S. Upper Balkaria History of my village

Asia

The mysterious ancient Balkar village of El-Tubyu is the center of the history of the whole Balkaria. Ancient watchtowers, the remains of Greek temples and anomalous phenomena attract adventurers and connoisseurs of beauty here. This is the birthplace of the great Balkar poet and sage Kaisyn Kuliev.

The nature of the Verkhnechegemskaya basin is extraordinarily beautiful. In the south, the peaks of the Lateral Range (Kurmytau and others), more than four kilometers high, sparkle with eternal snow. Magnificent and impregnable as a citadel, Mount Karakaya (“black rock” - Balk.; 3646 meters), the highest in the Rocky Range, rises in the east. In its spur, in the Kyzla-Kyuygenkaya mountain range (from the Balkar “Rock of Burnt Girls”), there is the Kala-Tubyu grotto - an ancient human site (13 - 15 thousand years old). Not far from the grotto - ancient settlement"Lygyt", which refers to the VIII-X centuries. AD, with underground wooden plumbing.

The Chegem Gorge somehow miraculously combines the beauty of nature and the mysteries of history. This is probably what inspired the filmmakers to shoot the feature film "Sannikov Land" here. In the upper reaches of the Chegem - near the village of El-Tubyu, the Chegem waterfalls, the Adai-Su waterfall, a significant part of the film's action takes place. In the gorge, including at the waterfalls, episodes of the film by S. Rostotsky "A Hero of Our Time" (1965-1966) were filmed. In 1975, in the village of El-Tyubu, the film "The Horseman with Lightning in His Hand" was filmed.

The village of El-Tubyu resembles a museum under open sky. When this village appeared, now no one knows. In a literal translation, "El-Tyubu" means "foundation of the village." Its name suggests that it was founded on the site of some even older settlement. When the current village was founded, there were already collapsed foundations of some more ancient buildings. The spirit of antiquity reigns everywhere here. Stone houses that are hundreds of years old have been preserved. In the center of the village we can see an old tower, which, at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, was built by invited Svan masters. This tower belonged to the local princes Balkarukov, who were related to the Tarkovsky shamkhals and in the 18th century. This tower is also called the "Tower of Love". According to legend, Akhtugan Balkarukov built it to defend himself from relatives, the beauty Kerime, a Kumyk woman, stolen by him in Dagestan. One of the sacred relics of the family was a 14th-century Koran brought from Dagestan. At the end of the XIX century. a mosque with a minaret was built in the village (unfortunately, it has not been preserved), and it had a school where local children studied the Koran. At the beginning of the twentieth century. The Balkarukovs owned the only cheese factory in the gorge.

Right there, near the bridge, there is a “stone of shame” with a hole made in it (according to legend, criminals were tied to it in the Middle Ages. There is also a stone Avsoltu, who used to be worshiped, seeing in it the patron saint of hunting Afsati; and the “sacred” stone Bayram-tashi , and a stone of strongmen weighing three hundred kilograms (the winner in the competition was the one who tore it off the ground) ...

Near the village, on a rocky wall, two ancient defensive Greek staircases go up, leading to a cave in which, according to legend, ancient Christian relics were buried, which are still being sought.

In ancient times, when the enemy attacked, people went up the stairs to the mountains, and the warriors took up defense above the stairs to bring down stones and arrows on the enemy. Climbing stairs today, in peacetime, you understand how hard it was for the attackers.

In the center of the village, near the bridge, there is a monument to K. Kuliyev in the form of a bust. Not far from here you can see ancient stone huts with flat sod roofs. Due to the lack of arable land, barley and oats used to be grown on these roofs, and after a meager harvest, goats were released to graze. These old buildings of the village became natural scenery when A. Balabanov's feature film "War" (2002) was filmed here.

At the foot of another interesting natural object- the volcanic massif of Kum-Tyube (“sandy hill” - balk.) with a height of more than 3500 m. The “City of the Dead” is located. This array has been included in the list anomalous places Russia as anomalous zone"Alpha". Above its summit in the 1980s, mysterious night glows were observed.

