Tower manor "Tovkhanti" is located opposite the Melleri complex, on the western slope of the mountain. It consists of 1 two-storey residential tower "Zovr-g1ala", on the east side of which there is a courtyard and one core-shaped mausoleum.

The height of the tower is about 5 meters, the roof is absent, the width of the southern wall is 6 m, the eastern one is 8.5 m. The entrance to the tower is located on the east side and has vaulted doors on both floors. Vaults of solid stones are relatively well preserved.

The south wall on the second floor has 1 large window and 2 small loopholes. The eastern wall has 2 arched doors, 1 window, 2 loopholes, one of which is directed to the entrance of the first floor.

The tower has well-preserved structural details: window openings, niches, loopholes, which are available on all walls of the object.

Of particular importance for the history of the republic, in our opinion, is the core-shaped mausoleum, erected in the late 18th century and located 15 meters south of the tower, it has been preserved to its full height (about 3 meters).

I want to give one interesting story, which is recorded for the first time from the words of local residents. It says that the estate appeared later than the Muller Tower, it is also known that the inhabitant of the tower left this place.

Further, in this legend it is told that the owner of this estate, after the construction of the tower and the mausoleum, gathered people of nearby villages and demonstrated the work of the master. And there was something to see: the tower was very beautiful, with many loopholes, windows, niches, as well as vaulted doorways and other structural elements.

Also, the resident of the tower boasted that on his lands he harvests two crops per year. Among the guests was a blind old man from the village of Meller, who did not like the successes of his neighbor and in order to survive from these places, he advised him to cultivate the land with melted oil, so that they would bring him three crops per year.

The owner of the estate, being a very hardworking and simple-minded person, heeded his advice and worked his land with oil. As a result, the land ceased to yield crops and, having lost it, the inhabitant of the tower was forced to leave these places, since previously the only source of food was only land. And since then, no one has moved in.

It is located within the boundaries of the Jeirakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve.

Interesting compositions of the temple "Thaba-Yerda".

Photos taken before the restoration ( 1969-1971 ) of the monument.

Last weekend, as part of official events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Ingushetia, the annual traditional "Jeirakh Marathon", which is the most complex asphalt marathon in Russia, was held.

In 2024, the event was attended by athletes from 70 cities of 34 subjects of the Russian Federation, including athletes from Ingushetia. The event was held at the Republican resort LOC “Armkhi”.

Distances overcame by athletes: 4, 8, 21 (classic half marathon), and 42 km (marathon according to the rules of OI).

The final report of the VI Jairah Marathon results can be found here: https://t.me/djeirahmarathon/119.

It is worth noting that the participants from Ingushetia distinguished themselves at all distances, taking high positions in the final protocol.

In particular, 1st place at a distance of 4 kilometers was taken by Nakastoev Magomed, and at a distance of 21 kilometers 2nd place was taken by Mikhail Limaev.

During the general program of the event, a race to the Lyazhginsky Falls and a children's race for 500 meters were also held.

"Jeirah Marathon" was held with the active support of the Administration of the Dzheyrakh district and personally the Head of the district, the Committee for Tourism of the Republic of Ingushetia and personally the Head of the Committee, the Management of the National Resort "Armhi", the Committee for State Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites, employees of the Dzheyrakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve and personally the Director, operator of the National System "Territory", and other organizations.

Special thanks for the comprehensive assistance in the preparation and holding of the event, the organizers express to all medical services of the Jeirakh district and the Republic, the rescue squad of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as ordinary citizens who came to support the event, provided assistance on the route and food points.

The 7th Dzheirakh is already planned, which can be held in the format of an all-Russian festival.

The organizers of the “Jeirah Marathon” are ANO “United Territories of the Caucasus”.

Today, as part of the implementation of the project of the Federal Agency for Nationalities: "Audiovisual Ethno-Encyclopedia", a documentary film was shot in the mountains of Ingushetia, where employees of the museum-reserve also took direct part.

It is pleasant to realize that the interest in mountain Ingushetia from researchers not only does not fade, but on the contrary increases day by day: it has long attracted the attention of not only tourists, but also scientists who are trying to open unknown pages of history.

