Jeyrakh-Assin Reserve
Jeyrakh-Assin Reserve

The Jeyrakh-Assin historical, architectural and natural museum-reserve is located within the boundaries of the Jeyrakh district of the Republic of Ingushetia on the northern slopes of the foothills of the Central part of the Greater Caucasus Range. The reserve was established on June 2, 1988. The area of the reserve is slightly more than 627 square kilometers. The activity of the reserve is aimed at ensuring the preservation, restoration and study of territorial complexes of cultural and natural heritage, material and spiritual values in their traditional historical (cultural and natural) environment. On the territory of the museum-reserve there are 122 ancient architectural complexes, including more than 2,670 objects of cultural significance, including defensive and residential towers, burial crypts, Christian and pagan sanctuaries and temples. The oldest buildings of the megalithic type belong to the middle of the second millennium BC. Every year, significant scientific discoveries are made on the territory of the reserve, new objects are identified, archaeological expeditions are constantly working, scientists from all over the world come. Since 1996, the reserve has been a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Significant value in the reserve is given to work on creating conditions for the development of organized tourism, its educational and service component.

On August 12, 2024, during the tour, employees of the Jeirakh-Assinsky Museum-Reserve, 1200 meters south-east of the Lower Puy tower complex, discovered a previously unrecorded object – a pillar-shaped sanctuary – cIuv.

Pillar-shaped sanctuaries are one of the types of religious structures made of stone, which were erected, according to Ingush folklore, in the place where lightning killed a person.

Deputy Director of the company "Heritage" Y. Gogiev notes that this pillar-shaped sanctuary differs from a group of similar sanctuaries in its size - it is larger in size and lancet niche is quite deep and wide. In the past, this sanctuary was crowned by a gabled pyramidal-step roof of slate slabs. At the moment it is completely destroyed. In terms of the base of the sanctuary is rectangular.

The pillar-shaped sanctuaries are the most numerous group of religious monuments of mountain Ingushetia. In his work Medieval Cult Monuments of the Central Caucasus (Grozny, 1989, P. 89), B. Musukhoev writes that this group of monuments refers to the most recent time of construction of pre-Islamic religious monuments. He considers them family, explaining the reason why there are several pillar-shaped sanctuaries near some villages (two in Erzi, three in Egikale).

The monument, after carrying out the relevant works, to ensure its integrity and safety, will be included in the list of identified objects of cultural heritage of the republic.

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