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Naryn-Kala (russian: Нарын-кала) is an ancient pre-Arab
citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
, part of the
Derbent
Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...
fortress, connected to the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
by double walls designed to block the so-called
Caspian gates
The Gates of Alexander were a legendary barrier supposedly built by Alexander the Great in the Caucasus to keep the uncivilized barbarians of the north (typically associated with Gog and Magog in medieval Christian and Islamic writings) from i ...
to the
Persian state. It is included in the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage List.
[Shikhabudin Mikailov]
Dagestan in photographs. Moments of history
Epoch, 2012. p. 464 - (Dagestan. Triumph and tragedy). . According to other sources, it got the name Naryn in honor of the daughter of the Persian Shah, which means "tender", "beautiful".
Description
Naryn-Kala
citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
occupies the top of the hill closest to the Caspian Sea. The path along the coast was blocked by two parallel
fortress walls (the Derbent wall), adjoining the citadel in the west, and leaving the sea at the eastern end, preventing the fortress from being bypassed in
shallow water and forming a
harbor
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
for ships. Between the walls spaced 350–450 meters apart lay the medieval city of Derbent. To the west of the citadel, the Mountain Wall (Dagh-Bary) stretched for 40 km, designed to prevent bypassing the fortress along mountain valleys and passes.
Despite its age, the fortress played an important defensive role for centuries. The new owners rebuilt and updated it, which is why today, as in the annual rings of a tree, one can trace the entire history of Derbent by construction.
The irregularly shaped citadel occupies an area of 4.5 hectares.
Dimensions: approximately 180 meters wide and 255 meters long; the walls are fortified with small towers (at a distance of 20–30 meters from each other) and a gun tower in the southwest. The steep slopes of the mountain provide additional protection from three sides.
Inside the citadel there are baths, a fortress water supply system made of ceramic pipes, the ruins of the Shah's palace, a large entrance portal and part of the walls. Opinions about the existence of an early Christian church of the 4th and 5th centuries - the oldest in Russia - are diverse. The cross-domed room is considered by some experts to be a repository; others note the lack of a water conduit at the bottom and the ground—rather than half underground or subterranean—of the structure, consider the form of construction inconvenient for a reservoir, which was generally rectangular or square in Derbent, and they also note the orientation of the structure to the cardinal points.
[Trever, Camilla Vasilievna]
Essays on the history and culture of Caucasian Albania: IV century BC - 7th century AD
USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow-Leningrad, 1959. p. 419.
Powerful walls with a thickness of 3.5-2.5 meters (11.48-8.2 ft), reaching a height of 20–25 meters (65.62-82.02 ft) in some areas, make it an impregnable fortress capable of withstanding a heavy and prolonged siege.
are closest to the sea, leaving a single narrow 3 km strip of plain. Derbent Fortress is part of a large defensive system that protected the peoples of
Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
and
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
from invasions by nomads from the north. The system included city walls, a citadel, embankments, and the Dagh-Bary mountain wall.
From the west, the Derbent walls adjoin the Naryn-Kala citadel, which was built after the 10th century, since before that a signal fire was kindled at this place when the enemy approached.
The fortress known today was built in the 6th century on the
Dzhalgan ridge
by order of the Persian ruler
Khosrov I Anushirvan (531-579) ("Immortal in Soul") from the
Sasanian dynasty
The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sasa ...
.
Since 735, Derbent and Naryn-Kala became the military-administrative center of the
Arab Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
in
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
, as well as the largest trading port and the center of the spread of Islam in this land.
As a result of the
Caspian campaign, the city of Derbent became part of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. From the dugout, which is now a local landmark, Emperor
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
moved to the Khan's palace, to whom the beys of Derbent presented the city keys on a silver platter covered with Persian
brocade
Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian ''broccato'' meaning "embos ...
(stored in the
Kunstkamera
The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
of
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
) with words.
[Vasily Potto]
From ancient times to Yermolov
Caucasian war. In 5 volumes. Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. Vol. 1. p. 528 p. 3000 copies. .
In some sources, the Derbent fortress was called the "wall of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
" because of the belief in the legend that it was built by the great conqueror.
But Alexander the Great was never at the Derbent gates.
During the
Persian expedition of 1796, the
fortress was retaken by Russian troops under the leadership of
General-in-chief
General in Chief has been a military rank or title in various armed forces around the world.
France
In France, general-in-chief (french: général en chef) was first an informal title for the lieutenant-general commanding over others lieutenant- ...
Valerian Zubov
Count Valerian Aleksandrovich Zubov (1771–1804) was a Russian general who led the Persian Expedition of 1796. His siblings included Platon Zubov and Olga Zherebtsova.
As a young man Zubov had flattering prospects of a brilliant military caree ...
, who placed the general headquarters in the citadel.
Archaeological excavations are still underway on the territory of Naryn-Kala. Today, Naryn-Kala is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is one of the important sights.
[Nikolay Protsenko]
Very respectable hero of the day
Expert South. 2014. No. 1-2. pp. 50-52.
Gallery
Стена цитадели Нарын-Кала. Дербент.jpg , Wall
Крепость Нарын-Кала. Дербент.jpg, Citadel
Экскурсия в Дагестан (10).jpg, Inside the citadel
Literature
*Bestuzhev-Marlinsky A. A. Letters from Dagestan. Monograph. — M.: Direct-Media, 2011.
*Vagabov M. M., Tyurin R. F. Experience in the use of objects of historical and cultural heritage of the state historical and architectural art museum-reserve "Naryn-Kala" in the educational process // Humanitarian information portal "Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". - 2016. - No. 1 (January - February) (archived at WebCite).
*Kudryavtsev A. A. Ancient Derbent. Monograph. — M.: Nauka, 1982.
*Kudryavtsev A. A. The great city in the Caspian. Derbent in the era of feudalism. Monograph. - Makhachkala: Dagknigoizdat, 1982.
*Kudryavtsev A. A. Derbent is 5000 years old. Monograph. 1989.
*Kudryavtsev A. A. Feudal Derbent. Monograph. 1993.
See also
Citadel "Naryn-Kala", DerbentCitadel, Ancient City and Fortress Buildings of DerbentFilm Fortress "Naryn-Kala"
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naryn-Kala
Cultural heritage monuments in Derbent
World Heritage Sites in Russia
History of Derbent
Sasanian castles
Persian-Caucasian architecture
Khosrow I
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Dagestan