Arkhyz
Encyclopedia
Aul
An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan.The word itself is of Turkic origine and means simply village in many Turkic languages....
sitting at an altitude of 1,450 meters in the valley of the Bolshoi Zelenchuk river, in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic , or Karachay-Cherkessia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: -Geography:*Area: *Borders:**internal: Krasnodar Krai , Kabardino-Balkar Republic , Stavropol Krai ....
, Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, about 70 km inland from the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
shore. The modern village was founded in 1923 near the confluence of the Arkhyz and Psysh rivers. The elevation of the surrounding mountains is more than 3,000 meters above the sea.
Nizhny Arkhyz is an archaeological preserve extending for four kilometers around the ruins of Nizhnearkhyzskoe gorodishche, tentatively identified as the medieval capital of Alania
Alania
Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...
, a Christian state destroyed by the hordes of Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
in the 13th century. No Byzantine document mentions the name of this city, whereas al-Mas'udi refers to it as Ma'as, or Maghas
Maghas
Known exclusively from Arabic sources, Maghas or Maas was the capital city of Alania, a medieval kingdom in the Greater Caucasus. Its location is uncertain, with some authors favouring North Ossetia and others pointing to Arkhyz in modern-day Karachay-Cherkessia, where three 10th-century churches...
.
The most remarkable feature of the site is a cluster of three early medieval churches, whose construction is associated with the missionary activities of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 906 and from May 912 to his death in 925. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 16.Nicholas was born in the Italian Peninsula and had become a friend of the Patriarch Photios...
in the Northern Caucasus. These structures bear much resemblance to the Shoana Church
Shoana Church
Shoana Church , also known as Khumara Church , is an early 10th-century Alanian church sited on a cliff above the left bank of the Kuban River, 7 km upstream from Karachayevsk and 4 km downstream from the ruins of Skhimar, in the vicinity of Kosta Khetagurov Village...
and Senty Church
Senty Church
Senty Church is a Byzantine-style limestone church situated in the Greater Caucasus, on the left bank of the Teberda River, near the village of Nizhnyaya Teberda, 18 km south of Karachaevsk, Karachay-Cherkessia, Russian Federation.The diminutive building, about ten meters in height, is...
, situated in the neighbouring valleys. In the 19th century the churches were affiliated with the monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky. A monastic community was revived there after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The North Church is supposed to have been the cathedral of the diocese of Alania
Alania
Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...
between the 10th and 13th centuries. The dome rises to a height of 21 meters; the western wall is twice as long. The narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
formerly contained a baptistery
Baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...
. A 19th-century traveller described the faded Byzantine frescoes that were still visible on its walls.
The Central Church appears to have been conceived somewhat earlier than the two others, in the form of a regular cross, but was extended to the west during or shortly following the construction. It is much larger than the South Church, which was built of coarse rubble masonry, extensively restored by the monks in 1899, fell into disuse during the Soviet years, and was reconsecrated to St. Elijah in 1991. The South Church bears the distinction of being the oldest functioning church in all of Russia.
Within 30 km from Nizhny Arkhyz a short grave inscription was discovered in 1888. Although it is written in Greek characters, the inscription (alternatively dated to 941 or 963) was interpreted by Vasily Abayev as the earliest preserved text in the Ossetic language
Ossetic language
Ossetian , also sometimes called Ossete, is an East Iranian language spoken in Ossetia, a region on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains....
. Another tourist attraction in the valley is a mandylion-type rock painting of Christ, datable to the 10th century but discovered only recently.
Arkhyz is also the site of a Soviet astrophysical observatory which formerly boasted the world's largest solid-mirror reflecting telescope
Reflecting telescope
A reflecting telescope is an optical telescope which uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century as an alternative to the refracting telescope which, at that time, was a design that suffered from...
(6 meters in diameter).