Documents indicate that on May 6, 1784, “a fortification was founded, called Vladikavkaz” /V. Potto. Two centuries of the Terek Cossacks. Vladikavkaz, 1912, p. 144/. It was founded 4 versts from the “Ingush village of Saukva, which the Russians now call Saurovo... They live in Saurov
Ingush together with Ossetian fugitives” / Klaproth Yu. Travel through the Caucasus and Georgia, undertaken in 1807-1808. News of SONIYA, vol. HP, p.193/. Another document reports that the village of Zaur /Saurov - near Yu. Klaproth/ was located south of the Vladikavkaz fortress / TsGVIA USSR, f.VUA, 1 k. 20-478,20-479; f.13454, op.1, d.202, pp. 3-6. I quote from the book: Berozov B.P. Relocation of Ossetians from the mountains to the flatland. Ordzhonikidze, 1980, p.43/. Here is prof. SOGU Berozov B.P. clarifies the location of this village - “approximately on the site of the current village of Yuzhny” /Berozov B.P. Resettlement of Ossetians.., p.43/.
In 1770, the German scientist and traveler Academician I.A. Gyldenstedt names 24 Ingush villages that were part of the Greater and Lesser Ingush districts, including Zaurovo / Geographical and statistical description of Georgia and the Caucasus from the travel of Academician I.A. Güldenstedt through Russia and the Caucasus Mountains in 1770-1773. St. Petersburg, 1809, p.83,84/. A document from 1780 lists the villages of Zaurovo and Sholkhi among the 6 Ingush villages of this district, in close proximity to which 4 years later the Vladikavkaz fortress arose /See: Russian-Ossetian relations. T.2. Ordzhonikidze, 1984, p. 392/. Another German scientist Jacob Reynegs, in the 80s of the 18th century. who has visited these places several times, notes that there are 200 households of residents in Zaurovo and Sholkhi. “Vladikavkaz got its beginning from them /Zaurovo and Sholkhi” /Gadzhiev V.G. Jacob Reynegs about Checheno-Ingushetia. Issues of political and economic development of Checheno-Ingushetia. Grozny, 1986, p.28/.
These and many other published sources are supplemented by several dozen unpublished archival materials for 1784-1786. Their content reflects the diverse relationships established between the garrison of the fortress and the Ingush who lived in numerous villages along the right bank of the Terek to the south, north and east of the fortress /See: TsGVIA USSR, f.52, op.1/194 , d.72, l.202; d.350, Part VI, pp. 35,37,38, Part IV, l. 21 and others; TsGADA, f.23, section XXIII, d.13, 4.6, l.160; part 6 a, l. 122, 188.326 etc.; d.16, part VI, pp.9 vol.; Part IV, pp. 13, 113,137,141, etc./. As for the village of Zaur itself, the famous Caucasian expert E.I. spoke about its foundation. Krupnov with reference to the expert on the Caucasus of the last century P.G. Butkova writes that the Malsagov family... was strong and numerous in the middle of the 18th century; it is known that the son of the head of this family, Malsaga-Dzavg /Dzaug/, founded the Ingush village of Zaur on the plane... At this place in 1784, the city of Vladikavkaz arose /Krupnov E.I., Medieval Ingushetia. M., 1971, p.166/.
The documents do not record the presence of any population other than Ingush within a radius of several tens of miles from Vladikavkaz. Yes, this is understandable. The Ossetian people, having neither the strength nor the ability to resist the Kabardian feudal lords who controlled the Vladikavkaz plain, and to move out onto the plain on their own, repeatedly, through their proxies, turned to the Russian government with a request for assistance in relocating from the mountains. However, Russia, not having a strong position in the Caucasus itself, could not accomplish this. And only with the construction of fortresses and fortifications under their walls and under the protection of their garrisons did the first Ossetian settlements appear on the plane. This resettlement, according to the above-mentioned Ossetian scientist B.P. Berozov, “rather was of a random nature, and therefore was not stable” /Berozov B.P. A journey equal to a century. Ordzhonikidze, 1986, p. 13/.
