Meet the Circassian village of Kalezh on the Black Sea coast (+video)

Kalezh (Adyghe: Къалэжъ) is a Circassian village in the Lazarevsky District of the Sochi Municipality in Krasnodar Krai of the Circassian homeland. It is the administrative center of the Lygotkh Rural Okrug.

The village is located in the northern part of Greater Sochi, on the left bank of the Ashe River. It is 24 km north of the village of Lazarevskoye, 91 km northwest of Central Sochi, and 230 km south of Krasnodar.

It borders the settlements of Lygotkh to the south and Khadzhiko to the west. Large tracts of land—Chkhakiyap, Tsirgay, and Pkhazedaki—are located near the village.

Kalezh is located in the spurs of the Azhe Ridge. The terrain is mostly mountainous. The village is surrounded on all sides by ridges covered with dense mixed forest. The average elevation in the village is 275 meters above sea level. The highest point in the vicinity of the village is Mount Khunaget (532 meters). Other notable cliffs in the vicinity include Zhgeib (Old Men's Rock), Alibeev, and Chigept. There are several karst caves. The village has gray-forest soils with mountain chernozem.

The hydrographic network is represented primarily by the Ashe River. Just above the village, its main right tributary, the Bolshoy Nauzhi, flows into the Ashe. In the center of the village, the left tributary, the Anakopsy, flows into the Ashe. At the western edge of the village, the left tributary, the Tyakhtanepa, flows into it. In the upper reaches of the Ashe River valley are the Psydakh (Psedakh) and Shapsug waterfalls, as well as numerous rapids.

The village has a humid subtropical climate. The average annual temperature is approximately 13.2°C, with average July temperatures around 23.7°C and average January temperatures around 5.7°C. Average annual precipitation is approximately 1,350 mm. Most of the precipitation falls in the winter.

Etymology: "Kalezh" means "old city" in Adyghe, where "kale" means "city" and "zhy" means "old." The toponym is possibly related to a medieval fortification that once existed on the right, higher bank of the Ashe River, known to the Adyghe as Kalezhtam (Adyghe: "Kalezhtam" means "elevation of the old fortress"). The remains of this fortress still remain.

The entire Ashe River valley has been inhabited since ancient times. This is evidenced by both written sources and surviving traces of the economic activity of the region's indigenous population, such as the remains of residential foundations, fences, terraced fields, orchards that have become wild, as well as burial mounds from various periods, dolmens, and menhirs.

After the end of the Caucasian War in 1864, virtually the entire surviving local population was deported to the Ottoman Empire. The remaining Adyghe, who remained in hiding in the inaccessible mountainous and forested terrain, were persecuted and also deported either to the lower reaches of the Kuban or to the Ottoman Empire.

In 1865, one of the most violent clashes took place in the Nauzhin Valley between Russian troops combing the upper reaches of the Ashe River and its tributaries and the highlanders who continued to hide in the mountains. Captured Circassians were forcibly sent to the Ottoman Empire or assigned to the villages of the Shapsug Cossack Foot Coastal Battalion, founded along the seashore from Gelendzhik to Tuapse in 1864. From 1866 to 1874, similar missions were performed by troops of the Caucasian Line Battalions, stationed in the middle and upper basins of the main coastal rivers.

The current settlement was founded by the Imperial Decree of December 4, 1869, as the village of Aleksandrovskoye, Velyaminovsky District (Collected Resolution No. 47745), on the site of one of the battalion's companies.

In 1874, Russian battalions ceased pursuing the Circassians hiding in the mountains. The Circassians were allowed to settle in the mountainous region of the Black Sea coast. The village of Aleksandrovskoye began to accommodate the remnants of the free mountaineers, as well as Shapsugs who had returned from the village of Asretkhabl (now the village of Dakhovskaya).

By 1920, with the establishment of Soviet power, the village of Aleksandrovskoye was renamed Krasnoaleksandrovskoye in the Tuapse Okrug.

According to the census of April 26, 1923, the village of Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was listed as part of the Lazarevskaya Volost of the Tuapse District of the Chernomorsky Okrug of the Kuban-Chernomorsky Region.

In September 1924, the village of Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was transferred to the Shapsug National District of the North Caucasus Territory.

In 1925, the village of Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was divided into three parts: 1st Krasnoaleksandrovskoye (now Khadzhiko), 2nd Krasnoaleksandrovskoye (now Kalezh), and 3rd Krasnoaleksandrovskoye (now Lygotkh).

In 1945, with the abolition of the Shapsugsky District, the village of 2nd Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was incorporated into the Lazarevsky District.

In 1962, with the incorporation of the Lazarevsky District into the city of Sochi, the village of 2nd Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was transferred to the Tuapse District.

On January 12, 1965, the village of 2-ye Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was transferred from the Tuapse District to the Lazarevsky Intracity District of Sochi. At the same time, the village was elected the administrative center of the Krasnoaleksandrovsky Rural Okrug (now the Lygotkhsky Rural Okrug) of Sochi.

In 1985, the 3rd Krasnoaleksandrovsky Aul was incorporated into the 2nd Krasnoaleksandrovsky Aul. In 1992, the 3rd Krasnoaleksandrovsky Aul regained its status as a separate settlement.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation dated March 1, 1993, the village of 2-ye Krasnoaleksandrovskoye was renamed the Aul of Kalezh.

According to our data, the village currently has a population of approximately 500.

Before the establishment of Soviet power, the village had one mosque. The mosque was made of wood. Because it lacked a minaret, the adhan was recited from a tower located next to the mosque.

In the early 1930s, with the onset of atheist policies in the USSR, the mosque was closed and later converted into a club. The building no longer exists.

Infrastructure - There is a community center in the village. The nearest school, kindergarten, and hospital are located in the village of Khadzhiko.

Attractions - The Ashe dolmen groups, like all dolmens in the Western Caucasus, are poorly studied, virtually unprotected, and suffer from vandalism.

Witches' Cave - currently flooded by groundwater. According to some accounts, the second exit from the cave was located near the village of Bolshoye Pseushkho, 12 km from the first entrance.

Old Men's Rock - According to Nart legends of the Adyghe, infirm elderly residents were once thrown from it into the abyss.

Pkhazedaki, Chkhakiyap, and Tsirgay tracts.

Psydakh and Shapsug Waterfalls.

Economy - As in other settlements in the mountainous area of Sochi, gardening, beekeeping, and viticulture play a major role in the village's economy. The Old Circassian Gardens, abandoned and overgrown since the Caucasian War, remain in the mountains.

Hiking trips to the surrounding mountains, waterfalls, gorges, and gorges are popular. Ancient dolmens and menhirs located throughout the village are also frequently visited.

Streets: Adygekhabl, Lygotkh, Nasyp, Teuchezh, Ubykh.

Note: We translated this article using Google Translate.