So, recently, in the framework of the study of medieval stone crosses, cruciform and anthropomorphic steles in the North Caucasus, independent researchers from St. Petersburg Alexander Potravnov and Tatiana Khmelnik, having previously agreed on their visit, together with the staff of the State Historical-Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve of Djeirakh-Assinsk, inspected a number of monumental objects in the mountains of Ingushetia.

The researchers visited the tower complexes "Myashkhi", "Keli", the temple "Thaba-Yerda", where these objects are preserved, and which are within the scope of their scientific interests.

Scientists inspected and photographed the most accessible monuments of the past – stone crosses, cruciform and anthropomorphic steles.

At the same time, in the course of work, in the area of the tower village "Keli", on the slope, next to the crypt, a medieval stone cross was discovered, considered previously lost.

Farewelling, researchers from St. Petersburg thanked the employee of the museum-reserve for hospitality and assistance and expressed hope for continued cooperation.

SPOILER: in the future, these objects will be included in the consolidated catalog of stone crosses of the Russian Federation with a mark of places of detection on the map, which will allow a more accurate and reasoned study of the tradition of creating and distributing stone crosses not only in Ingushetia, but also in other regions of the Caucasus.

That's how it was.

Restoration of the temple "Thaba-Yerda" in 1969-1971 by the project of the Georgian architect L.A. Khimshiashvili.

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In Tumgi completed the restoration of 8 objects of cultural heritage. Earlier, in the course of comprehensive scientific research, the specialists of ASMGROUP revealed the construction of stone bases of residential towers, as well as three ancient crypts with anthropological artifacts.

Work on the restoration of historical monuments continues, they will affect 34 objects of the complex.

Employees of the museum-reserve, as part of the protection and preservation of cultural heritage sites, made an expedition to the tower estate "Tovkhanti", located west of Melleri.

The estate consists of 1 residential bunk residential tower and one, rare for the edge, core-shaped mausoleum.

The purpose of the tour was to clear the perimeter of the mausoleum from the sprawling spontaneous growth, which posed a potential threat to the integrity of the historical object.

The guys, armed with saws and axes, cut down shrubs and unwanted vegetation, saving the monument from damage and increasing its attractiveness for visitors. After all, wild plants could not only damage the monument, but also hide it from the eyes of tourists.

The mausoleum is well preserved for its time and it is very important to keep it in this condition for as long as possible.

It is located within the boundaries of the Jeirakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve.

Today, October 3, in the Ingush State Museum of Local History named after Tugan Malsagov, representatives of the Institute of Archaeology of the Caucasus brought a second batch of artifacts - more than 800 archaeological objects discovered during the reconstruction of the federal highway "Caucasus" in the Gamurzievsky administrative district in 2018, and which were still stored in them.

The museum was given archaeological excavations of ancient times in the form of household items, ceramics, tools, jewelry, etc., representing the North Caucasian culture, as well as artifacts related to the Koban culture and the Alan era.

The event was attended by heads and employees of competent organizations, researcher-archivist Bersnako Gazikov, archaeologist Umalat Gadiev, historian-localist Ruslan Kurkiev and others.

Recall that in 2018, during the excavations, more than 4,000 antiquities of great scientific interest were discovered, the first batch of which, in the amount of 200 items, was transferred at the end of August of this year, and work on the return of the remaining part continues, thanks to the mutual agreement of the parties on the return of all finds to their historical homeland.

Employees of the museum-reserve made an inspection trip to the observation tower of Zem-g1al.

Watchtower "Zem-g1ala", located in the gorge of Guloi-khi, 500 m south-west of the tower complex "Vovnushki", a ruined state, previously was a two-storey with an economic annex. According to local residents, it had observation functions.

The name Earth-g1al means literally "observational". From the word “earth (b), attention, observation.”

This tower, apparently, was one of the links of a powerful signal and defensive system of ancient Ingushetia.

Last weekend, a Saturday was held in the central mosque of Magas "Heart of the Caucasus" under construction, where employees of the Dzhirakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve also took part.

Employees of the Dzheyrah-Assinsky Museum-Reserve carried out planned work on accounting and fixation of previously unrecorded objects of cultural heritage.

This time the trip was made to the rarely visited tower complex in the eastern part of the Guloikhi Gorge - "Besht", where the ruins of four residential towers are preserved.

The described monument - a pillar-shaped sanctuary or, as it is popularly called, sieling - is located 300 meters west of the complex. Its height is 2.50 m, length is 1.10 m, width is 0.65 m. Below, on the facade of the object there is a lancet beggar with a height of 0.8 m.

In his studies, the Ingush historian and archaeologist M.B. Muzhukhoev believed that pillar-shaped sanctuaries complete the evolution of local religious monuments. And some scientists, on the contrary, believe that pillar-shaped structures are the primary form of religious buildings.

M.B. Musukhoev also claims that the construction of sielings was performed in memory of deceased ancestors. These monuments served as a symbol of veneration and respect for ancestors, and were believed to provide invisible protection to their descendants.

Ethnographic descriptions acquaint us with monolithic "pillars" - sanctuaries known as "Sielings", indicating their mythological connection with the cult of "the sun god" and lightning "Selya". A typical example of the sanctuary-monument is the sielings near the village of Erzi, Egikal, Targim, Niy, Vovnushki, Ozdeche, etc. in Ingushetia.

Researcher F.M. Kostoeva believes that in ancient times, the term "seeling" was used to refer to a high quadrangular stone column facing south, with a flat or gable top and a small niche at the base. The sielings were collected from raw stone before human growth and fixed to a lime or clay solution ("markhal"). Such stone structures were erected at crossroads, at towers or crypts.

As for this structure, we did not find its description in any written source. Employees carried out measurements of the object, photofixation. The monument will be included in the list of identified objects of cultural heritage of the republic, as well as put into scientific circulation, and it will be of interest to all who are interested in the history of Ingushetia.

Archival photographs of the tower complexes "Doshkhakle" and "Khart".

In Doshkhakl in the foreground is a battle tower, the roof of which, according to written sources, was damaged by lightning in 1958.

On the southern slope of Table Mountain, the staff of the Dzheyrakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve, as part of the work plan to identify and account for previously unrecorded architectural monuments, and the partners of the institution, as part of the implementation of the National Object Management and Safety System "Territory" on the territory of the museum-reserve, continue joint research of cave-type structures.

As a result of the work, the locations of several more buildings were determined, measurements of the front and interior parts of the premises, window and door openings were made, all structural elements of the premises and their features were noted, photo fixation was made.

Notes from fieldwork.

Building 7 is represented by a solid masonry covering the cave. On the side wall there are 3 small window openings square shaped, which were used to observe and illuminate the interior of the room. On the front wall there is an entrance and a large window - at a height of 2.5 m from the ground - , openings.

From the presence of holes for floors in the inner part of the building, we can conclude that the buildings were three-tiered.

The building number 8 was erected at a height of 3 meters on a site of rock of natural origin, from the front part a pavement with masonry to floor level was made. At the top of the eastern wall there is a small square-shaped window. There are steps outside the entrance.

In the inner corners of the cave there are signs of seasonal water sources.

In the ninth structure, the characteristic features of the rock structure are traced, there are traces of processing of rock. The laying has not survived. The width of the inner part is 4.4 m, height is 5 meters, depth is 4.7 m.

It is no accident that our ancestors gave this mountain a sacred meaning - it harbors many mysteries.

Rock buildings located on the slopes of the mountain are one of the manifestations of the mystery.

We gave some details of the next studies, at the moment the work on 9 rock structures has been completed, previously 6 buildings were noted, all of them will be put on the state register.

The medieval tower complex of the castle type "Harpe" in the 70s and now.

It is located on the spur of Mount Mat Loam in the Jeirakh gorge of Ingushetia.

By the way, the project of restoration of the complex from "ASM Group" became a nominee of the VII International competition in the field of architecture "Golden Trezzini 2024" in the nomination "Best implemented restoration project".

These days, the staff of the museum-reserve carried out planned work on fixing and accounting of early unaccounted cyclopean buildings located 300-350 m north-east of the tower complex "Sredny Ozik".

Most buildings have adjacent walls and do not have binder material. The objects are in a ruined state.

Cyclopic buildings belong to the era before our era. In total, 27 buildings and 3 barrier walls were identified on this site.