Such was the fate of the Ossetian settlements, which repeatedly arose under the walls of Vladikavkaz. After the Russian garrison abandoned the fortress, the Ossetians “were forced to retreat back to the mountains” / TsGIA, Synod Affairs for 1787, op.5, d.147, l.81 vol. I quote from the book: Berozov B.P. Path..., p.13/.
Only with the restoration of the Vladikavkaz fortress, abandoned by the Russian troops in 1786, near its walls no earlier than September 1803 were Ossetians settled in a special village /Acts collected by the Caucasian Archaeographic Commission, T.P. Tiflis, 1868, p. 224.228-229/. General Staff officer I. Blaramberg, who visited the fortress at the beginning of the 19th century. reports that the Ingush occupied the entire suburb / Blaramberg I. Caucasian manuscript. Stavropol, 1992, p. 98/. The fortress, founded in the geographical center of Ingushetia, becomes its economic, political and cultural center.
Ossetians also gravitate towards Vladikavkaz. Since the 30s of the XIX century. and until 1917, both of these peoples were governed from Vladikavkaz. In the 30-50s. - this is the department of the Vladikavkaz commandant, 1858 - the department of the Ossetian Military District, 1862 - the Department of the Western Military Department, 1870 - the Vladikavkaz district. The Ingush were included in these territorial units together with the Ossetians and the district departments were located in Vladikavkaz, In addition, with the transformation of the Left Wing of the Caucasian Line into the Terek region in 1860, the Vladi-Caucasus fortress, transformed into a city, became its capital.
As a result of the administrative reform of 1888, the Ossetians were allocated to the independent Vladikavkaz district, the Ingush, the only ones of all the peoples of the Terek, did not receive their own district administration, but were included in separate sections in the Sunzhensky Cossack department. Administration of both Ingush and Ossetians continued to remain in Vladikavkaz.
And it is no coincidence that during the period of the first Russian revolution, unlike other peoples of the Terek, in all the Ingush’s appeals to the central government there was one request - to equalize their rights with other peoples of the Caucasus and allocate them to a separate district. On the issue of creating a circle, deputations from the Ingush have been turning to the Governor of the Caucasus, Emperor Nicholas II, to the State Duma for a number of years.
The revolutionary wave helped the Ingush achieve the adoption of a decree on the formation of the Nazran district, initially temporarily, on July 10, 1909 it was legalized permanently. Note that, although the district was called Nazran, the headquarters of the district authorities was in Vladikavkaz, he, as we see, continued to play a big role in the life of Ingushetia, despite all the attempts made by the City Duma under the leadership of Gappo Baev to excommunicate the Ingush from the city . When the Duma decided to deprive the Ingush of the right to lease land in the city area, S.M. spoke in their defense. Kirov, In the article “For the meeting of the City Duma,” he emphasized: “Such a measure will put a whole group of people in exceptional conditions. And it cannot be justified either from a moral or from a philistine point of view. Our venerable vowels often, with one stroke of the pen, exclude an entire nation from the population.” /"Terek", January 24, 1910; Mostiev B.M. The national question in journalism S.M. Kirov. Iz-news of SONIA, T.28. Ordzhonikidze, 1971, p.79/. However, City Head G. Baev did not let up. On his initiative, the Duma repeatedly submitted a petition to the Caucasian governor to evict the Ingush to Siberia and the Far East. When this could not be accomplished, a resolution was adopted to transfer the administration of the Nazran district from Vladikavkaz to Nazran, so that the Ingush would not appear in the city even on official business.
Familiarity with the sources (let’s name at least such a popular source as the “Terek Calendar”) allows you to present an objective picture. The Ingush served in the administration of the Nazran district, the Terek security guard, and the Vladikavkaz gendarme department of railways. Even in July 1917, when there was a campaign to oust the Ingush from the city, there were 4 Ingush on the lists of candidates running for the Vladikavkaz City Duma /See: “Tersky Vestnik”, July 23, 1917/. Commercial and industrial establishments “with a turnover of at least 2,000 rubles were owned in Vladikavkaz by 14 Ingush / they maintained 2 shops with up to 6 employees in each /. The “Tersky calendar” for 1914 also reports that many people have shops in their own homes, and not on Market Square / “Tersky calendar for 1914”, Vladikavkaz, 1915, p. 18,20,23,137-146/. “Let us add that even one of the leaders of the White Cossacks on the Terek, Colonel Belikov, considered Vladikavkaz the capital of the Ingush /See: Memoirs of Colonel Belikov. "Revolutionary East", 1929, No. 6, p. 190/.
