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286:, several towers were enclosed in a common wall to create a small fortress. Construction of military towers began in the 10th and 11th centuries, and peaked between the 14th and 17th centuries. Chechen and Ingush military towers are fairly similar, differing only in size and the construction time. Depending on their age, they differ also in the sophistication of construction techniques and stone dressing, and in the grace of form.
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273:-lined wooden chests or on wooden shelves along the walls. The older towers had no wardrobes; instead, clothes were hung on metal hooks. Other towers had niches on the walls for that purpose. There was usually an arrangement of weaponry on the wall above the master bed. It was a dire necessity in wartime, and mere tradition in peace.
198:(chisel), etc. Mortar was made on the site. Sand or clay was admixed to it in localities where lime was expensive. One of the master builder's most critical tasks was to estimate the proper amount of mortar to ensure the seismic resistance of the tower. Joints between stones were filled in with limewash for rain not to damage mortar.
305:
Beacon towers were erected on the top of cliffs to make them hard of access. The shape, size and site of a beacon was chosen so as to guarantee visual connection with the nearest beacons. Watchtowers were often built in strategic locations to control key bridges, roads and mountain passes. They were
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In the 13th–14th centuries, increased danger of aggression in certain parts of the Ingush and
Chechen mountains let to the reinforcement of residential towers. The result were buildings that combined the functions of residential and defensive towers; they were smaller in size than the former, but a
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The classical combat tower was not intended to withstand long sieges. Tower defenders had only a small stock of food and extremely limited arsenals, be it arrows, stone missiles or powder and shot in later times. Due to their small size, a watchtower or a beacon could house four to six on outsentry
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A majority of the military ("combat") towers in the Ingush and
Chechen mountains functioned both as watchtowers and as signalling beacons. Some served as fortified guard posts, or as safe shelters for one or two families, which lived in nearby residential towers, against raids. In some places, such
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The construction of a tower, whether residential or military, was accompanied by rituals. Songs and folk tales emphasize the role of the "master builder", who, according to tradition, would direct a group of assistants who did the actual work. Some of these masters had their names preserved—such as
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They had blank walls, cut only by embrasures and observation slits, on the most vulnerable side. There were no wooden parts on the tower exterior lest besiegers put them on fire. Doors and windows were on the side hardest of access. In some cases it is hard to believe that the defenders themselves
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The classic residential tower is a massive building, two to four stories high, with tapering walls and a flat shale roof. The floorplan is usually rectangular, measuring 8–10 by 8–12 meters. The tower tapered due to the walls getting thinner to the top, and due to their inward inclination. The
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These mixed-function towers are rare in the
Chechen highland, probably because tower complexes and castles had become widespread by the time this concept appeared. Whereas a tower had space for only a few cows and horses, a castle could give shelter to the entire livestock in wartime.
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Researchers differ in the functions of the various floors. Some assume that the ground floor was used for livestock, while others say it was a prison for captives. Actually it seems that the ground floor was filled in with stone and earth to reinforce the tower bottom against ramming.
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Cornerstones were included in the design, to join the walls together and to support the higher floors. Interior scaffolds used in erecting the walls probably rested on those cornerstones, in which corbels were made for the purpose. Stones and beams were lifted with a windlass known as
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The two lower stories of a residential tower were intended for livestock. Cattle and horses were usually sheltered in the ground floor, part of which was fenced off for grain storage. Some towers had pits on the ground floor for that purpose, with stone-lined walls and bottom.
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towers date from the 1st century AD, and can already be distinguished into residential and military types. Construction greatly increased in the 12th and 13th centuries. Nakh tower architecture and construction techniques reached their peak in the 15th–17th centuries.
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Combat towers were generally taller but narrower than residential ones: 20–25 meters high or more, with four of five floors and a square base 5–6 meters wide. They were built of dressed stone with lime or lime-sand mortar.
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on the outside for the master to reach the roof. It cost many masters their life. In case of success, the client gave the master a bull. The construction of a family tower cost the household 50 to 60 cows.
248:, in their turn, rested on the purlines. The upper floors consisted of wood sticks resting on the rafters, coated with punned clay. The ground floor was paved with boards or stone slabs.
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The family lived in the second floor above ground (or in the first, in three-story towers). The family possessions—carpets, dishes, kitchen utensils, clothes, etc.—were kept there, in
461:Щеблыкин И. П. Искусство ингушей в памятниках материальной культуры // Известия Ингушского научно-исследовательского института истории и культуры. Владикавказ, 1928. Вып. 1. Page 282.
