Vainakh medieval towers

The Nakh (or Vainakh) medieval towers were a characteristic feature of medieval architecture of the Nakh peoples in Chechenya and Ingushetia, with few parallels outside that region. Some towers were used as dwellings, others had a military purpose; some combined both functions.

The roots of Nakh tower architecture seem to be very ancient. Similar dwellings were built in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC by the Hurrians and Urartians, believed to be close relative to the Nakh peoples. According to a Roman author of the 1st century BC, the people of Colchis on the west shores of the Black Sea, also connected to the Nakh, lived in log towers with square foundation, tapering walls and pyramidal roofs. The invariably square floorplan of the Nakh towers contrasts with the round towers built by peoples south of the Caucasus.

The oldest fortifications in the Nakh area date from the 3rd millennium BC. The oldest remains of buildings with the characteristics of Nakh towers date from the 1st century AD, and can already be distinguished into residential and military types. Construction greatly increased in the 12th and 13th centuries. Nakh tower architecture and construction techniques reached their peak in the 15th–17th centuries.

Typical Vainakh towers were built on a square base, ranging from 6 to 12 m wide and 10 to 25 m high, depending on the function. The walls were built of stone blocks, possibly with lime, clay-lime, or lime-sand mortar. The walls were inclined inwards and their thickness decreased on higher floors. The towers were built on hard rock.

Vainakh towers used to be sparingly decorated with religious or good-wishing petrographs, such as solar signs or depictions of the author’s hands, animals, etc.. Defensive towers often bore a Golgopha cross.

The construction of a tower, whether residential or military, was accompanied by rituals. Songs and folk tales emphasise the role of the "master builder", who, according to tradition, would direct a group of assistants who did the actual work. Some of these masters had their names preserved—such as Diskhi, associated in the local tradition to the military tower of Vougi. Some Chechen villages, such as Bavloi, specialized in tower building. Legends ascribe to the master builder the honourable and extremely dangerous task of erecting the tsIurku stone that topped the step pyramidal roof of a military tower. A ladder was tied to a machicolation on the outside for the master to reach the roof. It cost many masters their life. In case of success, the client gave the master a bull. The construction of a family tower cost the household 50 to 60 cows.

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