In the first years of Soviet power, Vladikavkaz was at various times the capital of the Terek People's Republic /1918-1920/, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic /1920-1924/. By 1924, only North Ossetia and Ingushetia remained within the Mountain Republic. In the same year, the Mountain Republic was abolished and the Ingush and North Ossetian autonomous regions were created. Vladikavkaz was designated the capital of both regions. At the same time, the city was demarcated along the Terek and industrial and commercial enterprises and buildings were divided into party, Soviet, economic, medical and educational institutions. Vladikavkaz has further strengthened its position as the commercial, industrial and cultural center of Ingushetia. 80 thousand Ingush lived in its suburbs, which is significantly more than Ossetians, Germans and Cossacks combined. In the city itself, the number of Ossetians and Ingush was approximately the same. Almost all industrial enterprises, a regional hospital, educational institutions, including industrial and pedagogical technical schools, support and Soviet party schools were located here.
However, with the establishment of I. Dzugaev / Dzugashvili - Stalin at the head of the Soviet state, the Ossetian leadership, having received powerful support in the person of its sovereign tribesman, begins an attack on Ingushetia. In 1928, the question was raised about annexing the city of Vladikavkaz to North Ossetia and turning it into its capital. When this attempt to separate Ingushetia from the city failed, they approached the implementation of this idea from the other side, the North Caucasus Regional Committee in January 1929 adopted a resolution “On the merger of Ingushetia with Chechnya.” But it does not receive support from members of the Chechen and Ingush regional committees of the CPSU/b/, for which they are subject to repression. And although in 1931, at the request of the Ingush, the city received the name of Orzhonikidze, who shared with them all the hardships of the Civil War, the authorities abandoned their plans. On June 1, 1933, by a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the city was placed under the jurisdiction of North Ossetia, and a year later the Chechen and Ingush Autonomous Okrug were united into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Okrug. The administrative bodies of Ingushetia in Vladikavkaz were abolished, all enterprises and institutions were transferred to North Ossetia. Ingushetia lost all industrial enterprises, secondary educational institutions, as well as the regional hospital. Cultural and educational institutions were transferred to Grozny, a hundred kilometers from Ingushetia.
In February 1944, as a result of the deportation of Chechens and Ingush to Central Asia and Kazakhstan, Ordzhonikidze was “liberated” from the Ingush themselves, Ossetia began to dominate there undividedly. At the same time, any memory of the Ingush was destroyed, and vigorous activity began to rename settlements on the territory of Ingushetia transferred to North Ossetia. Ordzhonikidze received its new name Dzaudzhikau immediately, based on the far-fetched justification that the city was allegedly founded on the site of the former Ossetian village of Dzaudzhikau. After Stalin's death, the name of the city - Ordzhonikidze - was restored.
After the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted the Decree on the restoration of the Chi ASSR on January 9, 1957, not only Ordzhonikidze, but also the most fertile part of the lands of Ingushetia adjacent to it was not returned to the Ingush. Before the deportation, 46% of the Ingush lived here. Moreover, the Council of Ministers of North Ossetia adopts a number of unspoken circulars prohibiting institutions and individuals from selling houses or renting out living space for apartments to Ingush returning from exile to their homes.
All the years after the restoration of the Chi ASSR, the Ingush repeatedly and unsuccessfully appealed to the highest party and state bodies of the USSR and the RSFSR in connection with the violation of their constitutional rights. The leadership of North Ossetia consistently and purposefully created all sorts of obstacles for the Ingush, immigrants from the Prigorodny region and Vladikavkaz, to return and live normally in their homes. Thus, on March 5, 1962, the Council of Ministers of this Russian autonomy adopted the Resolution “On limiting the registration of citizens in the Prigorodny District of the SO ASSR”; on September 28, 1990, a new anti-constitutional act was adopted: - Decree of the Supreme Council of the SO ASSR “On the temporary limitation of mechanical population growth by territory of the SO ASSR."
