Well, it’s very inconvenient to stand at the top, pour boiling water down (it will cool down in the wind anyway), throw large stones at people passing by, or drag molten lead up. And, in my opinion, it is much more convenient to shoot from a firearm from the side of a mountain, hiding behind some boulder. “Hide and wait,” but many towers “slung” into the rocks have such a small usable area that there is nowhere for two people to turn around, and only a professional climber with a set of pitons and ropes can climb to the saving bastion. And it was necessary to hide and protect venerable elders, obese women and small children. In general, I have doubts about the military-defensive version of the origin of the towers.
Almost inaccessible tower in the village. Zinsar (Os-Bagator Castle)
What were they built for? Why are towers built these days? At the temples, at the entrance to the village, at the entrance to the mountain camp, in your own yard? For defense? - no, for storing utensils? – no, to attract tourists – hardly. “In the 12th – 14th centuries,” perhaps there was also a custom on the territory of our republic (fashion, if you like). Every self-respecting family had to perpetuate its family with such a monument. It’s not for nothing that many towers are family towers. Or a monument - "The tower was erected in honor of some significant event, like the tower of Kurt and Tag in the Kurtatinsky Gorge. Our ancestors amused their “I.” They didn’t eat enough, didn’t get enough sleep, didn’t rest, but built riddles for us, their descendants."
Taken from the Journal of Vladimir Mayorov.
The mystery of the Svan towers (Georgia)
First of all, Svaneti is famous for its towers. There are a great many of them here, Mestia and Ushguli are generally a continuous forest of towers. Here there are towers in every yard. It is precisely in order to look at the towers that huge crowds of tourists flock here.
But here's what's interesting: this moment, no one knows for sure how these towers were built, or why.
In general, a tower is a structure of regular shape, with smooth walls, two to three floors high. The construction time of most of the towers dates back to the 12th-13th centuries.
The main theory of the emergence of towers is a combat theory, they say, they were built for defense, which is not without meaning, since it is a tower. But the trouble is, there were no internal wars in Svaneti, and most of the towers were built during the “golden age”, when no one invaded Svaneti. So why build towers? Reserve for the future? May be. It’s just that the towers, in their current state, are not very suitable for defense; a simple example is that most towers have windows only on one side, and what’s most interesting is that often these windows look in the opposite direction, from the probable location of the enemy’s appearance. Agree that this looks stupid for a battle tower. True, on the upper floors there are often windows looking at the foot of the tower, but they look more like observation windows than loopholes, and at the same time, they are narrow enough so that something significant can be thrown out of them, perhaps pouring resin .
Another theory is living quarters. But this theory is completely weak; all the locals unanimously claimed that no one had ever lived in the towers. And this is very similar to the truth, for one simple reason - there is no fireplace in the tower. And this, given the harsh climate of Svaneti, is a very serious argument.
Some say that the towers were used to store supplies. But then it’s not clear why the tower? Why do we need vertical, smooth walls and windows that look so much like loopholes? But it is true that food was sometimes stored in the towers.
Also interesting is the fact that when a village was captured, the towers were most often demolished? For what? After all, if this is a protective structure, wouldn’t it be better to use it for your own purposes?
In general, there is a lot of mystery in the history of Svan towers, and the most mysterious thing is that no one knows exactly why they were needed. And while scientists are wondering, the towers continue to stand, empty, like many centuries before.
Vainakh towers in Chechnya and Ingushetia
The lands of Chechnya and Ingushetia are often called the “country of the Vainakhs”. The Vainakhs are the common ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush, from whom they inherited a common language (with different dialects) and culture. For many centuries, this people lived in the territory between Ossetia and Dagestan, along the Main Caucasus ridge.
Here, in the valleys of stormy rivers and between high mountain ranges, he left behind a great architectural heritage: pagan sanctuaries, temples, family crypts and towers.
"Towers of two rivals" in Ingushetia
In the mountainous Dzheirakh region of Ingushetia and the adjacent mountainous regions of Chechnya, there are hundreds of medieval stone tower complexes, villages, and simply free-standing towers. The practice of building towers dates back to the 5th century.
Almost all of them are located on hills. Many of them are little-studied, but amazing in their magnificence. The fact that they are little known is a consequence of their virtual inaccessibility. In other words, access to them is extremely difficult and dangerous.
Twin towers from Ushkaloy, Argun Gorge
It is believed that these towers are divided into combat and residential. Maybe later they were already adapted for these purposes, but for what purpose they were built is unknown.
