Arkhyz
Arkhyz
Архыз | |
|---|---|
village | |
 The village of Arkhyz | |
Location of Arkhyz  | |
| Postal code(s)[3] | 369152 |
| OKTMO ID | 91610402101 |
Arkhyz (also Nizhny Arkhyz,
Zelenchuksky Churches
The
The most remarkable feature of the site is a cluster of three early medieval churches, whose construction is associated with the missionary activities of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos in the Northern Caucasus. These structures bear much resemblance to the Shoana Church and Senty Church, situated in the neighbouring valleys. In the 19th century the churches were affiliated with the monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky. A monastic community was revived there after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The North Zelenchuksky Church is supposed to have been the cathedral of the diocese of Alania between the 10th and 13th centuries. The dome rises to a height of 21 meters; the western wall is twice as long. The narthex formerly contained a baptistery. A 19th-century traveller described the faded Byzantine frescoes that were still visible on its walls.
The Central Zelenchuksky Church appears to have been conceived somewhat earlier than the two others, in the form of a regular cross, but was extended to the west during or shortly following the construction. It is much larger than the South Zelenchuksky Church, which was built of coarse rubble masonry, extensively restored by the monks in 1899, fell into disuse during the Soviet years, and was reconsecrated to St. Elijah in 1991. The South Church bears the distinction of being the oldest functioning church in all of Russia.[4]
Within 30 km from Nizhny Arkhyz a short grave inscription (
Observatory
Arkhyz is also the site of a Soviet astrophysical observatory which formerly boasted the world's largest solid-mirror reflecting telescope (6 meters in diameter).[5]
Notes
- ^ a b Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
- ^ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). 3 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
- ^ Information about the church, from the Arkhyz Observatory website.
- ISBN 0-7172-0112-0. Page 180.
References
- Kuznetsov V.A. V Verkhovyakh Bolshogo Zelenchuka. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977.
- (in Russian) Zelenchuk churches: History and Views
External links
- (in Russian) History of Arkhyz on arkhyz.info
- (in Russian) The village of Arkhyz on dombayinfo.ru
- (in Russian) Website of the Arkhyz mountain resort Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine