Arkhyz

Arkhyz occupies a high basin in the western Caucasus, where the cold, glacier-fed Bolshoy Zelenchuk and its tributaries drain a ring of ridges and glaciers. The valley floor lies around 1,450 metres above the sea, while surrounding peaks include Pshish and Sofia above 3,600 metres. Forests cover lower slopes, and mountain passes connect the basin with neighboring valleys.

The site is best known for the medieval remains of Nizhny Arkhyz. Three stone churches stand near a settlement tentatively identified with the capital of Christian Alania, called Maʿas or Maghas by al-Masʿudi. The North Church probably served the Alanian diocese from the tenth through thirteenth centuries; its dome rose 21 metres above a western wall twice that length.

Alania controlled routes across the northern Caucasus until Mongol forces under Möngke destroyed its power in the thirteenth century. The churches remained as landmarks for later mountain communities and travelers. During the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries sheep herding, forest work and movement through high passes defined the basin, while the medieval churches preserved the memory of a Christian kingdom in the mountains.