Ingush towers
The most famous tower complex in Ingushetia is Vovnushki. Standing in the picturesque gorge of the Guloy-Khi River, the stone towers look like a natural continuation of the rocks. Vovnushki tower complex in 2008 became a finalist in the "Seven Wonders of Russia" competition.
Oddly enough, the towers of the North Caucasus are similar to the towers from Sichuan province in China and the towers of the Anasazi Indians in California.
Towers of Tibet
In Tibet and in the Chinese province of Sichuan there are also strange ribbed towers, some as big as a ten-story building. There are more than a thousand similar ancient structures in southwest China. The local population does not know who, when and why they were created. It is said that the very first towers were built in these places as early as 1700 BC.
Unlike the Ingush towers, the towers of Sichuan province are star-shaped: some have an eight-pointed star in plan, others a twelve-pointed one.
Anasazi Indian Towers, whose culture developed in the southwest of North America in the beginning. III-XV centuries, also resemble the towers of the Caucasus.
Desert View Watchtower, a replica of Indian towers, built in 1932.
Round Towers of Ireland
Ireland is literally dotted with strange towers that are not found anywhere else. More precisely, there are still two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. For three centuries now, historians and architects have been unable to explain their purpose. There are 65 of these towers throughout the island. And another 23 completely or partially destroyed towers.
The towers were clearly built using the same technology, differing only in diameter and height. The height ranges from 18 to 34 meters. The walls of the tower are made of poorly processed stone and lime mortar. The tower has two walls - internal and external. The inner one goes smoothly, and the outer one with a slight slope towards the top. The space between the walls is filled with mortar.
The stone dome of the towers, which has a conical shape, also raises questions. Why is it so complex and massive?
Interestingly, the entrance to the tower is located at a height of 1.5 to 7 meters above the base. The builders did not provide any steps leading to this entrance. The towers were erected over 5 centuries, from 700 to 1200.
The first written mention of these towers appears in the 12th century. It wrote that the towers symbolize people's desire for God. Well, what else could a church prelate write in those years about incomprehensible structures?
It was only during the Enlightenment in the 17th century that the assumption arose that these towers had nothing to do with the church. And a diametrically opposite version arose - the towers were erected by the Vikings to control the local population. But the Vikings would then have to build such towers not only in Ireland. And in the central part of the island, there are towers, but there are no traces of the Vikings. So they're not Vikings after all.
Last official version, says that the towers were built for shelter during Viking raids. And indeed the towers are located near Christian churches. And the high entrance allowed people to climb up the ladder and take cover during raids. And lime mortar began to be used only during Christianity.
But as it turned out, lime mortar was used on the island back in the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by a Bronze Age crypt discovered by archaeologists in Belfast. And how could such a shelter as a tower protect against the Vikings?
It seems that the purpose of these towers has not been fully revealed.
Fantastic towers of Bologna
Of all the antiquities in Bologna, the most striking thing is its towers. Especially standing in the center are Torre Asinelli and Torre Garisenda.
With a height of 97.2 m, the tower is the tallest structure historical center Bologna and the tallest of the “leaning towers”. Even during construction, the tower began to tilt, and today this tilt is 1.3°, with a shift of 2.2 m in the upper part. And the neighboring Garisenda tower, due to its tilt of 3 m, was shortened three times, and today its height is 48 m.
There is no exact date for the construction of the Asinelli Tower, but it is believed that construction began between 1109 and 1119. However, the first document mentioning the Asinelli Tower dates only from 1185, almost seventy years after the supposed date of construction. The tower's name comes from the family traditionally credited with building the structure.
According to legend, in the Middle Ages there was an unspoken competition among the richest families of Bologna: whoever builds a tower higher than others deserves the highest honor.
In the 14th century, the city authorities became the owners of the Asinelli Tower. Since then, the tower has been used both as a prison and as a fortress.
They also write that then, in the 12th century, all wealthy families built such towers, so Bologna in those years resembled Manhattan. It was later that some of the towers collapsed on their own, which were dismantled, so that only a few have survived to this day.
San Gimignano: the city of a hundred towers.
In another small Italian town, San Gimignano, the concentration of towers is so high that it creates the feeling of a small man among skyscrapers.
Why is this, why? But, again, they write “then, in order to show their wealth and power, families built towers, so in the 14th century there were 72 towers, of which 14 have survived.”
"Medieval skyscrapers"
Towers Central Asia and Middle East
Many will say that there is nothing unusual about them - these are minarets, but...