So the "Town of the Dead" - a monument of history and culture - is located a few hundred meters from the village of El-Tubyu. Here, the "houses of the dead" or "keshene" of the early Middle Ages (X-XII centuries) and later - Muslim mausoleums of the late XVII - early XVIII centuries have been preserved. The ancient "keshene" are called "Christian", although they undoubtedly represent the result of the layering of a wide variety of cultural influences. Similar tetrahedral houses of the dead with gable roofs and a small window on the front facade are found in the mountains of Ossetia, Ingushetia, in the Cherek Gorge of Kabardino-Balkaria, and even in the upper reaches of the Kuban River near the Karachay village of Kart-Dzhurt. There is an opinion that the custom of burying the dead in such "houses of the dead" is one of the remnants of Zoroastrianism, which gained some distribution among the population of Caucasian Alania in the early Middle Ages. According to Zoroastrian rites, a dead body was not supposed to defile the sacred element of the earth, so it was forbidden to bury it in the ground. Cremation was also ruled out, since fire is also sacred. Likewise with water. So I had to isolate the body with the help of special facilities. In Persia, these were "towers of silence", and in the Caucasus - dry caves, burials in ossuaries (special vessels for collecting bones) and "houses of the dead". When Zoroastrianism was supplanted by Christianity, and then paganism revived with renewed vigor (due to the decrease in the influence of Byzantium), traditions continued to be preserved for a long time.

On one of the mausoleums of El-Tubyu, a stone “knob” has been preserved, which indicates that the men of the clan to which this mausoleum belongs are still alive, although no one has been buried in this mausoleum for a long time.

Here is what, in particular, L. I. Lavrov writes: “An external examination of the Verkhnechegemsky burial ground makes it possible to distinguish seven types of graves in it: 1) an earthen mound lined with stones along the edges; 2) stone embankment; 3) a stone box made of smoothly fitted stones and covered with stones inside. That is, the same stone embankment, but with fortified walls; 4) a stone cemented box with a steep gable roof; the inside of the box is filled with stones; this grave differs from the previous one only in that it is better protected from destruction; 5) a grave with the same box as the previous one, differing from it in that, firstly, it is empty inside and, secondly, “has a small square window with east side. That is, this is a small crypt, as if repeating the external forms of a stone cemented embankment; 6) a large quadrangular crypt (keshene) with a high gable roof and a window on the east side; "7) a large octagonal crypt with a pyramidal (also octagonal) high roof, turning into a cone at the top."

Further: “Already one simple list of seven encountered types suggests that the crypts of the North Caucasus do not repeat the architectural tradition of certain, in the past, more cultured peoples that influenced the highlanders. The crypts are organically linked with the local "architecture" of mountain graves. We see how each type is only a complication of the previous one.

Recall that the scientist visited here in the summer of 1936, and 20 years later Timur Shakhanov found only eight of the eleven crypts. And here is what he writes about the crypt located behind the village: “... at a distance of a kilometer, in the area of Syugyulchu ichi, on the mountainside there is a lonely crypt (keshene). This crypt is hexahedral, the only keshene we have encountered that has not eight, but six faces. It is possible that this is an accidental error of the builder. The height of this crypt is 4.5 m, inside the dimensions are 240 x 110 cm, it looks like an irregular oval, narrows upwards, the window is 50 x 40 cm, it is oriented to the north-west, the wall thickness is 65 cm. There is a burial ground next to the crypt.”

Scientists date the construction of the mausoleums in different ways, but in general it is generally accepted that they began to be built no earlier than the 13th century and were erected until the 18th century.

The "City of the Dead", as these burials are also called, is a favorite stopover for tourists coming to the Chegem Gorge. Most of them are sure that many legends are connected with this place, mysterious stories, unusual facts. And they are right. What is worth at least this one: during the excavations that were carried out from the outside of the crypts, skeletons of sizes unprecedented for those times were found - two meters or even more. The question is: who, even after death, were guarded by those giants?

ELTYUBYU "OUT OF TIME"

And about one more publication of the Russian tabloid "Life"1 - that "in the mysterious Kabardino-Balkar village, the clock shows different times." It turns out that the tiny village of Eltyubi was examined by specialists from the Institute terrestrial magnetism and propagation of radio waves of the Russian Academy of Sciences and found out that "this place is a unique chronal zone ... all processes here are slower than on the plain." Moreover, according to the correspondent, “the special course of time in Eltyubi is felt in everything. Houses built fifty years ago, despite the harsh climatic conditions to this day they do not even need cosmetic repairs. Refrigerators locals not used even in the summer heat. No need. Products here do not spoil at all. People do not get sick and live very long. Time is known here only with the help of television. Because in each yard the clock shows a different time. As a rule, it is always less than the real one.

Why is this happening? The answer of scientists and esotericists - mathematical sciences Vladislav Lugovenko and the founders of the club "Aura" O. and B. Kolchenko is simple: Mountain peaks. The central point in this foundation turned out to be the lonely house of the M family. According to the property of the pyramids, which has long been familiar to scientists, the chronal effect should be maximum there. Acquaintance with the owners of the house fully confirmed the guesses of the researchers. Confirmation was that the owner of the house became a father at a rather advanced age, and, in addition, in his old age he started ... a woman on the side, to whom he regularly traveled on a donkey to a neighboring village. Everything, no more and no less - no other evidence is given in the article.

So, finally, a geopathic zone has been discovered, in which time slows down. But where is this very Eltyubi located? The place called Eltyubyu is known - it is also indicated on the maps, translated from Balkar as “village at the bottom of the valley”, where el is a village, and tyubyu is a floor, a bottom. Ask any inhabitant of the Chegem Gorge, they will answer without hesitation: “This is the Upper Chegem!”. And the reference book “A Brief Dictionary of Mountain Names of Kabardino-Balkaria” directly states: “El-tyubyu is a village in the Chegem Gorge, also called Upper Chegem.” The same Upper Chegem, to which several materials are devoted in this book at once, the same Upper Chegem, the surroundings of which we went far and wide, the very village in which people live, close and dear to us. Yes, and the photograph illustrating the sensational material captures not only the "house of centenarians, located in the very center of the zone", but also the famous architectural monument- Malkaruk-kala tower.

So there is no mistake: the mythical Eltyubi is the real Upper Chegem. The only difference between the second and the first is that normal people live in it, whose watches, due to the wear of the mechanisms, happen to show different times. And television is always accurate: after all, it broadcasts from Moscow. Refrigerators are really not favored here - most of the year the climate allows you to do without them. Nevertheless, in many houses - we saw for ourselves - there are such devices. As for houses that do not require repair, this is how to look. If the Upper Chegemians had extra money, they would have repaired it long ago. And so you have to save a lot - after all, with the beginning of perestroika, the number of jobs in the village has decreased significantly. As for centenarians, there are no more of them here than in other settlements of Kabardino-Balkaria - the latest census data quite convincingly testify to this. We have noted almost all the unusual features of this place, with the exception of the one that has been given the appearance of the main evidence. But this is not a scientific question, but an ethical one. Including the ethics of the profession of both a journalist and a scientist.

The Upper Chegem does not live “out of time”, but in the time, moreover, the newest, all the trends of which (unemployment, low birth rate, lack of medical care) have, unfortunately, fully tasted.

And as for the “chronal zone”, it is really worth looking for here: the same talking Chegem mummies, which were described above without any fiction, don’t they testify to its presence? ..

MKOUSOSH №2 with. Upper Balkaria

History of my village

Khulchaeva Fatimat Kharunovna

Position:Geography teacher

KBR, Chereksky district, with. Upper Balkaria

From ancient wondrous stones

lay down the steps of the future.

N.K. Roerich.

Multifaceted human activity transforms the world, creates material and spiritual values, forms the moral ideals and worldviews of society. Immersed in momentary worries, we still often do not realize that the current creations of the hands and mind of man tomorrow, in a year and decades will be perceived by descendants as irrefutable and clear evidence of our era.

From this position, assessing the deeds and letters of people, their worldview and moral principles, we must recognize as equivalent monuments to the history of culture and mankind.

Outstanding minds of mankind have repeatedly expressed the just idea that, without knowing the past, it is impossible to understand the present and foresee the future. Our past has shaped not only today's problems, but also ourselves, enriched by accumulated human experience. Without knowledge of the past, self-consciousness and self-awareness of a person, the development of reliable guidelines in the seething stream of today's events is impossible. Everything today arouses an unprecedented interest in the truth of history, in the social memory of peoples, compressed in the historical past.

Studying in the "Young geographer-researcher" circle, we considered it our duty to start our work by studying the history of our village. In the course of work, we realized that we had taken on a great responsibility, but decided not to back down. Studying the necessary literature, meeting with the old-timers of the village, we managed to collect some material.

The village is our most remote, it is located on the border with Georgia and is one of the historically settlements republics. This is evidenced by historical monuments: towers, crypts, burial grounds. Upper Balkaria consisted of 18 auls: Zylgy, Zarashky, Temukuyevo, Nizhny Cheget, Teben el, Upper Cheget, Kosparta, Glashevo, Mukush, Mukhol, Shaurdat, Sautu, Fardyk, Kurnayat, Kunlyum, Cheget el, Shkanty, Tuura-Khabla.

Each village has its own beauty, its own destiny, its own history.

Aul Kunlyum 1936

The terrible hum was left behind.

How tasty is white bread with mountain water!

Taste peace and find joy

Soul tested by black misfortune!...

Aul Kunlyum 2006

This land was developed a very long time ago. The towers that have survived to this day speak of the existence here during the early Middle Ages, the feudal system, and this suggests that the class system dominated here for a long time, people were divided into poor and rich. The following surnames were considered Taubi: Abaevs, Mysykaevs, Aidabolovs, Amirkhanovs, Shakhanovs, Zamkhotovs, Bievs, Kuchukovyit.d.

Tower of the Abayevs in the village of Kunlyum.

Among the countless ruins

On both sides of the river

There are two towers, and sad

Two white stone sisters...

There are no sentries on them.

Watchdogs do not bark

They have eternal silence

Do not wake up from sleep

Satisfied with a peaceful fate

There is no enmity in them now

But there were cancerous days

What are they witnessing...

Tower of the Amirkhanovs in the village of Shkanty.

Each aul had its own taubia, for example, the Abaevs dominated in Kunlyum, the Amirkhanovs and Kuchukovs in Shkanty, the Aydabolovs, Bievs and Zankhotovs in Kosparta and Zylgy. The Zankhotovs had specific possessions in Psygansu. The Shakhanovs dominated in Mukhol, and the Mysykaevs in Fardyk. Tuura - Khabla, Kunlyum, Shkanty were the place where the Balkarians gathered and discussed political issues and solved the problems of the district.

