Derbent fortress: history and sights (photo)

Derbent is the most ancient city in the Russian Federation. It is located in Dagestan, on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The precise date of the founding of the city is unknown for certain, but historians assume that its age is not less than 5 thousand years. The main attraction of the settlement is Derbent fortress. Photos presented in this publication, allow you to see all the beauty and grandeur of the oldest fortification.

Strategic purpose of the complex

The fortress in the vicinity of Derbent was erected to protect the peoples inhabiting the Near East and Transcaucasia from the destructive invasions of the northern nomads. It is a massive defensive complex, which included urban, sea, mountain walls and Naryn-Kala (citadel). Ancient buildings were erected during the reign of the Sassanid dynasty. By their power they were not inferior to the Great Wall of China.

The city did not have the most favorable strategic position and was vulnerable to the Caucasus mountains and the sea, so the local population paid special attention to its strengthening. The massive walls surrounding the settlement on all sides have become a reliable protection against the invaders.

Theories of origin attractions

Historians have never been able to find out who built the Derbent Fortress. There are a lot of legends about this. One of the legends says that the founders of the city and the fortress were the fire-breathing giants who inhabited these lands before the appearance of mankind.

There is another version of the appearance of Derbent and the fortress around it. According to her, Alexander the Great was the founder of the ancient city. The great commander ordered to build between the mountains and the sea an impregnable wall, crown it with towers and install iron gates in it, so that strangers could not penetrate here. Many historians consider this version of the emergence of a complex of fortifications a legend, since Alexander of Macedon has never been on the described lands. But the very fact of the existence of different versions of the emergence of the defensive complex testifies to its significance in the life of the southerners.

Naryn-Kala

Looking at the photographs of the Derbent fortress, one can see that the center of the defensive buildings was the huge citadel of Naryn-Kala. Their all parts of the complex, its stone walls have been preserved best, which gives tourists the opportunity to admire this diva of ancient architecture in all its glory. Naryn-Kala extends along the city at 700 m. The thickness of its walls reaches 3.5 m in places, and the height is 20 m. The citadel rises on the top of a 300-meter steep hill. The precipitous slopes reliably protected it from the invasion of enemies from the east and the north. The southern part of the fortification is equipped with steps, and on its wide walls there are sites used today by tourists to inspect the panorama of the city and the Caspian Sea.

The Derbent fortress of Naryn-Kala is an irregularly shaped structure with an area of 4.5 hectares. Its walls are decorated with numerous tower-like protrusions, located at a distance of 25-35 m from each other. In the south-west corner stands a large tower that connects the citadel with the city wall.

Internal buildings

Inside the citadel you can see the ancient khan's baths with windows in the roofs and buildings that survive to our time (they lie in ruins). One of these buildings was the cross-domed church of the fifth century, later converted to Muslim religious institutions. Also on the territory of the citadel was the oldest mosque in Russia, Juma, founded in the VIII century. In ancient times here was the Khan's palace, but today in its place were only ruins, on which it is difficult to judge the beauty of this structure.

Special attention should be paid to two stone water tanks located inside the citadel. They were built in the XI century Byzantine masters. In the reservoirs were placed large reserves of water, which allowed the fortress to withstand the prolonged settling of the city by the invaders. The liquid entered the reservoirs from the springs by special ceramic and metal pipes. Thanks to this, the city's population was provided with water even in the most difficult times and did not surrender to the enemies. But the Derbent fortress was not always impregnable. The story contains information when the enemies managed to capture the city, poisoning the springs and leaving its defenders without water.

The Citadel served not only as a defensive but also as an administrative center of the city. It housed the office, the trial court and the underground prison (zindan), which it was impossible to get out of. Its walls were located at an angle, and the criminal, imprisoned, was forced to die of hunger. The prison is located behind the ruins of the Khan's palace.

Lovers of antiquity enjoy visiting the museum, which is open on the territory of the citadel. It exhibits household items, ceramic products, stone tools, precious jewelry, weapons, coins, etc. The age of some rarities is several thousand years old.

On the central platform stands the guardhouse, built in 1828 (after Dagestan became part of Russia). In this building today there are pictures of Derbent. Outside, the guardhouse is decorated with anchors and cannons of royal times.

Other parts of defensive buildings

Derbent fortress, photo of which all tourists seek to bring from Dagestan, attracts not only the citadel, but also its walls. Their length in the city is 3.6 km. The north and south walls were built parallel to each other. The distance between them varies from 300 to 400 meters. Dag-bars (the mountain wall) stretched for 40 km in the direction of the Caucasian ridge. Unfortunately, it failed to survive in its original form: in many places the structure collapsed. The sea wall closed the entrance to the city from the side of the Caspian Sea. She plunged into its waters and stretched almost half a kilometer. Like the Dag bars, the sea wall has remained fragmented.

Goal

Within the walls of the fortified defensive complex were several small but very strong gates, through which in antiquity it was possible to get to Derbent. They not only defended the city, but also were its decoration. The gate was opened for guests, allies and merchants. Entrances were located in different parts of the fortress. They still have elements of rich decor, according to which one can judge how beautiful they were in antiquity. Doors looking to the north, where the hostile nomads could come to Derbent, looked massive and frightening. In contrast, the southern entrance to the city was elegant and solemn. Today it is difficult to establish the exact number of gates, since not all of them have survived.

Names of attractions in different languages

The Derbent fortress at all times impressed travelers with its size and power. Foreigners gave her different names, but almost all of them were present with the word "gates". This is not surprising, because in the walls of the fortress was a large number of strong doors, through which it was impossible to penetrate enemies in Derbent. The ancient Greeks called the defensive structure the Caspian gates, the Arabs Bab-al-Abba (Main), Georgians Dzgvis Kari (Sea), and the Turkish inhabitants Temir Kapysy (Iron).

Hypothesis about a single defensive wall

Everyone who is interested in the history of Derbent and Derbent fortress will be interested to learn about the theory expressed by scientists in the beginning of the last century, according to which in ancient times in Eurasia there was a continuous fortification line dividing the continent in half. In the north, nomadic tribes lived from it, and in the south - farmers. Settled peoples suffered from attacks by nomads and built defensive walls to protect their lands. Historians have mapped all the fortifications that existed at different times on the Eurasian mainland and were amazed. The Abkhazian, Transcaucasian, Crimean, Derbent, Balkan walls, Roman ramparts, the Great Wall of China and other ancient fortresses, many of which have not survived to this day, in the distant past formed an inseparable chain. And although the stated theory is not recognized as an official historical science, it forces us to seriously think about the past of mankind.