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10 Best place to visit in Karachayevsk Russia

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Caucasus. Shoana Church. 10th Century. Virtual Walking Tour. Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

This temple was built in the 10 century and stands at the very top of an impregnable cliff above a spacious river valley. The ringing of his bell is carried through the gorges, shaking the clouds. Climbing here one day you will be amazed by the views of landscapes, the beauty and conciseness of the walls. You can even ring the bell. And I also lead tours here, as part of four-day tours to Dombay with Welcome!

GUIDE:
0:00 - Intro/Trailer
1:05 - Fly camera view
2:56 - Former living quarters
3:30 - Stairway to the Church
3:55 - Walls
4:26 - Inside the Church
5:30 - Door to nowhere
6:22 - Bell tower

The Shoana church (Russian: Шоанинский храм, Ossetian: Суаны Уастырджы) is a Christian church that belongs to the historical Alanian Diocese. The church was built at the end of the tenth century, and is located on the territory of modern Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, Russia. The building has a crossed-dome plan, with an inscribed cross, which is a variation of the North Zelenchuk Church.

The church is located on the southeastern spur of Mount Shoan, on the left bank of the Kuban river, in a strategically important place not far from confluence of the two rivers: Kuban and Teberda (Russian: Теберда). The church is located 7 km to the north from the city of Karachayevsk (Russian: Карачаевск), above the Ossetian village named after Kosta Khetagurov.

The church is constructed according to the Byzantine architectural tradition. It has three apses, which are a little bit narrower than naves (of which there are also three). It is a cross-domed building with four square pillars bearing three-stage arches and a cupola. The length of the building from west to east is 12.9 m., The height is equal to the length, the width along the western facade is 8.9 m. The church has two closed vaulted narthexes at the northern and southern end. It is not clear what was the original form of the roof. At the moment, there is a restored gable roof, but there is a theory about the original roof tiles being rested on semi-circular zacomari-gables. The tholobate is octahedral and has eight windows, each side of the tholobate is ended with the archivolt overhang on consoles rested on the corners. Modern tholobate being milti-faced does not rely on any scientific evidence. The plinthite, which is traditional for Georgian and Byzantine buildings, is used only in the arches. The rest of the building is composed of sandstone-with-lime blocks of rough processing, with a butoconcrete filling inside the wall. The windows are crowned not with an arch of plinthite, but with a stone with a semi-circular finish carved in it. Numerous holes for scaffolding are visible in the masonry, and in the hole in the western part of the southern wall there is even a piece of wood that the builders could not remove and just saw it off. For the construction of the church powerful substructions were required. The facade decor of the church is very modest: there is a cornice made of stone tiles, plinthite stones on the drum and stone cornice above some the windows. Outside the church was covered with a thin layer of plastering (can be seen in the voids between some stone tiles), and inside it was plastered and decorated with ornaments.

I like to travel, explore the world and the elements. Look behind the scenes of cities and face the wind and freedom in the wild. I love what I see and feel when I'm on the road. And I would like to share this with those who are also close to the voice of the road and an active lifestyle.
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