The Erzi tower complex consists of eight military and several dozen residential towers. The height of some structures reaches 30 meters. In the Dzheyrakhsky district of Ingushetia, the medieval tower complex of Erzi is located. Erzi translated into Russian means "eagle". According to one of the local legends, one day the inhabitants of the village of Kerbite came to this place and cut down a tree. On it they saw an eagle's nest with chicks. So the settlement that appeared on this place became known as Erzi. The eagle seems to have become a sacred bird for the local population. So, during research in the 19th century, a bronze censer was found in the Erzi sanctuary, made in the form of an eagle figure 38 centimeters high. The object has been dated to the 8th century AD. e. However, it is possible that the object ended up in the village by chance, since it was apparently made far outside the settlement. Nearby was the gorge of the Alan Gates - an important passage through the Main Caucasian Range. Perhaps the object was in one of the trading caravans that were going through the gorge.

According to the latest data, it was a detail of a military standard. Once Erzi was a large aul. Its wealth can be judged by the large stone towers that have survived to this day. There are many towers on the territory of Ingushetia, but it is in Erzi that they are the most. The complex consists of eight battle towers, two semi-combat towers and the remains of about 50 small residential towers and walls. Of course, the majestic battle towers, whose height reaches 30 meters, make a special impression. Unlike other battle towers found in the Caucasus, battle towers in Ingushetia are narrower. The structures have a square base of 5x5 meters.

At the top, they end with pyramidal-stepped roofs, although there are also towers with a flat roof. The roof of the pyramidal-stepped towers was made of slate slabs, with a large cone-shaped stone installed at the top. The construction of the towers was approached with particular care. First, a place was chosen where the structure would be erected. As such, such towers did not have a foundation. At the place where the structure was supposed to be built, the soil was first torn off and watered with milk. This was done until the milk stopped being absorbed. During the construction of the Ingush towers, the proximity of the future structure to a river or spring was taken into account. One of the clans of the aul was involved in the construction of the tower. The richer the family, the higher and safer the tower. The tower was built in such a way that at least one more tower was visible from its loopholes. First, several large stone blocks larger than human height were laid. Each such stone was valued as one bull. The block was hewn by four stonemasons for 12 days.

Carrying the stone up the slope was also a daunting task. For this, 12 bulls were harnessed. The towers in Erzi were built of river boulders, only in the corners the masters laid massive hewn stones. The cost of one corner stone was equal to the cost of a sheep. The laying of the tower was accompanied by ritual actions. When the first rows of stones were laid, they were sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed ram. Starting from the second floor, the stones were laid from the inside. In the XII-XIII centuries, the highlanders did without mortar, carefully adjusting the stones. Later lime mortar was used. Sometimes architects left petroglyphs on the stones. The tower was built within a year. If the construction was delayed, it was a great shame for the family. The tower, which was not built on time, was not completed. Aul Erzi is known for its rich families. From this village came a large number of famous families of Ingushetia. During his heyday, Erzi could field more than 60 horsemen in full armor. The fame of local builders spread far beyond the Dzheirakh Gorge. Masters were invited to build towers on the territory of neighboring states. However, local craftsmen were forbidden to build battle towers outside their homeland. They were allowed to build only semi-combat and residential towers. Combat towers were much higher than residential ones. They had narrow passages and were more suitable for defense. Stones for combat towers were processed more carefully than for residential ones. Since the towers were quite high, a stone vault was made at the level of the fifth floor to strengthen the structure. It also prevented the spread of fire in case of arson.

All battle towers had a conical shape. Access to the upper floors was possible only with the help of ladders. They could be picked up at any time. Passed between floors through hatches located in the corners of the tower. The entrance to the tower was at the level of the second floor. This made it useless to use a ram. The entrance was closed from the inside with wooden shutters and locked on a wooden beam. On the first floor, prisoners were sometimes placed. There were also warehouses here. Throwing stones, bows, arrows and other weapons were prepared in the upper part of the tower. The tower had narrow loopholes and viewing slots, and at the top there were fighting balconies-mashikuli. During armed conflicts, women and children were at the bottom of the towers - the soldiers fought on the upper floors.

locals were ready for a siege, so wells were often arranged in the towers and underground passages under the tower. The walls of the towers were not supposed to have any protrusions so that the enemy could not climb them. Combat towers in Ingushetia were built over several centuries. The last such towers were erected here in the 18th century. Now these medieval monuments are not in the best condition. In 2012, a project for the reconstruction of the towers was launched in Ingushetia.

Photo: State nature reserve"Erzi"

It is difficult to find a point in the Dzheyrakh Gorge and its environs from which one cannot see at least one tower or an ancient burial ground: now, after the deportation and mass resettlement of the highlanders to the plain, these places have become sparsely populated, but it was here that there was once historical homeland the strongest Ingush teips.

Several centuries ago, the Ingush were divided into several teip associations-Shahars: Dzheirakh, Tsorints, Metskhal, Khamkhins . stand apart Orstkhoys, who are considered their own by both the Ingush and the Chechens, and sometimes they are singled out as a separate nationality.

