Location:

North Ossetia-Alania

Travel time:

20 minutes from Vladikavkaz

Peculiarities:

It combines completely different natural objects and sights. It has its own city-center-Alagir.

Pros:

Beautiful scenery, easy access.

Disadvantages:

The gorge is not intended for vacationers. A federal highway passes through it, from the rest places there is only the Tamisk sanatorium. Or rent housing from local residents.

The Alagir Gorge is formed by the turbulent Ardon River, which originates from the Main Caucasian Range and flows into the Terek. The Alagir Gorge is called the main gate of Transcaucasia, because the Transcaucasian Highway passes through it.

Attractions:

At the entrance to the Alagir gorge, you are met by the sanctuary of Uastyrdzhi (the patron saint of men in Ossetia). A rider on a steel horse rises above the gorge, as if flying out of a sheer cliff. A monument was erected in 1995.
Here are these people.

Under the rider there is a cauldron (altar), into which travelers throw money, asking for patronage and protection of the saint on the road.

A stone table at which men, with pies and beer, pray to Uastirdzhi.

Ossetian Uastirdzhi is a synthesis of St. George and the Patron of the Alans from the Nart legends) And often he is called St. George, which is erroneous and sinful.

Female Alan Epiphany Monastery

The monastery is still very young and has only seven monte nuns, two nuns and three acolytes. Mother Superior Nona, a kind soul and strong faith person) In the monastery there are particles of the relics of the Holy Martyrs Princess Elisovet and nun Barbara, a list from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "The Tsaritsa", who showed his miraculous power. This icon, according to Faith and prayers to the Most Pure One, heals even cancer patients.

At half past eight we made a short stop at the sanctuary of St. George Uastirdzhi.

The sanctuary is new, built in 1995, before that it was located above the cliff in the narrowest part of the Elkhot Gate. During the construction of the road, the 14th-century sanctuary was dismantled to be assembled in a new place, but the drawings apparently were forgotten. It took more than 40 years for a similar complex to appear again in these places.

There must be a watchman somewhere here, but we did not see anyone, not one Ossetian would raise his hand to harm in a place holy to all Ossetians.

From here you can see a panorama of Dzhimarai-Khokh, one of the highest peaks of the Caucasus.

By 9 am we drove into Alagir. It's not a big city of 20,000 people. Among others, this city is known as the birthplace of Stanislav Cherchesov, at different times a football player and coach of FC Spartak, the goalkeeper of the Russian national team and the Soviet Union.

Cinema "Komsomolets" is unlikely to cause anything other than despondency.

Across the road is a bust of Stalin and General of the Army Georgy Khetagurov.

By the way, Alagir does not mean "Saint George" (alla Geor), but "Upper Ossetia", which turned out to be surprising for me personally))

Here we spent half an hour. There was enough time to go around the perimeter of the territory of the Holy Ascension Cathedral, as well as go inside. Here for the first time I came across a commemorative 10-ruble coin 2 cm in size (without an external disk).

The cathedral was built as a church-fortress and had not only cultural, but also military significance. The height of the wall-fence is 2.1 meters. There are three massive entrance gates and five defensive round towers in the wall.

The height of each tower reaches 8 meters.

Interesting cathedral, built in the Byzantine style in the 50s. XIX century. In the outlines and architecture, a Russian Orthodox church is guessed at a stretch.

From here, along the trans-Caucasian highway, we enter the Alagir Gorge. Although no, before that we had been looking for another half an hour where to stock up on "liquid bread" at the price of the manufacturer's factory, and in fact we found it. Who goes to the mountains for what?

A 10-minute drive from Alagir, just behind Tamisk, there is another, perhaps the most famous sanctuary of St. George - Nykhas Uastirdzhi.

Here, the glorious hero, escaping from the depths of the rock, riding a gigantic horse trampling a snake under him, hangs over the road as if frozen in a jump.

The sanctuary, like the temple, appeared in the middle of the 19th century, but the statue was installed only in 1995. The weight of the statue is 28 tons, and the height of only one horse's head is 6 meters. This is the largest equestrian monument in the world.

Uastirdzhi - the patron of men, travelers and warriors - the main character and deity in Ossetian mythology, often mentioned in the Nart Epos. Under the influence of Christianity, Uastirdzhi among Ossetians eventually became associated with St. George the Victorious, but is revered by both Christians and Muslims. In general, according to our guide, the difference between Christians and Muslims is only in the first toast, the first drink for Christ, the second for Allah, the second toast for both of them is for St. George and everything else is the same.