We heard this story from the guard of our village Musukov Kh. Long ago, four brothers crossed from Georgia through the pass to Upper Balkaria due to unknown circumstances: Musaka, Rakhai, Rakhaita and Debo. They settled in a place that to this day is called Musaka. For some time they lived together, then they disagreed. Mysyk remains in Balkaria, Rakhai goes to Bezengi, Debo to Kabarda, and Rakhaita returns to G ruzia. One day, Musaka goes hunting in the evening, from afar he notices a fire next to some tower, he became interested in who lives there and he came to the hearth, where he was received by nine brothers and one sister. Having made friends with the owners, he goes hunting with them and against the enemy. Always distinguished by intelligence and cunning, he attracts the attention of a beautiful sister. But, in the end, they suddenly fall in love with a friend, but the proud brothers do not agree to the marriage of their only beloved sister with an alien of unknown origin. Then they enter into a conspiracy, condemning the brothers to death for the sake of personal happiness. The evil intent of the lovers was carried out in the following way. Hay mowing in a clearing called "Zyna" began solemnly. The conspirators decided to take advantage of this and had previously decided that they had submitted to the will of the brothers, and the guest would soon leave. The insidious sister herself prepared for the day of mowing the strongest drink from barley called cheese. On the day of the celebration, she herself went to the mowing place and gave her brothers a lot to drink, so that they immediately fell asleep soundly. Then Mysaka kills them all. By marrying a girl, Mysaka took possession of the land and other property. Later, other people began to inhabit this place.

This place is still called Zyna today. Now it is inhabited by people and there is a central mosque in this place, the architecture of which ranks first in the republic.

The central mosque of Upper Balkaria.

There is also the village administration, a hospital, a music school, a post office, MOUSOSH No. 1, i.e. Zyna is the center of the village.

Crypt burial grounds in the region of Upper Balkaria called City of the Dead have been noted for a very long time. According to legend, people sick with plague and halera hid in the burial grounds, hoping not to infect others. The sick man voluntarily came here to live out his days. In the city of the dead there is a corner called Ashamish Oba. According to legend, a father is buried there, who dared to argue with his biy, not giving consent to marriage with his minor daughter. He was brutally murdered. And the grave of her daughter, who, having learned that the biy, having brought the sentence into execution, having killed her father, having taken possession of it, threw herself off the cliff.

Crypts (keshenele), which were built in the 10th-14th centuries, are well preserved. Almost all of these crypts have their own legend. Crypts were built for a special purpose, if someone died, often it was not a married girl, then he was buried in a crypt separately from the general cemetery. The crypts were built by people from well-to-do families. For example, the crypt in the village of Mukhol was built by the groom of a girl who died on her wedding day from a spider bite.

A crypt in Cosparta was built by a certain Atabiev Baza for the sister of his wife Zankhotova.

The crypt in Shkanty was built by seven brothers for their only sister, who died before marriage.

Keshen in the village of Shkanty

According to legend, you can’t be in the crypt and take anything away, otherwise, trouble will befall the family.

Just above the City of the Dead there is a clearing where competitions were held, this place is called Zirishki from the word "Zarish-Charish" i.e. "Competitions". Today, a stadium has been made there, where all sorts of tournaments and events of the village are held.

Above sea level, almost three thousand meters, Ushtulu is located, which for a long time served tourist base. Ushtulu is translated as Yuchtul. There lived a hunter who had three wives, hoping to give birth to a son or daughter, but he never had children. They lived together and were friends, even after the death of her husband, they did not want to leave that place. For this, they gave the name "yuchtulkatynturganzher". "Tul" is translated as "childless", Yuch-three.

The population that inhabits the territory of the Upper Balkaria call themselves "taulula". The Taulula from time immemorial have lived off their labor. They were and are engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, needlework,

Gold will buy four wives,

The dashing horse has no price:

He will not lag behind the wind in the steppe,

He will not change, he will not deceive.

Before the penetration of Islam, they were pagans and worshiped various objects: "Raubazyterek" (wood), stone, lightning. The inhabitants of Shauurdat worshiped the Raubaza tree. Even after the penetration of Islam, when a tree was cut down, some of them intercepted some of them by a branch, some by a chip and hid them at home. Even in ours, they tell how, after the death of one woman, relatives found a branch from this tree in her chest.

Today Upper Balkaria consists of four auls: Malkar, Mukhol, Shauurdat, Cheget. The length of the village is 7.5 km, there are more than 1000 households, the number of inhabitants is 5 thousand people. There are four schools. Two of them are medium-sized, the House of Culture, the House of Life, the post office, Sberbank, the Fire Service, the Dykh Tau Cafe. In this village, every path, every stone, every bridge could be the beginning of a big story.