All of them will be included in the list of identified objects of cultural heritage of the republic.

On October 16, employees of the museum-reserve made an inspection trip to the Shuang “City of the Dead”, located 1.0 km west of the Shoan tower complex, in the area of Mohde.

The scale of the “Shuang City of the Dead” (Mohde) is impressive – it is the largest necropolis in the region and the region, consisting of more than 200 underground and semi-underground collective crypt tombs with remains of the late Middle Ages.

They are distinguished by significant design features and diversity: completely immersed in the mountain soil and visible from the outside on low stone pillars and mounds; with a clear bulge formed by a vault and a low facade wall with a manhole; with an underground chamber, with a gable-step roof, half out of the ground.

In terms of crypts rectangular, and burial chambers - often, with stone or wooden shelves, small niches, stone boxes, sometimes arranged in the side walls, caches and other original structural details.

Some tombs are multi-chambered and multi-tiered. In a number of tombs, the back wall is formed by a protrusion of a rock or an aligned mountain slope, and there are special stone beds for the dead. The roof of buildings is more often gabled, less often flat.

This unique crypt necropolis has been studied stationarily since the end of the XIX century by V. F. Miller, V. I. Dolbezhev, L. P. Semenov, E. I. Krupnov, M. H. Kataev, M. V. Muzhukhoev, D. Y. Chakhkiev, E. I. Narozhny, R. A. Dautova, X. M. Mamayev and other researchers, whose scientific works give general and detailed characteristics to many local tombs, which were used in the funeral rite, found here on numerous gold coins and timbers. The results of the latest scientific research allow us to attribute this burial ground as a whole to the second half of the XIII-XV centuries.

Of these, 77 burial grounds are registered with the state, further work on their inclusion in the list of identified objects of cultural heritage, and then, after the historical and cultural expertise, in the unified state register of the OKN of the Russian Federation will be continued.

Employees of the Jeirakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve, during the monitoring of the Muhul tower complex, photographed petroglyphs located on the residential tower of the complex. Muhul is a tower complex northwest of Gwezi.

Petroglyphs on stones are found throughout mountain Ingushetia - these are one of the important religious components. In addition to single images of humans and animals, there are often fantastic and symbolic images, geometric and other abstract figures. Some of them resemble solar signs, while others are graphic signs resembling writing. Often you can see carved on stone slabs images of a human hand.

There are petroglyphs made in point technology. Among the plots of the petroglyphs of Ingushetia, genre ones are distinguished, depicting scenes of hunting, creation of the world, etc. The architectural structures on which they are depicted date back to the 14th and 18th centuries, but it is quite obvious that the stones with petroglyphs in the masonry of these towers are reused. This is evidenced by the location of stones with petroglyphs in the masonry, which differ from the color of the stones of the main masonry. The greatest number of petroglyphs is found on the facades of residential towers, less often on religious buildings and battle towers. Sometimes there are petroglyphs on the stelae.

Ingush poet A.T. Khashagulgov, who devoted many years to collecting ethnographic material, interviewed many old people, collecting outdated words and folklore motifs, in his poem notes that the meaning of the symbols on the stones is irretrievably lost:

Dysad Ma'an t'yapa deshash,

Kustash a kherash t'a deca

Hanz Ukhaz Yukhaza Dyhka,

Latt vai king hyarkas deshas

(Dzaurova T. A.-Kh. “Ingush National Ornament”)

Researcher A.S. Dozariev in his scientific publication “On some monuments of decorative and graphic art of the Ingush” writes:

As studies show, it is impossible to say with accuracy for what purpose these or other petroglyphs were applied, although the cult-magical context here seems to us certain. At the same time, it is safe to say that the decorative and graphic art of the Ingush has its roots in ancient times. Thus, in a detailed study of this cultural phenomenon, it is impossible not to notice, for example, the similarity of Ingush solar signs with images on objects of Koban culture of the Caucasus, found immediately in Ingushetia (Meadow burial ground, I thousand BC). Known parallels are also found in the culture of the ancient Sumerians, Iranians, Celts, etc.”

The material was prepared in order to protect, preserve and popularize objects of cultural heritage of the republic.