Large settlements of strong shakhars - impressive agglomerations of ancestral towers - can be considered real cities by medieval standards. Several are especially large and spectacular - such as Erzi, Targim and Egikal. Alas, due to lack of time, I did not get to properly examine them all (however, I managed to see both Targim and Egikal from the road on the way to Thaba-Erdy). So the next morning, having had a good night's sleep in the large kunatskaya in the Nazir's courtyard under the sound of rain on the roof, I decided to move to Erzi, which of the "primary" ancient villages of the gorge is closest to modern Dzheyrakh.

Once Erzi (in translation - "Eagle") belonged to the Metskhal Shahar - a strong society, which included several other large villages. Now the village is located below, by the road itself - in the old place, in the towers, by my arrival there was only a shepherd's kosh (Nazir even went on purpose to find out from the locals whether dogs were tied upstairs - they should be afraid here much more than people).

Most of the surviving buildings of Erzi are residential towers, squat and wide at the base, called in Ingush gIala. But first of all, the predatory and slender animals that dominate them are striking. vioy- battle towers.

There are nine combat towers in Erzi - only the foundations remained from a part, and one was rebuilt quite recently.

The construction of a "wow", adapted exclusively for defense, required more skill from the architect, and cost much more; not every teip could afford its own combat tower. Accordingly, the builders of such towers were famous far beyond their shahars. The family of Nazir, who received me as a guest in Dzheirakh, belongs to the Lyanov teip - Detsa Lyanov, one of the few builders of towers, whose name has remained in history, also came from it.

“The Vainakhs had a custom,” Markovin wrote, “the place selected for the tower was watered with milk. If the milk did not seep into the ground, then such a site was considered good and then construction began. When building towers, the craftsmen did not use outdoor scaffolding. from the inside. As the building grew, boards were laid. Work was carried out with the help of a special gate - "chegyrk", they lifted stone blocks and slate slabs. "

We managed to climb inside one of the "wow" - I was impressed by an interesting cross vault:

At some distance there is an unchanging crypt necropolis. Islam came to these mountains, we recall, quite recently - pagan funeral traditions in these parts were outlived only in the 19th century, if not later.

The rain finally drove me out of the ruins - again, Nazir promised to pick me up at the appointed time below (the option "yes, there are a couple of kilometers, I can calmly walk" categorically did not pass). Later, after a short rest at his house and saying goodbye to the whole large family, I was going to get back to the Georgian Military Highway - and further to Tbilisi.

Nazir and his family were going to a neighboring village for a funeral, and after making a short detour, they took me to the Ossetian post. Soon, after standing for a short time on the highway and exchanging words with a fat Ossetian police officer on duty, I was already in Upper Lars, at the border.

The border guard girl, seeing the Kiev stamps for January and February in my passport, did not fail to call the special officers - soon a young man with an inconspicuous but penetrating face appeared and began to ask me if I knew that VGTRK journalists had recently died in the Donbass (there was an end June) and what emotions I feel about this - simultaneously probing me with a look. To end the interrogation with prejudice, the young man had to wave his editorial certificate, after which the question was dropped. Georgian customs, as always, passed without a hitch.

By that time, they had barely managed to clear the road from the mudflow: in May, a catastrophic landslide descended from Kazbek, and for a month and a half, traffic between Russia and Georgia was completely blocked. I was lucky: after my trip there was a second exit, again blocking the road for a long time.

Kazbegi, renamed Stepantsminda under Saakashvili, has changed a lot in the nine years since I first got there - a bunch of guesthouses and restaurants have appeared, crowds of backpackers and trekkers have appeared on the streets. I leave the city on foot, hoping to walk to the ancient basilica in Sioni, about five kilometers from the city - on the mountain near this temple of the 10th century, on our first visit to Georgia, we once spent the night under open sky, snacking on peaches and puri bread, which the altar boy treated us to.

A passing car stopped right to Tbilisi with a nice Russian-speaking Czech guy, an OSCE worker, upset my plans - I decided not to refuse such an opportunity and move straight to the capital. But about Tbilisi - some other time.

Ingushetia-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Dagestan, summer 2014

We went to Ingushetia through Chechnya. As soon as we got to the territory of Chechnya, the absence of garbage and billboards along the highway caught my eye. There are new roads in cities and villages, everything is being built everywhere, but basically it has already been built. Traffic cops, unfortunately, like everywhere else. And why on numbers to specify the region??? It turns out, only to make it easier to rob people :)
In Ingushetia, we were greeted with old Caucasian hospitality and sent to the Erzi nature reserve. This is the hundredth reserve in Russia in order of formation, which was created in 2000. The reserve is famous for its medieval (XII-XVII) tower complexes. The concentration of these structures is especially high on the territory of the reserve, but there are some outside the boundaries of the reserve. Each complex belongs to a certain genus (precisely in the present tense, since the living descendants know their ancestral settlements). Almost all buildings consist of low residential towers (3-4 levels), high defensive tower(there are from one to 5-6 of them) and a crypt. Everything is very compact. Neighboring structures are often just a few hundred meters away.
Ozig. Ancestral settlement of the Barkinkhoevs. By the way, the director of the reserve Erzi Barkinkhoev B.U. Taken on a previous trip in June.