With the beginning of the so-called democratic reforms in the USSR, the Ingushes began to hope for a parliamentary way to solve their problems. These hopes intensified after the adoption by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 14, 1989 of the Declaration “On recognizing illegal and criminal repressive acts against peoples subjected to forced relocation and ensuring their rights.” Expectations for a fair solution to the issue of territorial and political rehabilitation stimulated the process of acquiring housing and settling the city of Vladikavkaz and the villages of the Prigorodny district with their indigenous inhabitants - the Ingush. The restrictive measures of the authorities were no longer able to contain it.
In response to this, the militarization of North Ossetia, the formation of legal and unconstitutional armed groups, and the general arming of the population occur. In North Ossetia, violence against the Ingush is spreading - illegal groups are taking part in it. The Russian authorities are inactive, which in the current situation amounts to complicity in a crime against their own citizens. On October 30, 1992, a large-scale pre-planned action against the peaceful Ingush population of the Prigorodny region and the city of Vladikavkaz began, as a result of which hundreds of Ingushes were brutally killed or disappeared. More than 70 thousand citizens of Ingush nationality have been expelled from their homes and have been living as refugees for three years now. Vladikavkaz is once again given over to Ossetia.
M.B. Muzhukhoev
Director of the Ingush Research Institute of Geology
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor.
July 4, 2016
Ingushetia is the smallest region of Russia by area. The length of the republic from north to south is 144 km, from west to east 72 km. The area covers about 4 thousand km². We drove across Ingushetia in literally an hour on the way from Chechnya, while driving around Magas and making a half-hour stop at the Memory Memorial near Nazran.
At the entrance to Magas we are greeted by 2 houses in an open field, in Russian realities a picture from the field of surrealism.
Magas is the new capital of the republic.
Magas is one of the few cities in the world in recent decades that were specifically founded as the capital. The first stone was laid in 1994, and since the end of December 2000, Magas has officially been the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia. The current population is about 6 thousand people, it is one of the 100 smallest cities in Russia.
From a distance you can see its main attraction - the Tower of Concord.
The name “Magas” was given to the new capital of Ingushetia based on the fact that, firstly, this was the name of the capital of ancient Alania, and secondly, the name “Magas” is of Ingush origin and is translated as “City of the Sun”.
The entrance to the city is protected by a barrier.
We drove through the streets, with administrative buildings at every step.
Science Library.
Walk of Sports Fame.
Accounts Chamber.
Bailiffs.
Judicial Department.
State Cadastre
Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic.
Government of the Republic of Ingushetia.
The administration of the head of the Republic of Ingushetia was, as it seemed, the most beautiful building.
Alley named after Akhmad Kadyrov.
City Hall of Magas.
In the center of the city stands the Tower of Concord, erected in 2013 in the style of a four-fold enlarged medieval Ingush tower. The height of the Tower of Concord is 100 meters, it is the tallest building in Ingushetia and the tallest observation tower in the North Caucasus.
Magas Market.
A memorial complex commemorating the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Ingush and Chechens was built a 5-minute drive between Magas and Nazran. It’s a very pleasant place, if you forget what it’s dedicated to. Do you have to remember the bad? It was impossible to just make a memorial to the glory of the Ingush people? For me, the combination of such things casts a shadow on the people themselves, and as you know, there are no bad nations, there are only bad people. The official opening of the memorial complex took place on June 9, 2012 and was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Ingushetia.
Bas-relief “The Entry of Ingushetia into Russia” with a memorial plaque “Oath Promise”, where the text of the oath of allegiance to Russia by representatives of the Ingush people is engraved.
Equestrian monument to the Ingush Regiment of the Wild Division.
The “Nine Towers” memorial in the form of assembled Ingush towers shackled with barbed wire, dedicated to the victims of repression and deportation of Ingush and Chechens to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It is the most majestic and main structure of the entire memorial complex. The central tower has 4 floors, its height is 25 meters. Each of the towers reflects the architecture of different historical eras of the Ingush people.
