Among the city-museums of Russia, Derbent stands out for its authentic oriental flavor, internal power and millennia of history. The appearance of the "pearl" of Dagestan is characterized by grandiose defensive structures dating back to the time when it was a mighty fortress that locked the passage along the Caspian coast. The multi-kilometer double Derbent wall, fortified by the Naryn-Kala fortress, blocked the path of the “barbarians” of the north aspiring to the rich south.
From the heights of the mountains
From the height of the Jalgan Range, Derbent seems to be a narrow white ribbon stretching between the blue wall of the sea and the green crest of the mountains. Starting at the sea with a fairly wide strip of buildings and gardens, the city, gradually rising to the mountain, shrinks into the clear frames of parallel walls and abuts against the steep rise of one of the spurs of the Dzhalgan Range.
Here, on a rock, near the mouth of a deep gorge that cuts into the mountain, the gray walls of the citadel dominate, which dominates the flat roofs and a network of curved lanes located below the ancient city. The Derbent wall in Derbent looks especially majestic from above, the photo of which impresses with the scale of construction of architects of antiquity.
World Heritage
Having strengthened here one and a half thousand years ago, the Sassanian Iran, and then the Arab caliphate, not only withstood the onslaught of powerful associations of steppe nomads, but also extended their power and influence to the entire eastern Caucasus. Surprisingly, the Derbent wall - the double wall of the Sassanid times - survived dozens of wars, partially preserved.
Archaeological studies show that in such an important strategic place, regular settlements existed as far back as 6,000 years ago. This fact allows Derbent to be considered the oldest Russian city and one of the oldest in the world. 2003 was a landmark year for the city: UNESCO experts recognized the citadel as a World Cultural Heritage site, as one of the best preserved monuments of the fortification architecture of the ancient Persians.
Location
Ancient Derbent was entirely placed between two long walls stretching in parallel, not far from one another, across the passage between the sea and mountains. One of the long defensive walls of Derbent, the northern one, has survived almost throughout its entire length and still forms the northern border of the city.
The southern Derbent wall, parallel to the first, was preserved only along the upper or western part of the city and in small sections in other places. Its destruction began after the Russian conquest, when the growing lower part of the city of the European type, not fit into the ancient borders, began to expand to the south. The citadel, which is not built up with modern buildings, is best preserved.
Offshore section
Ancient travelers were especially struck by sections of walls that went into the Caspian and disappeared into the deep sea. The historian Lev Gumilyov was one of the first to study this phenomenon and find out that the reason for this is significant fluctuations in the level of the Caspian. In ancient times, the Derbent wall in Derbent concealed from the land the port, now flooded.
Today, only ridges of stones traced on the seabed are left of the walls that protruded into the sea. Properly laid hewn blocks are clearly visible under water with a calm sea surface.
Description
The name of the Naryn-Kala defensive complex (citadel and Derbent wall) means “narrow gate”. Indeed, here the Caucasus Mountains approach the Caspian Sea most closely , forming a narrow “neck”, the movement through which is easy to control. The length of the structure is approximately 1300 m within the city. The mountainous part of the wall, like the Great Chinese, stretches deep into the Caucasus for 42 km.
The thickness of the surviving walls of Derbent reaches 4 m, and in places it reaches 18–20 m in places. A serrated parapet has been preserved in some sections of the walls. Throughout its length, the walls are divided by more or less often located tower ledges of a rectangular or semicircular shape, sometimes, and in the citadel constantly, of continuous masonry. In the most defensively important places, the tower ledges expand to the size of forts. Wide stairs led from the inside to the walls, along which the garrison rose to repel enemies.
North gate
The most decorative part of the Derbent structures are the gates. According to Arab writers in ancient Derbent, there were only three gates in the northern, Khazar, most threatened militarily wall. They have survived to the present. One of them is the gate located near the citadel. The road from them leads into a deep gorge, enveloping the fortress from the northwest. They are called Djarchi-kapi - the gates of the messenger.
In their decorative design, the Kirchlyar gates are very interesting - the Kirhlyar-kapy, named after the ancient cemetery located near them, according to legend, which includes the graves of the first Muslims in these parts. On the sides of the portal span outside, the capital and two sculptural images of lions are preserved. The third gate, Shurinsky, apparently shifted in later times. In fact, the northern Derbent wall means the border between the then nomadic north and the agricultural south.
South gate
In the southern wall facing the Muslim countries, according to Arab writers, there were many gates. Despite the insignificant extent of the preserved part of this wall, four gates have survived here. Some at the top of the citadel - Kala-kapy - are now completely destroyed, others - Bayat-kapy, located near the rise to the citadel - although they are flanked by ancient round towers, they themselves are greatly rebuilt.
The most interesting are the third gates of the southern wall - Horta Kapa, located between the quadrangular towers and consisting of two successive spans. The first span outside is decorated in the form of three lancet arches separated by two round columns with quadrangular low capitals decorated with stalactites. Here, the Derbent wall is decorated with small side arches, over which stalactites are placed - decorative arkaturs, arranged in three rows in the form of a stepped triangle.
The second span is of a completely different type, rectangular, covered by a horizontal flat arch resting on profiled cornices. Above this vault there is a high arc unloading arch with a blind rest. Above is a sculptural image of a lion protruding from the wall, standing in front on a special bracket and executed (as well as the sculptures of the Kirchlar Gate) in a very generalized and schematic manner.
Two massive pylons with traces of an arch thrown between them survived from the fourth gate of the southern steppe, located in the lower city and called Dubara-kapa. In addition, there are two gates in the citadel: the east, located in a rectangular tower and bearing traces of numerous alterations, and the west, flanked by two towers.
Other attractions
Derbent wall and the citadel are not the only antiquities of the city. In the fortress there are ruins of numerous buildings for various purposes. Particularly interesting:
- The colossal tank located here, cut down in the rock and covered with a dome on four supporting lancet arches.
- The ruins of the baths are interesting, where even before 1936 one of the domes of the same type as the above-mentioned tank was intact.
- On both long sides of Derbent there are vast cemeteries with a whole forest of stone gravestones.
The city also has a number of ancient buildings, mosques, fountains, ponds, minarets. The most remarkable and grandiose construction is the cathedral mosque, whose green dome rises above the flat roofs of the upper part of modern Derbent, along with the mighty crowns of the century-old plane trees growing in the courtyard of the mosque.