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The walls were made of stones of varying sizes (blocks or slabs, depending on the local stone), carefully dressed on the outside, with lime or clay-lime mortar and chip stone. Dry
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Ivan
Shcheblykin claimed that the tower builders did not need any scaffolding, and many researchers make that assumption. However, he may have meant that they used no scaffolding
302:–overhanging small balconies without a floor. Defensive towers were usually crowned with pyramid-shaped roofing built in steps and topping with a sharpened capstone.
490:Марковин В.И. Памятники зодчества в горной Чечне. (по материалам исследований 1957–1965 гг.) // Северный Кавказ в древности и средние века. М., 1980. С.184–270.
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In towers with four stories, the first floor above ground was typically used to shelter sheep and goats. It had a separate entrance, reached by a log ramp.
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Residential towers were family dwellings, which have been compared to structures seen in prehistoric mountain settlements dating back to 8000 BC.
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could enter the tower. The entrance door was on the second floor, accessed through a ladder. The defenders fired at the enemy through
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also specialized in tower building. Legends ascribe to the master builder the honourable and extremely dangerous task of erecting the
182:. Large stones—some weighing several tons—were brought to the site by oxdriven sleds. The builders used many stonedressing tools—the
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built near to a river, brook or spring, so that water could be brought into the tower through a concealed water duct.
123:. The walls were inclined inwards and their thickness decreased on higher floors. The towers were built on hard rock.
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The towers had a central pillar, also of thoroughly dressed stone blocks, which supported the ceiling rafters.
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thickness of the walls varies in different structures from 1.2–0.9 m at the bottom to 0.7–0.5 m at the top.
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wide and 10 to 25 m high, depending on the function. The walls were built of stone blocks, possibly with
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330:("proud stone"). They bore the name of the owner, and were frequently decorated with petroglyphs.
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Chechen and Ingush combat towers divide in three basic groups according to the type of roof:
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date from the 3rd millennium BC. The oldest remains of buildings with the characteristics of
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stone that topped the step pyramidal roof of a military tower. A ladder was tied to a
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Vainakh towers used to be sparingly decorated with religious or good-wishing
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bit wider than the latter. Like the military towers, they had loopholes and
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The
Diversity of the Chechen Culture: From Historical Roots to the Present.
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duty. All combat tower stories were equipped for observation and fighting.
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Typical
Vainakh towers were built on a square base, ranging from 6 to 12
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Vovnushki tower complex, belonging to the Ingush clan Ozdoy (Ingushetia)
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The ground floor ceiling of the later, 15th–17th century towers was a
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Diskhi, associated in the local tradition to the military tower of
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Special attention was paid to the dressing and finishing of the
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Mixed purpose tower in the Armkhi valley (Ingushetia)
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Besides its structural function, the central pillar (
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62:Вайнахи Гlала архитектур/Вайнахи вовнийн архитектур
40:Ruins of the medieval settlement Erzi (Ingushetia)
244:rested on pilasters or cornerstones, and common
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214:) of residential tower in Haskali (Chechnya)
348:Flat roof towers crenellated on the corners
326:at the top of doors and windows, called
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138:, and Yand of the Ingush settlement
32:Ancient settlement in Hoy (Chechnya)
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87:The oldest fortifications in the
20:13th century military tower in
259:culture, since ancient times.
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1:
298:and the top of the tower had
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54:Вайнахи бӀаьвнийн архитектура
142:. Chechen villages, such as
428:Tower houses in the Balkans
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351:Step pyramidal roof towers
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46:Vainakh tower architecture
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194:(a small hammer), the
190:(a large hammer), the
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507:Medieval architecture
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356:Mixed function towers
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231:Large stone blocks
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438:Irish round tower
229:was seldom used.
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443:Himalayan Towers
345:Flat roof towers
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210:Central pillar (
100:General features
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284:Mount Bekhaila
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69:architecture
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24:(Ingushetia)
423:Svan towers
401:Tower house
375:mâchicoulis
313:, known as
311:false vault
128:petrographs
501:Categories
449:References
406:Khevsureti
253:erd-bogIam
212:erd-bogIam
77:Ingushetia
324:keystones
296:loopholes
176:chIagIarg
419:Svanetia
385:See also
242:Purlines
73:Chechnya
433:Nuraghi
414:Ananuri
410:Tusheti
328:kurtulg
257:Vainakh
246:rafters
227:masonry
180:zerazak
148:tsIurku
83:History
50:Chechen
22:Byalgan
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282:as at
188:varzap
144:Bavloi
121:mortar
58:Ingush
136:Vougi
475:ISBN
235:tons
196:daam
184:berg
140:Erzi
118:sand
114:clay
110:lime
93:Nakh
75:and
67:Nakh
44:The
377:).
271:tin
192:jau
178:or
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106:m
48:(
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