And this large bowl is just a piggy bank for collecting donations for the maintenance of the sanctuary.

Here we lingered for about 40 minutes to have breakfast with the packed bags, and I didn’t have much time left to climb the path to the top along the cliff.

Below runs Ardon - "Raging River".

In half of the sources, the gorge is referred to just like the Ardon.

Here, through the passes you can get to. In general, a very interesting village, a 3-story high barrier wall stretches along the road, which either protects local residents from the road, or the road from local residents, but the impression is somehow surreal.

Top view of Buron village.

Behind the village is a quarry. The feeling is that a small scree at the top of a quarry is capable of burying not at all small excavators and dump trucks swarming below. I would not like to work in such conditions.

Behind Buron, by the way, is the Zaramagskaya hollow, which is called "Toiletia", but we don't need to go there. Then the road goes to the Roki tunnel to South Ossetia, and we, having moved over the bridge to the left bank of the Ardon, begin to climb up to the Tseyskoye Gorge.

The Tsey gorge is so grandiose and magnificent that it undoubtedly deserves a separate story, so we will skip it here, and for the sake of completeness, the story of the Alagir or Ardon gorge, in other words, will end the story on the way back.

On the way back, from the starboard side of our minibus, one could see the Zaramag hydroelectric power station under construction. Work on the construction of the hydroelectric power station began in June 1976. According to the plans of the Ministry of Energy, the station should be launched in 2017.

And this is the Tsallagov tower in Nizhny Unal.

Unalskoye tailing dump - a complex of special structures and equipment for the storage or disposal of waste from the enrichment of minerals from the Sandon deposit of lead-zinc ores, referred to as tailings.

Here the journey could be considered complete if our guide had not been too lazy to buckle up at the border post between North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, where we had to stand for another half an hour. I got back closer to 7 pm.

Monument to Uastyrdzhi in the Alagir Gorge (North Ossetia, Russia) - description, history, location, reviews, photos and videos.

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Ossetians are a rather religious people, many Muslims and Christians of various denominations live in the republic, among which Orthodox are very numerous. However, it is impossible not to notice the originality of the local religion. It must be said that Orthodoxy here has gone very far from the canon, and, like many ancient ethnic groups, it has become intertwined with pagan beliefs.

Among Christians of all denominations, St. George is especially revered, he is also revered by the Ossetians, and he is revered especially, almost on a par with God. In the local tradition, George the Victorious bears the name of Uastirdzhi. He is considered the patron saint of males, travelers, and most importantly, warriors. His image does not much agree with the ideas about the appearance of St. George in other Christian countries, where the great martyr is depicted riding a horse, striking a snake, a young man and dressed in armor. Here, in Ossetia, images of Uastirdzhi are found everywhere and he looks like a mighty hero with a thick beard, broad shoulders and dressed in traditional attire.

Moreover, often Uastirdzhi is depicted on a winged horse and certainly against the backdrop of mountains. This appearance was formed from pagan beliefs. And after these lands converted to Christianity, it became associated with the image of St. George. Perhaps, there are no more common features between Uastirdzhi and George the Victorious, except for the fact that both were powerful warriors and patronize warriors.

According to the epic, Uastirdzhi was a celestial who often descended from heaven in order to assist in this or that matter. Often these requests were related to military affairs. There are also stories that once the Narts (the mythical heroes from whom, according to legend, the Ossetians originated) rebelled against God, and Ustarji took their side.

Among Christians of all denominations, St. George is especially revered, he is also revered by the Ossetians, and he is revered especially, almost on a par with God. In the local tradition, George the Victorious bears the name of Uastirdzhi.

Uastirdzhi had magical powers, could resurrect the dead and even take on a variety of appearances. According to the legends, Uastirdzhi had two wives. Women are forbidden to pronounce his name aloud, they should simply say - the patron of men. Actually, there could not have been a better place for a monument of such a character than the harsh Alagir Gorge.

In addition, this amazing monument, which, by the way, is considered one of the largest equestrian monuments in the world, was erected exactly on the Transcaucasian Highway - the road that connects Transcaucasia and Russia. The road winds through the gorges, then crawls into tunnels carved in the centuries-old thickness of the mountains. And suddenly, behind one of the bends, he opens a gigantic figure of a horseman, which literally breaks out of a sheer cliff.