Colonnades, along one of which there are memorial plaques with the names of Ingush figures, including Patriarch Alexy II, S. Ordzhonikidze and others.
The monument to the last defender of the Brest Fortress, Lieutenant Umatgirey Artaganovich Barkhanoev, is not known for certain, but in the Caucasus it is believed that the last defender of the fortress was an Ingush. Eternal memory to the heroes!
MAGAS, city in the Russian Federation, capital of the Republic of Ingushetia. Population 10 thousand people (2002). Founded in 1999.
Among the completed buildings are the presidential palace and the administrative quarter.
The new capital of Ingushetia is located a few kilometers from the former capital - Nazran. According to Vainakh legends, it was founded in the 2nd century. n. e., was located on the territory of the modern Ingush villages of Aliyurt, Surkhai and Yandyrka and was an ancient fortress of fabulous heroes. In the Middle Ages, Magas (translated from Ingush as “City of the Sun”) was the capital of Alanya, but at the beginning of 1239 the city was razed to the ground by the troops of the Mongolian Batu Khan.
In 1994, on the supposed site of ancient Magas, construction began on the new capital of Ingushetia with the same name. The opening of the new capital took place on October 31, 1998. The dry bed of the Sunzha River runs through Magas. It is planned to fill the riverbed with water and create a park recreation area.
SUNZHA, river in the North. Caucasus, right tributary of the Terek. 278 km. The basin area is 12.2 thousand km2. Average water consumption approx. 86 m3/s. Used for irrigation.
NAZRAN, a city in the Russian Federation, Republic of Ingushetia, is located in the west of the Chechen Plain, 1916 km south of Moscow. Railroad station. Population 113.5 thousand people (2001). District center. City since 1967. The largest city in Ingushetia. Until 1999 the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia.
Cafe in Nazran.
The main industrial enterprises: Ingush Light Alloy Plant Vils LLC, Electric Tools Plant, Ingush Sewing Association Teimakh LLC, Concrete Plant CJSC, Nerudprom CJSC, printing plant, milling plant and other enterprises.
In the middle of the 19th century. referred to as the village of Nazran. With the abolition of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944, the village was included in North Ossetia and renamed Costa-Khetagurovo in honor of the Ossetian poet, founder of Ossetian literature K. L. Khetagurov (1859-1906). After the restoration of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1957, the village was returned to its original name Nazran.
MALGOBEK, in the Republic of Ingushetia, republican subordination, regional center, 110 km west of Grozny. Located in the Ciscaucasia, on the southern slope of the Tersky Range, 43 km south of the Mozdok railway station on the Prokhladnaya - Makhachkala line. Population 20.8 thousand people (1992; 20 thousand in 1979).
It arose in connection with the discovery of oil fields in 1933 on the site of the former Chechen farmsteads of Malgobek-balka and Chechen-balka. City - since 1939. Center of the oil field region; the extracted oil is pumped through oil pipelines to Grozny and further to Tuapse. Gas Processing Plant. Production of building materials; food industry enterprises. The city is mainly built up with multi-storey buildings from the 1940s to the 60s. Due to the lack of fresh water, M. is poorly landscaped.
Ingushetia is considered the smallest region of Russia: this small republic is literally sandwiched between North Ossetia and Chechnya, and its southern part borders on Georgia. The capital of Ingushetia, Magas, is a tiny city by country standards: only 6,000 people. The former capital, Nazran, still remains the largest city in the republic, but it is partially located on Ossetian territory.
Amazing mountain landscapes, fascinating nature and a rich cultural heritage could make Ingushetia very interesting for tourists, if not for the bad reputation that periodic military operations, threats of terrorist attacks, high crime rates, periodic riots in the streets and frightening poverty have created for the republic. However, in recent years the situation has been steadily changing for the better: 2015, for example, was declared the year of tourism in the republic.
The most famous cultural attractions of Ingushetia are the original stone buildings, for which the republic is sometimes called the “land of towers.”
How to get there
By plane from Moscow to Magas (the airport is located near Ordzhonikidzevskaya) or to Beslan airport in North Ossetia or Grozny in Chechnya. Another option is by train or bus from Moscow to Nazran, as well as by bus from Stavropol, Grozny and Nalchik, or by taxi from Vladikavkaz. Many people prefer to travel to Ingushetia in their own car, which is quite convenient: the roads here are quite decent.
