This is a watchtower in Tiba, one of the oldest villages in North Ossetia. Such towers were built by local residents to defend against raiders, and they also stored water and food. In 1783, 210 families lived here, but today the area is home no more than 20 mountain dwellers.
Back in Soviet times, this ruined building was earmarked as a sanatorium. Construction was frozen in the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR, and has yet to resume, although plans still exist to revive it.
A view of Kurtat Gorge. In the early Middle Ages, this was a densely populated area traversed by the ancient caravan route through Transcaucasia. Today it is a popular tourist destination.
Cows and calves are a permanent fixture in mountain settlements. In the residential village of Fiagdon, they calmly cross the road to reach the grassland. Towards evening, they return by themselves to their owners for milking.
The beauty of the former mountain settlement Verkhny Mizur is reachable only by car, even for locals.
The landscapes of Verkhny Mizur have long been a place where children from the neighboring village of Nizhny Mizur play war games. True, getting to the “battlefield” is not easy and takes at least 1.5 hours.
In April, the trees in Ossetia are in full bloom, including those by the chapel at the entrance to Kurtat Gorge. It was funded and built by residents of the village of Dzuarikau several years ago.
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, founded and sanctified in 1814-1815, is one of the few where services are still held in the native Ossetian language. For this reason, as well as its location in the Ossetian Slobodka district, it was known among the people simply as the Ossetian church.
This monument to General Issa Pliyev, a Soviet military commander and two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, was erected in 1997. It wasn't long before the statue was nicknamed Batman for the felt cloak fluttering like wings around the superhero's shoulders. Today, Ossetians often arrange meetings and dates “by Batman.”
Ossetians who live on the outskirts of Kurtat Gorge mostly earn a crust through renting houses and cottages to tourists. At the same time, almost every year new hotels open up right in the heart of the mountains, bringing the postcard views even closer.
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