Ossetian towers. Vovnushki - unique towers of the Caucasus Tourism in Ingushetia

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. Local residents 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 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, with mountain peaks rising behind them. 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 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.

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 of the North Caucasus have been preserved.

We began our acquaintance with the sights of Ossetia with a visit to the Huge Uastirdzhi 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 is Saint George the Victorious. In the republic there are a huge number of 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 the largest number of these structures have been preserved in the mountains of North Ossetia. 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 - an impregnable fortress was clinging to the steep walls of the gorge! 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 said that there are many Christian and pagan sanctuaries in the vicinity of the village, 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 Uastirdzhy) - Christian temple of the 13th-15th 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 could not tear myself away from the window: the snowy peaks of the Greater Caucasus, gray-yellow rocks and green slopes of the basin, Ossetian towers and ruins of fortresses everywhere - the grandeur of what I 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 raids by 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 Monastery is being completed 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, for us, residents of the plains, presented 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 since 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. The crypts were used for a very long time and became the final 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 cheese pie 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.

Some information about North Ossetia-Alania

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.

Construction began with clearing the site and laying cornerstones; these were the most massive, often processed, stone blocks. An important point in the construction of the tower was the installation of interfloor ceilings, 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.

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 the southern part of the 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 - it reaches its greatest height 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:

see also

Photo gallery

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 an amazing story about this photo expedition, about the reasons for the trip to this amazing region, as well as about what he was able to see there and capture in the 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 goal, as in any journey, was to film 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 bringing 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 stunningly beautiful places in Digoria, which, if managed skillfully, 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. Further up the gorge, Alanya National Park begins, 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. A good driver and a good car are, by the way, 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 car should not be afraid of mountain roads or the 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 the mountain slopes and terraces are ablaze with the yellow-red fire of autumn foliage. But you can't predict the weather. Of course, we also lacked sunshine at some points, but on a 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 very 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 to 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 mineral water of the same name, 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 economic buildings grew around the tower, and gradually the ancestral towers of 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 up there was 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 was enough food 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 that it was easier to build the Egyptian pyramids than to carry 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 left. 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 went 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 that 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, a good trip around Ossetia requires 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.

Eventually, we reached ancient Galiat, which was once a rich city and where the tallest towers of Ossetia stand. On one of them, 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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Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: AF-S VR NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED

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 the 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 of the dead Dargavs is located. This is a whole complex of semi-underground crypts. A couple of years ago a good road was built here, and I highly recommend getting 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.

Aperture: f/4.0
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 1600
Focal length: 16mm
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR

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 core of the family from all over the republic for a meeting, pulled up the youth, and in their 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 site, I would say that the ancient Ossetians were great lovers of landscape photography, because they built ideal high points for shooting.

Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter speed: 1/25
ISO: 200
Focal length: 16mm
Camera: Nikon D800
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.

Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter speed: 7.3’’
ISO: 800
Focal length: 35mm
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR

The highest point of 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 of the Kola Peninsula and 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.

Aperture: f/4.0
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 320
Focal length: 16mm
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR

The beautiful historical building of Vovnushki received its name from the Ingush village of the same name in the Dzheirakhsky district. The defensive castle was built by the ancient Ingush Ozdoev family, for whom the village was a family nest.

To the ear, the name seems too frivolous for a place where a lot of blood was shed in its time. But in the local dialect it is pronounced “vouvnushke” with the emphasis on the first syllable. Literally translated it means “place of battle towers.”

The first reliable descriptions of Vovnushki date back to the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, the Ozdoev family castle played an important strategic role. The fact is that the neighboring Assin Gorge in those days was the only direct and relatively convenient passage through the Caucasus Range. Caravans constantly walked along this route and were raided by robbers. Vovnushki served as shelter and protection for travelers.

From time to time there were raids on the castle, not to mention local conflicts. But it was built in such a good location that it could withstand the longest siege. The mountain slopes were reliably protected from uninvited guests.

If you show an ignorant person a photo of a castle and ask what kind of place this is, he will probably name some European country without hesitation. “A typical building for the late Middle Ages,” historians say. Strange, but none of them can say the exact time of creation of the castle. Presumably this is the 17th–18th centuries, but possibly earlier. Most likely, when the castle was built, Christians still lived on the territory of Ingushetia. Islam began to spread among the local population in the 18th century and had not yet left its mark on the appearance of local buildings.

The cult of stone - this is how one can briefly characterize the very essence of this structure. It's amazing, but two massive battle towers were erected without any foundation. They actually stand on shale rocks. A quite common construction technology of that time: milk was poured onto the proposed construction site, onto the ground. All the soil through which it seeped was removed and poured further - until the milk stopped being absorbed. After this, the very first huge stones were placed, larger than a man’s height, which ensured the stability of the structure. “With amazing harmony, proportionality and a fairly large height, they are stable and durable,” wrote the artist Shcheblykin about the military Ingush towers, who left quite a lot of research about this place and sketches of local structures. A special lifting gate was used to transport the stones.

And in Caucasian legends there is a mention that the stones for the foundation of the tower were pulled by nine pairs of bulls, but twelve horses could not budge.

Before the construction of a castle or tower began, a sacrifice was required. The site of the future construction was sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificial ram, and only after that could work begin.

