Mamiya Kala

Mamiya-Kala is a stone watchtower at Khurzuk, high in the upper Kuban country of the western Caucasus. Dated to the thirteenth or fourteenth century, it belongs to a tradition of mountain defensive towers built to watch over settlements and their approaches. The village lies amid the steep slopes and valleys of Karachay, where stone and timber provided materials for local buildings. The tower's heavy masonry has endured for centuries above the mountain settlement.