Arkhyz (also Nizhny Arkhyz, ; , ''Irxız'' ) is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in the valley of the
Bolshoy Zelenchuk River, in the Republic of
Karachay–Cherkessia,
Greater Caucasus,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, about 70 km inland from the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
shore. The modern village was founded in 1923 near the confluence of the
Arkhyz and
Pshish rivers. It is located in a mountainous region in the vicinity of the eponymous
aul sitting at an altitude of 1,450 meters. The elevation of the surrounding mountains is more than 3,000 meters above the sea. The population is
Zelenchuksky Churches
The
Zelenchuksky Churches are an archaeological preserve extending for around the ruins of Nizhnearkhyzskoe gorodishche, tentatively identified as the medieval capital of
Alania, a Christian state destroyed by the hordes of
Möngke Khan 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.
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 in the Northern Caucasus. These structures bear much resemblance to the
Shoana Church and
Senty Church, 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 Zelenchuksky Church is supposed to have been the cathedral of the diocese of
Alania between the 10th and 13th centuries. The dome rises to a height of 21 meters; the western wall is twice as long. The
narthex formerly contained a
baptistery
In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...
. A 19th-century traveller described the faded Byzantine frescoes that were still visible on its walls.
The
Central Zelenchuksky 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 Zelenchuksky 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. Another tourist attraction in the valley is a
mandylion-typ
rock painting of Christ datable to the 10th century but discovered only recently.
Observatory
Arkhyz is also the site of a
Soviet astrophysical observatory which formerly boasted the world's largest solid-mirror
reflecting telescope
A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
(6 meters in diameter).
[''The Encyclopedia Americana''. Grolier Inc., 1988. . Page 180.]
Notes
References
* Kuznetsov V.A. ''V Verkhovyakh Bolshogo Zelenchuka''. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977.
Zelenchuk churches: History and Views
External links
History of Arkhyz on arkhyz.infoThe village of Arkhyz on dombayinfo.ruWebsite of the Arkhyz mountain resort
{{Authority control
Populated places established in 1923
Rural localities in Karachay-Cherkessia
Churches in Karachay-Cherkessia