Despite the fact that these are architectural monuments, they are often used on the farm, as cattle pens or the like. Some even live.

Famous Vovnushki. In 2008, the Vovnushki tower complex became a finalist in the competition project Seven Wonders of Russia.

I liked Targim more.

But the strongest impression I had was from the meeting with red-bellied redstarts. I have never seen these birds before. Didn't really get it off, but still.

Red-bellied redstarts descend from the mountains into the valley of the river. Assa only in winter. In summer, the stone ruins are happy to use the common wheatears and black redstarts for nesting.

Ancestral towers of the Ingush (gIalgIay).
The Erzi tower complex consists of eight military and several dozen residential towers. The height of some buildings reaches 30 meters.
In the Dzheyrakhsky district of Ingushetia, the medieval tower complex Erzi is located. Erzi translated into Russian means "eagle". According to one of the local legends, one day the inhabitants of the village of Kerbite came to this place and cut down a tree. On it they saw an eagle's nest with chicks. So the settlement that appeared on this place became known as Erzi. The eagle seems to have become a sacred bird for the local population. So, during research in the 19th century, a bronze censer was found in the Erzi sanctuary, made in the form of an eagle figure 38 centimeters high. The object has been dated to the 8th century AD. e. However, it is possible that the object ended up in the village by chance, since it was apparently made far outside the settlement. Nearby was the gorge of the Alan Gates - an important passage through the Main Caucasian Range. Perhaps the object was in one of the trading caravans that were going through the gorge. According to the latest data, it was a detail of a military standard.
Once Erzi was a large aul. Its wealth can be judged by the large stone towers that have survived to this day. There are many towers on the territory of Ingushetia, but it is in Erzi that they are the most. The complex consists of eight combat, two semi-combat and the remains of about 50 small residential towers and walls.
Of course, the majestic combat towers, whose height reaches 30 meters, make a special impression. Unlike other battle towers found in the Caucasus, battle towers in Ingushetia are narrower. The structures have a square base of 5x5 meters. At the top, they end with pyramidal-stepped roofs, although there are also towers with a flat roof. The roof of the pyramidal-stepped towers was made of slate slabs, a large cone-shaped stone was installed at the top.
The construction of the towers was approached with great care. First, a place was chosen where the structure would be erected. As such, such towers did not have a foundation. At the place where the structure was supposed to be built, the soil was first torn off and watered with milk. This was done until the milk stopped being absorbed. During the construction of the Ingush towers, the proximity of the future structure to a river or spring was taken into account.
The construction of the tower was carried out by one of the clans of the village. The richer the family, the higher and safer the tower. The tower was built in such a way that at least one more tower was visible from its loopholes. First, several large stone blocks larger than human height were laid. Each such stone was valued as one bull. The block was hewn by four stonemasons for 12 days. Carrying the stone up the slope was also a daunting task. For this, 12 bulls were harnessed. The towers in Erzi were built of river boulders, only in the corners the masters laid massive hewn stones. The cost of one corner stone was equal to the cost of a sheep. The laying of the tower was accompanied by ritual actions. When the first rows of stones were laid, they were sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed ram.
Starting from the second floor, stones were laid from the inside. In the XII-XIII centuries, the highlanders did without mortar, carefully adjusting the stones. Later lime mortar was used. Sometimes architects left petroglyphs on the stones. The tower was built within a year. If the construction was delayed, it was a great shame for the family. The tower, which did not have time to build on time, was not completed.
Aul Erzi is known for its rich families. A large number of well-known families of Ingushetia came from this village. During his heyday, Erzi could field more than 60 horsemen in full armor. The fame of local builders spread far beyond the Dzheirakh Gorge. Masters were invited to build towers on the territory of neighboring states. However, local craftsmen were forbidden to build battle towers outside their homeland. They were allowed to build only semi-combat and residential towers.
Combat towers were much higher than residential ones. They had narrow passages and were more suitable for defense. Stones for combat towers were processed more carefully than for residential ones. Since the towers were quite high, a stone vault was made at the level of the fifth floor to strengthen the structure. It also prevented the spread of fire in case of arson. All battle towers had a conical shape. Access to the upper floors was possible only with the help of ladders. They could be picked up at any time. Passed between floors through hatches located in the corners of the tower. The entrance to the tower was at the level of the second floor. This made it useless to use a ram. The entrance was closed from the inside with wooden shutters and locked on a wooden beam. On the first floor, prisoners were sometimes placed. There were also warehouses here. Throwing stones, bows, arrows and other weapons were prepared in the upper part of the tower. The tower had narrow loopholes and viewing slots, and at the top - fighting balconies-mashikuli. During armed conflicts, women and children were at the bottom of the towers - the soldiers fought on the upper floors. The locals were ready for a siege, so wells and underground passages under the tower were often arranged in the towers. The walls of the towers were not supposed to have any protrusions so that the enemy could not climb them.
Combat towers in Ingushetia were built over several centuries. The last such towers were erected here in the 18th century. Now these medieval monuments are not in the best condition. In 2012, a project for the reconstruction of the towers was launched in Ingushetia.

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