The village of Upper Balkaria.

Oh, how good our day is: forests, hills,

Vertices. Clouds. Trees. We!

In conclusion, I want to say in the words of the Russian scientist V.O. Klyuchevsky (1841-1911), touching upon the issues of the history of the Russian people, he wrote that the initial moments of history must be sought, first of all, in the memory of the people themselves. Memories, in his opinion, are not accidental, causeless, because “a people is a population, not only living together, but collectively acting having a common language, common destinies. Therefore, the people's memory usually retains for a long time the events that touched the whole people, in which they all took part and through this participation felt themselves to be a single whole.

Literature

THEM. Miziev “Essays on the history and culture of Balkaria and Karachay. 13-18 centuries.
Misost Abaev "Balkaria"
The history of Balkaria and Karachay in the writings of Ismail Miziev
Amateur photographs of the members of the circle.
The stories were guarded by the villages of Upper Balkaria. (Narrators: Atabiem M.M., Musukov Kh., Shautaeva K.G., Khulchaeva M.L., Mamaev A.L., Bichiev S.Kh.)

El-Tubyu is located in the Upper Chegem and is a vast territory with burials. It is believed that people were buried here before the 10th century.
A local resident (part-time our guide), who was present during the excavations, explained that there are a lot of burials here, but they are not Islamic. The distant ancestors of the Balkars now living in that region had their own faith (then there was a short period of Christianity, and then Islam came to these lands) and the skeletons in the graves lie chaotically, without a clear orientation to any direction of the world.

There are 3 types of graves there:
1) Single - stones were laid out over the grave and the size of the "platform" can be used to imagine the height of a person, for example, there are obviously children's burials;
2) "Family", when several family members were buried nearby and stone fences were built around;
3) Crypts.

Opposite in the valley there was once a settlement of some ancient people. It is often written that the Alans lived there, but jewelry and utensils were found there that are not found anywhere else.
They say that in the spring gophers dig holes and, together with the earth, stone beads and various ornaments come to the surface (true or not, I don’t know, but I fully admit it).

Well, now let's move on to the description of the burials.
"Family" burials have stone fences and are often completely covered with juniper, which was planted after burial.
Another story from our guide is also connected with it: during the invasion of the Mongols, the Balkars made balls from dry juniper, set it on fire and lowered it down from the mountain to the enemy. Such a method of defense in world history was often encountered, not a local invention :). As a result, the Mongols left.

Well, the most interesting thing that attracts tourists here is the crypts (the graves of wealthy families). True, there are only about a dozen of them and many are destroyed.

The crypt was built as follows:
One of the family members was dying, a hole up to 4 meters deep was being dug. The deceased was placed in it and covered with lime from above. The next deceased was placed on the previous one. So they reached the surface and the subsequent deceased were buried from above, already in the above-ground crypt.
From 2 to 10 skeletons were found in the crypts in El-Tubyu (I don’t remember the exact numbers).
Now the crypts are of course empty.

Stones during construction were fastened with a mixture of lime and eggs. Such a solution is durable, which made it possible to preserve the crypts to this day.

The crypts were crowned with ceramic tips, although almost all of them were stolen. What the tips symbolized unfortunately is not known.

Among the surviving crypts, there are many destroyed - partially or to the ground. According to the guide, this happened in antiquity, possibly as a result of earthquakes.

And in conclusion, one more photo and video of the City of the Dead.

Source: http://www.esskmv.ru/el-tyubyu-gorod-mertvyh.html __________________________________ The Balkarian people were formed over the centuries in the valleys and gorges of the high-mountain part of Kabardino-Balkaria. The Chegem river valley is one such place. Of the Chegem settlements, the greatest historical and architectural interest is Eltyubyu, where monuments of folk architecture for various purposes, belonging to different stages of architecture development, have been preserved. One of the monuments of this most interesting village is located a little to the south on the slopes of the "City of the Dead", unique in its diversity dating back to different times. burial structures.
Chegem Gorge. At the entrance to the necropolis.