Despite its monumental power, the statue seems to be very dynamic, with a horse stretched out in a jump and Uastirdzhi sitting on it. This monument was erected in 1995 according to the project of N.V. Khodov as a gift from North Ossetia. The weight of the sculpture is as much as 28 tons. When this colossus was delivered to the gorge, to the installation site, a helicopter had to be used. After some time, the figure leaned heavily, threatening to collapse at any moment, the monument was repaired in a timely manner. And one of the main attractions of Alanya pleases the eye of all tourists and local residents. During the days of the traditional celebration dedicated to Uastyrzhi, which is celebrated throughout the country at the end of November and lasts a whole week, many people traditionally gather at the monument.

Address: Alagir gorge, Transcaucasian highway.

75. The ancient village of Lisri in the Mamison Gorge

Alagir gorge

The Alagir valley

The Alagir Gorge is a huge fortress with a developed system of defensive structures, castles, watchtowers. This is the only place that the Ossetians and their ancestors never left. It was here, after the terrible disasters caused by the Tatar-Mongol invasions, almost completely destroyed, that the descendants of the legendary Os-Bogatar began to revive again, from whom almost all Ossetian family clans descend.

A reminder that once life was seething in the highlands are the countless ruins of villages, for example, in the Zakinsky and Mamison gorges. Time has left no trace of many of them. In the upper reaches of the Alagir gorge there are also the so-called "Three Tears of God" - brother-sanctuaries, especially revered by the Ossetian people, erected in the hard-to-reach gorges marked by God: Rekom in Tseysky, Sidan-Mykalgabyrta in the Sidan gorge (a small branch of the Kassar gorge) and Tarangelos in Mamison .

The Alagir valley is an enormous fortress with developed system of protective shelters, castles and watchtowers. This is the only place which hasn’t ever been left by Ossetins and this is the place, where the descendants of legendary Os-Bogatar, the forebear of the majority of Ossetin families, reappeared.

Countless ruins of the villages remind us about life, wich used to see the in highland, for example in Zakka and Mamison valleys.

In the upper parts of the Alagir valley you may fi nd socalled "Three tears of God" - the sanctuaries of three brothers highly respected by the Ossetins. Those three sanctuaries (Rekom in Tsey valley, Sidan-Mykalgabyrta in Sidan valley and Tarangelos in Mamison valley) were erected in valleys which had been marked by God and diffi cult of access.

75, 76. The ancient village of Lisri in the Mamison Gorge
77. Transcam
78, 80. Winter in the Alagir Gorge
81. Settlement Holst. In the background - Tseisky glacier and Mount Wilpata
82. Massif of Mount Karyuhokh
83. Holy Ascension Cathedral in Alagir
84, 87. In the village of Arkhon
85, 86. Arkhon Gorge
88-91. Zakka river valley
92-93. On the slopes of the Mamison Gorge
94, 105. Ursdon-Dagomskaya medieval fortress
95. The villages of Zgil and Kaliyat in the early morning
96. Medieval towers of the village of Zgil against the backdrop of Mount Kozykhokh
97. Sculpture of Uastirdzhi at the entrance to the Alagir Gorge
98, 99. Monuments to Kosta Khetagurov in the birthplace of the poet in the village of Nar
100. Grave of Kosta Khetagurov's mother - Maria Gubaeva
102. Watchtower in the village of Donisar
103. One of the towers of the Ursdon-Dagom fortress
104. Snow-covered mountains of the Main Caucasian Range
106. The only wooden church of the Holy Trinity in North Ossetia near the village of Upper Tsey. Built in 1868
107. In the village of Upper Tsey
108. Tseydon River and Mount Monk
109. Winter road in the Tsey Gorge
110. Sanctuary Recom in the Tsey Gorge
111. Women's Sanctuary of Mada Mairam
112-113. Sanctuary of Raga Uastirdzhi
114. Tsey glacier, view from Rodina pass

76. The ancient village of Lisri in the Mamison Gorge
The ancient village Lisri in the Mamison valley

77. Transcam
Trans-Caucasian highway

78. Winter in the Alagir Gorge
Winter in the Alagir valley

79. Afsati - the patron of the wild animal world
Afsati is the guardian of wild animals