Search for flights to the Republic of Ingushetia
A little history
The first people on the territory of the current republic appeared, according to archaeologists, in the Paleolithic era. At the end of the 18th century. Georgia joined Russia, and after it, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Ingush lands became part of the empire. In Soviet times, until the end of World War II, the territory of what is now Ingushetia was part of the Chechen-Ingush Republic, which in 1992 was divided into two separate federal subjects. In the same year, the notorious Ossetian-Ingush conflict flared up - the cause was a territorial dispute, which has still not found a satisfactory resolution for both sides. The situation is similar with the modern border between Ingushetia and Chechnya.
Tourist safety
Hiking tourists must register with the search and rescue service, reporting their planned route. In many territories, including in the Dzheirakh mountainous region, there is a border access regime. Passing it is not particularly difficult (but it will become faster and easier if you have with you any documents confirming your tourist goals - for example, a hotel reservation). Traveling by car in Ingushetia can generally be significantly slowed down due to passing through numerous checkpoints. On the other hand, this is not the biggest nuisance on the local roads, where it is generally better to “drive quietly”: local residents often drive recklessly for no reason.
Entertainment and attractions of Ingushetia
Ingushetia is a desperately poor region: only every second resident has a job, and a huge number of Ingush live in conditions incomprehensible to an inhabitant of an average metropolis. The main population of Ingushetia is concentrated mainly in the northern part of the republic, where larger cities are located. Nevertheless, the ancient villages in the south are the true heritage of the Ingush, and they are still inhabited by highlanders. The Republic's Tourism Committee is actively increasing the attractiveness of these areas for travelers by holding spectacular events here, opening hotels and building ski centers.
In 2013, the first ski resort “Armkhi” opened in Ingushetia. At an altitude of more than 1500 m, there are two ski slopes, a freeride area and a mountain biking track.
The most famous cultural attractions of Ingushetia are the original stone buildings, for which the republic is sometimes called the “land of towers.” The most ancient of them are the so-called Cyclopean structures, which were erected from giant stones without the use of mortar almost in the Neolithic era. But later buildings are also very interesting: in particular, these are numerous fortified ancestral towers. Wider residential and elongated military towers performed the same role as medieval feudal castles, and were built on the territory of the present republic until the 18th century. Until now, many towers have been preserved in mountain villages: in the famous Dzheirakh Gorge, in the village of Vovnushki (one of the seven wonders of Russia), in Metskhal, and especially numerous and picturesque ones in Erzi.
A very convenient and inexpensive way to travel around Ingushetia is by taxi. You just need to take into account that commitment and punctuality are not always among the virtues of local taxi drivers.
There are also several unique sanctuaries in Ingushetia that deserve a mandatory visit. First of all, the oldest Christian temple in Russia is Thaba-Erdy, built approximately in the 8th-9th century. True, the building was remodeled many times, and the current appearance of the church presumably dates back to the 14th-16th centuries. The temple was restored as much as possible, and today you can see here not only the original masonry, but even the ancient ornaments of the cornices and arches. Another unique sanctuary in Ingushetia is the Muslim mausoleum of Borga-Kash on the so-called Sheikh Mountain.
There are several environmental protection zones on the territory of the republic, where you can see not only amazingly beautiful landscapes and a variety of wild animals and birds, but also unique cultural monuments. For example, this is the Ingush reserve, where rare representatives of ungulates live, including bison. And especially remarkable is the young Erzi Nature Reserve, which houses one of the largest tower complexes in the republic.
Cuisine of Ingushetia
The basis of Ingush cuisine, like that of many peoples of the Caucasus, is meat (lamb, poultry) and dough. There are a great many varieties of dishes made from these two products; but if the story with meat is even more or less clear, then the names of flour dishes will probably not clarify anything for a Russian person. I'll have to try. The most famous are unleavened corn flatbreads, served with melted butter or curd and sour cream mixture, pumpkin pies khingalash, fermented baked flatbreads chepilgash with filling.
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