City of dead

Virtual panoramas of the Chegem Gorge
1. The panorama is interactive, you have to wait for loading and control the rotation of the image using the mouse buttons or keyboard

2. The panorama is interactive, you have to wait for loading and control the rotation of the image using the mouse buttons or keyboard

The entire necropolis is dominated by several well-preserved monumental tombs - "keshene". They belong to different periods and are divided into 2 types according to plan and appearance: rectangular in plan and octagonal.

Rectangular:

Octagonal are later.

These small stone tombs with one window and a thin cornice, five or six meters high, are irregular convex octahedral pyramidal volumes with smoothly curved edges and faces, ending on top with a lump of solid stone.

The old Chegem builders did not know the real vault, arch, dome, and in all cases they used only a false vault, that is, such a system when each stone hangs slightly above the lower one, gradually reducing the distance between opposite walls.

In addition, irregularly shaped stone walls were made thicker at the bottom than at the top. All this creates the originality of the silhouette, which distinguishes keshene.

Multifaceted mausoleums with cone-shaped or pyramidal endings are found in architecture and Central Asia, and Azerbaijan, and in the North Caucasus (in particular, in the Chechen regions, almost similar, but, unlike the Chegem ones, unplastered), and in the Kabardian regions. All these monuments belong to the monuments of "Muslim" architecture. This gives grounds to see monuments of the Muslim period in Keshene Eltyubyu and date them no earlier than the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries.

Built with the help of a false vault, the side walls of which are thinning upwards, gradually closing up, ending with a sharp ridge, rectangular keshene look exceptionally monumental and are perceived to be much larger than their absolute dimensions.

The relatively small Baimurza-keshene building, which has a height of 8 m 60 cm and a volume of about 160 cubic meters, subdues the surrounding landscape with its monumentality, so that it seems as if it was created not by a person, but by nature itself.

It should be noted that the aesthetic impact of all burial structures is determined not by a heap of details, but by the composition of the volume, the contrast of the opening spot with the light plastered field of the wall, and the skillful setting of the structure in the landscape. Only on one keshene there is a decorative decoration in the form of several prints on a fresh solution, either the neck or the bottom of the jug.

the road passes the village of Upper Chegem, the former name - Eltyubyu (El-Tyubyu) - "Village at the bottom of the valley", where we briefly stopped at the bridge over the Zhilgy-Su, a tributary of the Chegem. The Dzhilgi-Su gorge cuts the village into two parts.

It was impossible to skip past without stopping, because this is also a very interesting place.

Firstly, this is the birthplace of the national poet of Kabardino-Balkaria Kaisyn Shuvayevich Kuliev.

Kuliev once lived there,
there was his cradle,
there remained his saklya
on the banks of the Zhylgy-Su river.

This monument is the center of the village, near it local residents gather to celebrate holidays and solemn events.

Secondly, Upper Chegem is an open-air museum. It is of great interest to archaeologists. In the center stands a 17th century watchtower, reminiscent of the towers of Svaneti.

This is the watchtower of the Malkorukov family.

But Dmitry hid something from us in this village:
Right there, near the bridge, there is a “stone of shame”, to which, according to legend, criminals were tied in the Middle Ages. Along the river Dzhilgi-Su, which flows into the Chegem on the left, the remains of Greek temples carved into the rocks are visible. A poorly preserved path in the form of a staircase carved into the rock leads to one of the former temples, located in a cave. This trail is called the "Greek stairs". Here, in the Kyzla-Kyuygenkaya mountain range (from the Balkar "Rock of Burnt Girls"), there is the Kala-Tubyu grotto - an ancient human site (13 - 15 thousand years old).
The path to the gorge is dangerous and steep,
Stones fall into a mountain stream
On the high rock along the wall
Along the path you will come to the writings.
Not far from the grotto is the ancient settlement "Lygyt", which belongs to the VIII-X centuries. AD, with underground wooden plumbing.
And, perhaps, he himself did not know this ... So, there is a reason to visit here again with a more detailed tour! But we admired the local shop ...

Having stood at the head of Kaisyn Kuliev, having examined the tower and the surrounding rocks, we went further and, after a short time, the ancient necropolis became visible, it is also the "City of the Dead", surrounded by a low wall, built of stones that were not fastened to each other.

In the "City of the Dead" eight ground mausoleums (keshene) have been preserved, four of which are rectangular with a gable roof,

and the other four are octagonal with domed,

as well as ancient earthen family graves, fenced with small stone walls, without any identification marks.

The necropolis belongs to the XI - XIV centuries. ad. The severity and grandiosity of the surrounding landscape is striking. You experience a holy awe.

Keshene stand above the village,
between the crypts on the ground
spread out in a thick carpet
juniper bushes.

The crypts, apparently, were looted, some were destroyed, it is not clear whether people or the raging elements.

Looking inside one of the surviving keshene

through a small, uncovered window,

and having examined the floor and the space under the dome, you will be convinced - they are empty. The walls from the inside, as you can see, are plastered.

If you think about it, there are many mysteries. Whether there was actually at least something there, how something was put there and how it was removed afterwards, remains unclear. The windows are too small...

Galina Vladimirovna picked up a couple of stones from the ground, intending to take them as a souvenir,

but, according to mature reasoning, I decided that let them stay where they were, it’s not worth taking anything from this place ...

Dmitry not only lifted us up to the clouds and brought us to this place, but also became our guide.

No detailed (and even brief) scientific information about the "City of the Dead" can be found on the Internet, at least I did not find it ... Experts are silent, so it's really not clear what these keshene are, so I use retellings other people's opinions and ideas, possibly erroneous ...

We didn't see this either.
Opposite the village, on the right bank of the Chegem, one can see the walls of a medieval caravanserai, one of the hotels that stood on the ancient trade route that once passed through the mountains of the Caucasus.
Caravans are long gone
From China to oblivion.
Framed by clouds
Sleeping legends of old.

Bypassing the crypts, again caught in the rain. How cold he was! But, as soon as, having set off on the return journey, we found ourselves at the paraplanodrome, the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared. Really, unique place! In general, if you do not find fault with individual details, the trip was a success. Possible repetitions in the future.

The Balkar people have been formed over the centuries in the valleys and gorges of the high-mountain part of Kabardino-Balkaria. The Chegem river valley is one such place. Of the Chegem settlements, the greatest historical and architectural interest is Eltyubyu, where monuments of folk architecture for various purposes, belonging to different stages of architecture development, have been preserved. One of the monuments of this most interesting village is located a little to the south on the slopes of the "City of the Dead", unique in the variety of burial structures dating back to different times.
Chegem Gorge. At the entrance to the necropolis.

City of dead

Virtual panoramas of the Chegem Gorge
1.

2.The panorama is interactive, you have to wait for loading and control the rotation of the image using the mouse buttons or keyboard

Rectangular:

Octagonal are later.

In addition, irregularly shaped stone walls were made thicker at the bottom than at the top. All this creates the originality of the silhouette, which distinguishes keshene.

Multifaceted mausoleums with cone-shaped or pyramidal endings are found in the architecture of Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and the North Caucasus (in particular, in the Chechen regions, almost similar, but, unlike the Chegem ones, unplastered), and in the Kabardian regions. All these monuments belong to the monuments of "Muslim" architecture. This gives grounds to see monuments of the Muslim period in Keshene Eltyubyu and date them no earlier than the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries.

The entire territory of such necropolises is covered with wildly flowering mountain grass interspersed with bright barberry bushes.

In the hunt for gophers and other living creatures, birds of prey are circling

In the midst of the ringing silence of the stone-strewn slopes, horses peacefully nibble on the grass