In addition to the construction method, the technology for preparing the mortar for fastening the stones together on the upper tiers of the tower is also surprising. One of its main components, judging by the results of laboratory studies, is casein (a protein that is formed when milk sours). In fact, the solution is a mixture of lime, sand and milk. He still holds the masonry tightly.

It is not surprising that the skill of handling stone was highly valued in those days. The practice of building stone castles has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries, and all the prominent masters in this business were known by name. For the continuers of traditions, it was a matter of honor not only the quality of construction, but also compliance with construction deadlines. The master was given exactly a year, and if for some reason he did not meet the deadline, a shameful stain fell on his entire family, and the tower itself was dismantled to the ground and the order was given to others. As a rule, the masters always succeeded. In any case, Vovnushka’s castle is a clear confirmation of the skill and punctuality of its creators.

The Ingush believed that all troubles were caused by hunger. Therefore, the customer’s responsibilities included a daily nutritious diet for builders and masons. If the master fell from the tower from dizziness, the owner was accused of greed and expelled from the village.

Vovnushki, 1910

In the Middle Ages in the North Caucasus, the main unit of organization was tribal associations - teips. The defense watchtowers in Vovnushki were erected by the respected ancient teip Ozda (Ozdoevs).

Life and customs of the castle residents

Previously, the two towers were connected by a suspension bridge, and in the event of a siege, women, old people and children moved to the safer tower. If we talk about height, we can draw a parallel with a seven-story building (architects of that time, as a rule, did not erect battle towers higher than 30 meters).

It was possible to get inside only through the second floor, which was where the entrance door was - this deprived the enemies of the opportunity to use a ram during a siege. The ground floor, without windows or doors, served both as a place to store food and as a basement for prisoners. On the second floor, as a rule, there was the most valuable thing that the inhabitants of military towers possessed - the brotherly cauldron: a large container on a thick chain. The cauldron was endowed with magical qualities and was worshiped as a shrine (it was believed that the souls of the dead hovered over it). Even if a bloodline, fleeing persecution, managed to run inside the tower and touch the sacred cauldron, they would not touch him until he moved a sufficient distance away from the shrine.

The upper floors were residential. Between floors, residents of the towers moved along ladders. And the topmost one was used as an attic, where weapons, building materials and other things needed in everyday life were stored.

Features of the burials of Ingush warriors

Crypt structures were usually always built not far from military castles. Vovnushki are no exception: if you climb a little up the gorge, you can find an ancient crypt and mausoleum, which has a very interesting cannonball shape. In the Middle Ages, above-ground crypts were often erected in Ingushetia, where the dead were placed on shelves in several rows, and their bodies underwent so-called “natural mummification.”

The medieval castle complex “Vovnushki” is one of the most exotic and striking monuments in the country. It delights not only tourists, but also architects who pay tribute to the Ingush, who knew how to not only defend themselves perfectly, but also build superbly. It is no coincidence that this castle is one of the wonders of the Caucasus, and even periodically claims to be considered one of the wonders of the world. His greatness obliges. After all, the self-name of the Ingush is Galgai, which means inhabitants of the towers.

The foundation of the castle was the ridges of slate rocks in the gorge of the Gulai-khi River. The fortress consists of two free-standing castles, once connected by a suspension bridge. The basis of each is one and two four-tier combat towers with flat roofs and a parapet.

“Vovnushki” are part of the Dzheirakh-Assinovsky Museum-Reserve. Historians and art historians consider it one of the masterpieces of medieval architecture, and in general, the ethnocultural traces of the Ingush go back to the New Stone Age. Tourists, accompanied by a detailed story from the guide about the events associated with this unusual castle, have a good idea of ​​how these towers once met the trade caravans of the Great Silk Road and repelled the raids of greedy robbers.

They say that the highlanders built this castle on a non-random place. It was determined with the help of milk that was poured on the ground. They began to build where it was not absorbed into the soil. Moreover, with the help of milk they made a solution that has held the stones of the building for five centuries, and will apparently hold it forever. There is no such strong masonry anywhere else in the world. The peculiarity of the territory where “Vovnushki” is located is the living, never-ending wind. Free and fresh, like the character of the highlanders. No wonder they are so proud of themselves and their historical monuments.

Very little is known about the time of construction of the towers of the Vovnushki complex, but we can confidently assume that each of the towers was built within one year, like other ancestral towers of the Vainakhs. It was considered mandatory to complete the construction of the tower within 365 days. If it was not possible to complete the construction of the tower within a year, then it was not completed, but was dismantled into stones or left abandoned. The fact itself was a spot of weakness on the team that built the tower.

There are many legends associated with Vovnushki, but one of them is similar to a true story. The essence of the legend is simple: once during the siege of the towers, a Vainakh woman saved many babies. When one of the towers was set on fire, she dragged the cradles with the babies, miraculously managing to run several times along the rope that remained from the suspension bridge between the two Vovnushki towers destroyed by the enemies.

In 2008, the Vovnushki tower complex became a finalist in the Seven Wonders of Russia competition project, organized by the Izvestia newspaper, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station.

In 2009, an image of the Vovnushki tower complex appeared on the Russian Post stamp “Republic of Ingushetia” in the “Regions” series.

In 2010, the Bank of Russia, in the “Architectural Monuments” series of commemorative coins of Russia, issued a silver coin with an image of one of the watchtowers of the “Vovnushki” complex, with a face value of 3 rubles and weighing 31.1 grams, in a circulation of 10,000 copies.