Ingush towers
Ingush towers are medieval Ingush stone structures used as residences, signal posts, and fortifications. Most are found in the Sunzhensky and Dzheyrakhsky Districts of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus.
Tower-building in the North Caucasus originated as early as the first or second millennium BC. Remains of megalithic cyclopean dwellings are found near ancient Ingush villages, including Targim, Khamkhi, Egikal, Doshkhakle, and Kart.
Tower building was revived during the Middle Ages, especially in the mountains of Ingushetia which became known as the "land of towers", where most of the existing towers date from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
In 2022 the region's tourism committee received a patent from the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property for the slogan "Ingushetia — Homeland of Towers". Public access to some towers is limited due to remoteness, and many towers have suffered significant damage from invasions starting with the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, up to the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush from 1944 to 1957, which destroyed many historical monuments.
Origins and development
The remains of megalithic cyclopean buildings made of large stone slabs and blocks without mortar are found in mountainous Ingushetia, which scientists date to at least the Neolithic, or last Stone Age period, at least 4500 BC. These buildings were usually erected as fortifications in front of cave entrances or around dwellings. They were replaced by stone and mortar structures. Rounder river stones were more difficult to bond with mortar and rarely used.The Ingush Koban tribes of the North Caucasus built stone towers at the end of the first to second millennium BC. Remains of ceramics dating to the 1st millennium BC, the period of the Koban culture, were found at several megalithic dwellings.
Design continuity over time
Based on their layout, masonry technique and other features, cyclopean buildings have common features with the later towers in mountainous Ingushetia. Researchers note the continuity of the tower architecture of the Ingush, which was highly developed in the Middle Ages, from the stone construction technique that existed in the mountains of the Central Caucasus since the ancient period.Middle Ages revivial
Tower culture was revived in the North Caucasus during the Middle Ages, finding its highest quantity and quality in the mountains of Ingushetia. This locus of development, combined with the ethnogenetic traditions of the region's inhabitants, and architectural continuity, have led some researchers to believe that the Ingush's ancestors were the same group that built towers in the mountainous regions covering modern Ingushetia, Chechnya, North Ossetia and Eastern Georgia.There are about 150 tower settlements in modern-day Dzheyrakhsky District, and most contain semi-combat and combat towers. Many villages were fortified with towers linked by high stone defensive walls. The combat towers reach a thickness of one meter at the base when combined with walls, which reflects the high level of development of medieval Ingush architecture, and the regularity of warfare including invasion, internecine conflicts, and control of the routes between the South Caucasus and plains of the North Caucasus.
The settlements evolved into medieval fortress as their populations grew. Each settlement resembled a small "medieval city", a self-sufficient entity inhabited by close relatives from one or more clans Authority was vested in elected elder who was subject to popular law and handled foreign relations. The interests of "free and equal citizens" was reflected in policy. Settlements in a mountain gorge could form "federations of towns and villages". The largest settlement, or the one best placed geographically to control the pass, acted as a capital.
Distinct Ingush style
Compared to towers from neighboring cultures, the architectural style of Ingush towers is notable for its grace and use of masonry for small details including horse feeders built into walls and fences, hitching posts protruding like reels, and window canopies, etc. Ingush towers have been described as picturesque. Ingush towers also have much higher height to base width ratios, on the order of 10:1.In 1931, Ukrainian traveller and explorer M. Kegeles wrote:
Soviet archaeologist and historian Evgeny Krupnov wrote in his "Medieval Ingushetia":
Construction and mastery
Location and siting
The locations of settlements with towers was based on a number of factors. Areas subject to natural disasters such as avalanches, earthquakes, floods, and landslides were avoided. Sites that controlled transport routes such roads, river crossings, and gorge entrances, were favored.Local conditions and soil quality was also important. Fresh water sources were necessary, in the form of small rivers and springs, and many villages were located near the major rivers Assa and Armkhi. Settlement on the scarce and valuable arable land in mountainous areas was avoided, so tower settlements were usually built on barren areas with rocky soil, or on bare rocks.
In the mountains of Ingushetia, several signal and defensive towers built on rocky ledges can be observed. The most famous is the tower complex of Vovnushki, which in 2008 became a finalist in the Seven Wonders of Russia competition.
Similar constructions are found in Khay and in the Assa valley of Ingushetia. Two rocky shelter towers, erected in caves on the steep mountain slope of the rocky range above the villages Metskhal and. The second shelter tower is located above the first, and covered a large cave in the past. Now most of the wall has collapsed. The stone steps leading into the cave have been preserved.
Aesthetics, cultural and building practices
The aesthetics and functionality of the tower structures were strictly observed. Constructing an Ingush tower was solemn and accompanied by various rituals. The first rows of stones were stained with the blood of a sacrificial animal. The master builder's employer was responsible for ensuring the master builder was fed.External scaffolding was not used. Work was from the inside using temporary flooring resting on wall protrusions intended for permanent floors and corner slabs. The pyramidal roof of combat towers was assembled from the outside by rope-suspended craftsmen. When the masonry was finished, the master builder demanded a "descent" fee and made a hand print — chiseled or in wet mortar — at the tower entrance.
There are Ingush folk songs about the construction of towers, which glorify their beauty, skill and talent of the craftsmen. One of them is called ".
Ingush clan prestige was affected by towers. A construction time of more than a year was perceived as weakness. Tower collapse also affected the reputation of the owning family, the reasoning being that the family had been too weak and poor to make full payment to the builders. Familial wealth was the important measure as class differences were unknown in Ingushetia. Tower building was an honorable occupation. Architects were known by name, as were the reputations of builders. Craftsmen were well rewarded for completing combat towers.
Ingush master builders
Construction was a well developed business in medieval Ingushetia. The scientific literature mentions specialized roles including stone miners, stone cutters and hired carriers. Master stonecutters were skilled tradesmen; they required training, experience, and specialized tools to shape the stones with "jeweler's precision". Builders required even more complex professional training. The skills and experience of professional craftsman were required to build combat towers; that less complex residential and commercial buildings did not.Builders, or "artists of stone", were specialists in the construction of high-quality multi-story residential buildings, various types of crypts, temples and sanctuaries. A subset of Ingush masters were responsible for religious buildings associated with concepts sacred to the mountaineers. These masters were honored and recognized for their professional skills, and moral and ethical conduct. Recognized and famous master builders of the Middle Ages were:
- Yand from the village Erzi;
- Dugo Akhriev from the village Furtoug;
- Dyatsi Lyanov from the village Furtoug;
- Khazbi Tsurov from the village Furtoug;
- Baki Barkhanoev from the village ;
- Erda Dudarov from the village Upper Guli;
- Arsamak Evloev from the village ;
- Khing Khaniev from the village ;
- Tet-Batyk Eldiev from the village Targim; and many others.
Scholars have noted the leading role of the Ingush school of architecture in the 14th–18th centuries in the area covering the territories of present-day Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and the northern regions of Georgia.
After exploring Ingush architecture, ethnographers Vladimir Basilov and Veniamin Kobychev concluded that the layering of various technical methods in Ingush buildings, from primitive to more advanced, and also genetically interconnected, convinces us that local architecture developed primarily on the basis of the accumulation of its own experience, and not affected by any external influences. The obvious continuity with the monuments of the Bronze Age makes us look for the origins of stone architecture among the Ingush in ancient times. This was asserted by Soviet researcher Arkady Goldshtein, who proclaimed the existing evidence of the work of Ingush master builders in Ossetia, Northern Georgia and Chechnya, whilst there being no evidence that foreign masters were ever invited to build in Ingushetia.