Burana Tower, Kyrgyzstan, circa 10th century.
For some reason the entrance is not at ground level. Were the builders looking for easy solutions?
The original height of the tower was at least 40 m; its upper part was toppled by an earthquake. Today the height is just over 21 meters.
Inside the tower
Swastika script
Near the Burana Tower there is an ancient settlement covered with soil.
Tower of Qaboos (Iran), built in 1006-1007. We see the same conical massive roof as in Ireland.
This is what the tower looked like before restoration
Sanbenito. Al Malwiya Minaret, Iraq. The approximate date of construction is 849.
The quality of stone block processing is amazing.
Jam Minaret in Afghanistan.
In one of the remote and deserted corners of Afghanistan there is a mysterious tower. The height of more than 1500 meters above sea level and the rocks made it difficult to access, which is what allowed it to survive to this day. For a long time, this tower was forgotten, until it was rediscovered in 1957.
The top of the first tier contains text from the Koran. There is also another inscription indicating that this minaret was built by Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Sama, who was one of the leading rulers of the Ghurid Empire. According to the same inscription, it is believed that the Dzham minaret was built in 1194.
And its mystery is also that the entrance to this structure was not found. Now its role is played by a passage that has already been made in our time.
These are just some of the towers - minarets, according to modern historians. Maybe this is one of their purposes, but I think not the original one.
Ossetian architecture
Ossetian architecture- evidence of the unique material culture of the Ossetian people created over the centuries.
On the territory of Ossetian residence there are a large number of architectural monuments, the most outstanding of which are medieval towers and castles, widespread in the mountainous area. 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 1830 punitive expedition of General Abkhazov in Ossetia. The destruction of the Shanayev tower in the village of Dargavs, the Karsanov tower in Lamardon, three towers in the village of Chmi, the villages of Barzikau, Lats, Khidikus, Ualasykh are documented; a total of 10 settlements were burned and destroyed. Also, Ossetian towers and fortresses were massively destroyed during various punitive expeditions to South Ossetia.
Kosta Khetagurov mentions the sequential destruction of Ossetian towers in his ethnographic essay “Osoba” (). :
Towers
Semi-combat residential towers (“gænakh”) - buildings intended for both housing and defense, i.e. fortified dwellings. They usually have three or four floors, the first was used as a barn, the second floor housed the hearth and bedroom, the third and fourth had rooms for guests (“uazægdon”) and storage rooms (“kaæbits”). In the center of the residential tower there was usually a support pillar made of processed stone. It supported the floor beams. The most important and significant place in such structures was the hearth, over which hung a fire chain. The place of the hearth and the supra-farm chain were especially significant for the Ossetians and were very protected. Oaths were taken over the hearth, and bloodlines were often forgiven. The last floor of residential towers was often used for defense; the walls of the upper floor rose above the roof, forming a parapet. This significantly enhanced the combat capabilities of the tower defenders, who fought from the roof.
Battle towers (“mæsyg”) have an average of 5-6 tiers (the highest up to seven), a small base area and inclined walls, intended to create a ricocheting surface and increase the damaging effect of dropped stones. The earliest towers were built dry, without a binding mortar; later, lime and sand-lime mortar became widely used. The usual building material used for construction is stone, fragments of rock flagstone, common in the area. Clay was also prepared for construction needs. As for the wooden parts of the structure, in this case, of course, hard wood was valued, for example, oak. However, the interfloor ceilings rested on beams made of coniferous wood. The tower's wooden frames included interfloor ceilings, doors, locks, and portable ladders or logs with notched steps.
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| Ossetian village, drawing of the year | Village Nizhny Unal, year | Village of Nar, 1886 |
Construction began with clearing the site and laying cornerstones; these were the most massive, often processed, stone blocks. An important point During the construction of the tower, interfloor ceilings were installed, which simultaneously served as the ceiling for the lower floors and the floor for the subsequent ones. Usually the ceiling rested on several horizontally laid logs, the ends of which were placed in special niches in the walls of the towers. The laying of logs was not canonical: they were laid both from the front wall to the back, and across. The mother logs were overlapped by a dense row of poles. The builders of the towers paid special attention to loopholes - internal and external, since in addition to the power of the walls, the main form of defense was the conduct of combat operations from the tower. It was for this purpose that various loopholes were built, the appearance of which on defensive structures is associated by researchers with the spread of firearms in the Caucasus. The loopholes of the towers were narrow through holes (single, double, and sometimes triple), arranged in specially designed niches, ranging from 3 to 6 on each floor. They were located taking into account the most complete all-round view of the area adjacent to the tower and had the most varied directions, most often downward or to the side. The dimensions of the niches were so small that even if one wanted to, the shoulder of an archer could not have squeezed into them. The loopholes on the inside were much wider than the exit hole, so the shooter had the opportunity to point the weapon in different directions. The machicolations were lined up on cantilevered stones protruding from the walls. Ossetian battle towers, due to the fact that they were almost entirely made of stone (except for the wooden doors of the entrance openings), were completely fireproof. However, there are towers with traces of fires, the remains of charred interfloor beams. But they burned, presumably as a result of arson, after the capture of the tower. Many were blown up by punitive forces, often one of the corners of the tower was destroyed, and the rest were completed by the elements and time.
