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Photos

  • Сентинский храм. Photography 1
  • Сентинский храм. Photography 2
  • Сентинский храм. Photography 3
  • Сентинский храм. Photography 4
  • Сентинский храм. Photography 5

Description

The Sentinsky Temple, also known as Synty Klisa in the Karachay-Balkar language, is a Christian temple built in 965 in the Alan Metropolitanate in the territory of modern Karachay-Cherkessia.

It is located on a spur of a mountain range on the left bank of the Teberda River, in the vicinity of the present village of Nizhnyaya Teberda (formerly Senty, in the Karachay-Balkar language Synty), approximately 18 kilometers south of the city of Karachaevsk. A construction inscription found on the northern wall of the eastern arm helped determine the exact date of construction of the temple. The inscription is made in black paint on white plaster and contains the date. The height of the letters varies from 1.3 to 2.8 cm, and in numbers from 2 to 6.8 cm. In the 19th century, an Orthodox women's monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior was built next to the temple, founded by nuns who made changes to the original appearance of the temple. During Soviet times, the monastery was turned into an orphanage, and now it is being restored.

Next to the Sentinsky temple there is a stone mausoleum, also dating from the 10th century and probably intended for the burial of high priests - a unique structure for the North Caucasus. The temple is single-domed and in plan is a cross with an apse adjacent to it from the east. The walls are built from well-worked sandstone using lime mortar. The supporting arches and window openings are made using plinth, which is typical for Alanian temples.

The temple includes three doorways: on the west, north and south, each with a semicircular light lunette at the top. Currently, the vestibules at the temple were built in 1897 on old foundations and are a reconstruction. On the facades of the temple, shallow carved stones are visible, used in the masonry a second time.

The Sentinsky temple stands out for its architectural simplicity and unique elements, which makes it an important monument on the cultural map of the North Caucasus.

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