The city of the dead
I remember my excitement at the thought of going to the City of the dead, located in the Russian Caucasus Mountains. Having heard about this place from multiple sources, my imagination couldn't help but fantasize.
Death holds deep social, religious, and cultural significance in many cultures, but each approaches it differently: as an end, a new beginning, or a simple transformation. The religious meaning and relation toward death can be celebrated as notably as life itself, and even more seriously. For these reasons, I was deeply intrigued by this place located in southern Russia and the vibe emanating from it.
I will write more about this place and share my impressions at the end.
La Ville Des Morts
With amazement, I discovered this miniature city perched above the valley, emanating not fear, but a deep peace: wisdom that only the dead know.
This small, dead village in appearance seemed, after all, very much alive, as if it were yesterday. In the field, there were children running and families living under the same sun and blue sky.
Engraved on the entrance to the sanctuary was a sentence that, since being printed in my heart, remains in my memory as something like: "Remember, one day we were at your place.
These few words were filled with a deep meaning and a strong reminder that life comes and goes.
Death is a way to remember the value of life! Sometimes, we can take life for granted, and only a major event can wake us up to its beautiful and short reality.
A Unique Kind of City
The "City of the Dead" (Город мёртвых) is a late medieval Ossetian necropolis outside the village of Dargavs, located an hour by car (36 km southwest) from Vladikavkaz, among the ridges of the Caucasus Mountains in North Ossetia. It is considered one of many mysterious and dark tourist sites you can visit in Russia and the largest crypt burial ground in the North Caucasus, consisting of 99 crypts. The site is so well-preserved that it is estimated to date between the 12th and 16th centuries, with a rough estimate of around the 14th century.
The tombs and crypts are placed closely together on hills or mountainsides, although some crypts are located farther apart along the Gizeldon River.
Each structure is a family crypt where entire generations are buried.
In total, about 10,000 people are buried here.
The site includes a high stone watchtower overlooking the City of the Dead; it is the tallest tower in North Ossetia.
Some Specific Traditions
The crypts, made of stone blocks, have ridged, curved roofs that rise in a step-like fashion to a pointed peak at their center. The smaller crypts have flat sides at the front and back and curve inward on the sides, while the very smallest have no roofs whatsoever.
The small stone houses with pyramidal roofs are somewhat reminiscent of Japanese pagodas. There are also semi-underground and underground crypts. In the wall of each crypt, there is a small square hole through which the bodies of the dead were placed inside. Previously, it was locked with a wooden shutter, but now these shutters are gone, and you can look inside. There, mixed bones, preserved clothes, wooden coffins, and mummified remains lie. Due to the climatic conditions of the highlands and the windswept location of the necropolis on the rocky slope of the mountain, it was often not decomposition, but rather the mummification of bodies that occurred. The dead would be buried along with some of their belongings.
People often buried their families in small wooden "boats, a custom meant to enable the souls to cross the river after death between the two worlds. Each crypt has several tiers, and the bodies of the dead lie here in layers.
One burial can contain up to a hundred remains.
There are many myths and legends attached to this place, including how and why the tombs were built there.
One of these legends is that any man who dared to enter would never come out alive.
For this one reason, the locals almost never go there.
Evidence suggests that during a plague that swept through the area in the 18th Century, infected residents would quarantine themselves in the Crypts, with supplies of water and food to await their gruesome deaths.
It's the kind of place that you don't want to talk too much about, but where you need to be once in your life.
Like any experience in life, you can know everything about it, but until you do it for real, you never really know what will happen and how you will feel.
In this valley, there is an overwhelming feeling of emptiness and peace. I know that for many people, emptiness can feel scary, especially in the world in which we live today, with nonstop information overwhelming the brain. Emptiness is a powerful feeling, only in emptiness, you can watch yourself truly, the way you are. It is similar to returning to the origin, to this blank page where everything can start again: a new beginning, a new cycle.
We don't always realize that our lives are made of small and large cycles (from a year to three, to five, or nine...). We live once, but we die many times. Death, after all, is the end of a very significant one.
In ancient cultures, death was not seen as sadness, but as a celebration. This acknowledgment leads naturally to deep reflection on life, death, their meaning, their origin, and the expansion of all living beings.
Everything is ephemeral!
Learn to say goodbye and welcome the new hello.