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| Remains of a medieval fortress in the village of Tsamad | View of the Chetoevs' castle in the Trusov Gorge |
Rock and cave fortresses
Rock and cave fortresses are an integral part of the defensive system of gorges inhabited by Ossetians. They were usually located at a considerable height, in hard-to-reach rocks. The internal walls of such structures are often rocks. The main part of the cave and rock fortifications is located in the Kurtatinsky and Alagirsky gorges of North Ossetia.
In the Kurtatinsky Gorge, rock fortresses protect southern part gorge, forming an entire defensive complex around Mount Kariu-khoh, controlling on one side the entrance to the gorge from the plain, and on the other, from the Ardon Gorge, where there are similar structures (Ursdon Fortress). All this indicates the existence of a unified system for protecting passages into the gorges. The passage to the Kurtatinsky gorge from the side of the plain is blocked by the Komdagal and Dzivgis fortresses located on both sides of the narrowest part of the gorge. This arrangement of the fortifications indicates their use for a military technique common in the mountains: the enemy calmly drove past the unnoticed Komdagal fortress (which is quite difficult to notice), after 1.5-2 kilometers the enemy’s path was blocked by the powerful Dzivgis fortress. The retreat was cut off by the Komdagal fortress that was coming into action, and the enemy found itself squeezed in the narrowest part of the gorge, fired upon by the defenders of the gorge from the overhanging steep cliffs. Tamga-shaped signs in the form of a swastika have been preserved on the walls of the Kadat fortress.
The Dzivgis 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 in the same plane at different heights. The main fortification, distinguished by its very significant dimensions, is located on the lower level and access to it is possible via a staircase made of stone. There was access to the remaining buildings from 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 the flank cover of the main fortification - the only place from which active defense could be carried out. The Dzivgis fortress was seriously damaged during one of the punitive expeditions of the tsarist troops.
Barrier walls
Archaic structures, possibly associated with the military fortifications of Alanya. All these impressive citadels were located in narrow places of the pass routes in Transcaucasia. In the Khilak Gorge there are two large barrier walls located at a relatively short distance (up to 5 km). These fortifications protect the upper reaches of the Kurtatinsky gorge, the maximum number of soldiers that the residents of four small villages located nearby could field was 80 people, while the defense of any of these two walls required about 300 (at the rate of 1 person per 2 meters of length). The creation and maintenance of such citadels can only take place in the era of statehood and cannot in any way be considered as communal ones. Most researchers date the construction of the walls to the 7th-9th centuries.
Near the village of Gutiatykau, the remains of a powerful defensive wall have been preserved, blocking the Khilak Gorge from east to west. The building is made of large stones of different sizes on the strongest lime mortar. The total length of the wall, which occupies both banks of the Fiagdon River and rests on steep mountain slopes, is 350 m. The height of the wall varies depending on the terrain - greatest height reaches on the upper terraces, the smallest - on steep river spurs. In those places where there is a significant difference in height, the wall is reinforced with six battle towers, three on each bank.
The Bugulovskaya wall is the most powerful and massive building of this type. V.S. Tolstoy, who visited Khilak in the mid-nineteenth century, notes that the wall in the village of Bugultykau, called “Akhsini Badan,” was in much better preservation:
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There is a stone wall across the gorge, which has about three hundred fathoms here, its edges resting against sheer high rocks, and in the middle, over the bed of the Fiag-don River, there is a wide stone arch, along which the road continues over the walls. The wall is so thick that you can drive a cart along it, and inside it were living quarters with loopholes facing the adjacent snowy mountains on the left bank of the river; on the top of the cliff into which the wall rests, on a very significant hill stands big tower, now unavailable; all this is made of reddish stone, which is found in abundance at the mouth of the Kurtatinsky gorge. |
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