North Zelenchuksky Church

The North Zelenchuksky Church is a cross-domed church built in the late 10th or early 11th century within the Nizhne-Arkhyz settlement, in the valley of the Bolshoy Zelenchuk River in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia. It is one of three surviving 10th-11th-century Zelenchuksky churches at the settlement, and the largest and most monumental medieval building in the North Caucasus.

History

The exact construction date is unknown: based on its architectural features the church is dated to the late 10th or early 11th century, and a bronze cross found in its narthex bears a date corresponding to 1066/1067 - one of the indirect pieces of evidence used for dating. According to one view, the North Church served as the cathedral of the Alanian diocese and the seat of its metropolitan bishop from the 10th to the 13th century; according to another, it was the principal church of a large monastery. Its closeness to monastic buildings and its distance from the city centre gave it a secluded, contemplative character. A necropolis with rich burials, including those of high clergy and secular figures of the time, surrounded the church.

Architecture

The church has a nine-bay plan with a three-part vima and three semicircular apses, and a two-tier narthex; its drum, about 21 metres high, is pierced by eight narrow windows, and four rectangular piers carry three-stepped arches. The exterior is almost without decoration apart from a dentilled cornice of plinfa (flat brick). Inside, wall benches, a two-stepped solea and a three-stepped synthronon in the central apse have survived. The church was plastered and painted, but its frescoes have almost entirely been lost; traces of the painting were still recorded in the 1960s.

Getting there

The church is part of the Nizhne-Arkhyz Historical, Architectural and Archaeological Complex, a federally protected open-air museum reserve covering about 100 hectares; the North Zelenchuksky Church is itself separately listed as a cultural heritage site of federal significance (reg. no. 091610441360036). The settlement lies by the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, about 25 km from the village of Arkhyz; the approach is by road to the reserve's checkpoint, then a short walk of several dozen metres to the site.