Among the museum cities of Russia, Derbent stands out for its authentic oriental flavor, inner strength and thousands of years of history. The appearance of the "pearl" of Dagestan is characterized by grandiose defensive structures dating back to the time when it was a mighty fortress that blocked the passage along the Caspian coast. The multi-kilometer double Derbent wall, fortified by the Naryn-Kala fortress, blocked the way for the "barbarians" of the north, striving for the rich south.
From the top of the mountains
From the height of the Dzhalgan ridge, Derbent seems like a narrow white ribbon stretching between the blue wall of the sea and the green ridge of the mountains. Starting by the sea with a fairly wide strip of buildings and gardens, the city, gradually rising up the mountain, shrinks into a clear frame of parallel walls and rests on a steep rise in one of the spurs of the Dzhalgan Range.
Here, on the rock, near the moutha deep gorge that cuts into the mountain, the gray walls of the citadel rise, dominating the flat roofs and network of crooked lanes of the ancient city below. The Derbent wall in Derbent looks especially majestic from above, the photo of which amazes with the scale of the construction of the architects of antiquity.
World Heritage
Having strengthened here one and a half thousand years ago, Sasanian Iran, and then the Arab caliphate, not only withstood the onslaught of powerful associations of steppe nomads, but also extended their power and influence to the entire Eastern Caucasus. Surprisingly, the Derbent wall, a double wall from the Sassanid era, survived dozens of wars and has been partially preserved.
Archaeological research shows that in such an important strategic place, regular settlements existed 6000 years ago. This fact allows Derbent to be considered the oldest Russian city and one of the oldest in the world. The year 2003 became a landmark for the city: UNESCO experts recognized the citadel as a World Cultural Heritage site, as one of the best preserved monuments of the fortification architecture of the ancient Persians.
Location
Ancient Derbent was all placed between two long walls, stretching parallel, not far from one another, across the passage between the sea and the mountains. One of the long defensive walls of Derbent, the northern one, has survived almost along its entire length and still forms the northern bordercities.
The southern Derbent wall, parallel to the first, has survived only along the upper or western part of the city and in small sections in other places. Its destruction began after the Russian conquest, when the growing lower part of the city of the European type, not fitting into the ancient borders, began to expand to the south. The best preserved citadel, not built up with modern buildings.
Sea area
Ancient travelers were especially struck by sections of the walls that went to the Caspian Sea and disappeared into the depths of the sea. Historian Lev Gumilyov was one of the first to study this phenomenon and found out that the reason for this is significant fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea. In ancient times, the Derbent wall in Derbent covered the port from the land, now flooded.
Today, from the walls protruding into the sea, there are only ridges of stones traced on the seabed. Properly laid hewn blocks are clearly visible under water with a calm sea surface.
Description
The name of the defensive complex Naryn-Kala (the citadel and the Derbent wall) means "narrow gate". Indeed, here the Caucasus Mountains come closest to the Caspian Sea, forming a narrow “neck”, the movement through which is easy to control. The length of the structure is approximately 1300 m within the city. The mountainous part of the wall, like the Great Chinese, stretches deep into the Caucasus for 42 km.
The thickness of the surviving walls of Derbent reaches 4 m, and the height in some places reaches 18-20 m. In some parts of the walls, a battlemented parapet has been preserved. On everythingIn their length, the walls are separated by more or less frequently located tower ledges of a rectangular or semicircular shape, sometimes, but in the citadel constantly, of solid masonry. In the most defensively important places, tower ledges expand to the size of forts. From the inside, wide stairs led to the walls, along which the garrison climbed to repel the enemies.
North Gate
The most decorative part of the Derbent structures are the gates. According to Arab writers in ancient Derbent, the northern, Khazar, most militarily threatened wall had only three gates. They have been preserved to this day. One of them is a gate located near the citadel. The road from them leads to a deep gorge, enveloping the fortress from the northwest. They are called Jarchi-kapy - the messenger's gate.
The Kyrkhlyar Gates - Kyrkhlyar-Kapy, are very interesting in their decorative design, named after the ancient cemetery located near them, which, according to legend, contains the graves of the first Muslims in these parts. On the sides of the gate span, a capital and two sculptural images of lions have been preserved from the outside. The third gate, Shurinsky, was apparently moved at a later time. In fact, the northern Derbent wall marks the border between the then nomadic north and the agricultural south.
South Gate
In the southern wall facing the Muslim countries, according to Arab writers, there were many gates. Despite the small extent of the surviving partthis wall, four gates survived here. Some at the very top of the citadel - Kala-kapi - are now completely destroyed, others - Bayat-kapi, located near the rise to the citadel - although they are flanked by ancient round towers, they themselves are heavily rebuilt.
The most interesting is the third gate of the southern wall - Orta-Kapy, located between the quadrangular towers and consisting of two consecutive spans. The first span from the outside is decorated in the form of three lancet arches, separated by two round columns with low quadrangular capitals, decorated with stalactites. Here, the Derbent wall is decorated with small side arches, above which are placed stalactites - decorative arcades arranged in three rows in the form of a stepped triangle.
The second span is of a completely different type, rectangular, covered with a horizontal flat vault resting on profiled cornices. Above this vault there is a high arc relief arch with a blind lunette. Above is placed a sculptural image of a lion protruding from the wall, standing in front on a special bracket and made (as well as the sculptures of the Kyrkhlyar Gates) very generally and schematically.
From the fourth gate of the southern steppe, located in the lower city and called Dubara-kapy, two massive pylons survived with traces of an arch thrown between them. In addition, there are two gates in the citadel: the eastern, located in a rectangular tower and bearing traces of numerous alterations, and the western, flanked by two towers.
Otherattractions
The Derbent wall and the citadel are not the only antiquities of the city. The fortress contains the ruins of numerous buildings for various purposes. Particularly interesting:
- The colossal cistern located here, carved into the rock and covered with a dome on four spring-loaded lancet arches.
- The ruins of the baths are curious, where even before 1936 one of the domes of the same type as the above-mentioned cistern was intact.
- On both long sides of Derbent there are vast cemeteries with a whole forest of stone tombstones.
The city also has a number of ancient buildings, mosques, fountains, ponds, minarets. The most remarkable and grandiose building is the cathedral mosque, the green dome of which rises above the flat roofs of the upper part of modern Derbent, together with the mighty crowns of centenarian plane trees growing in the courtyard of the mosque.
