Karachayevsk

Town in Karachay-Cherkessia, rayon (sector) subordination, rayon centre, 60 km south-west of Cherkessk. Located in the Northern Caucasus, in the spurs of the Skalisty Ridge, on the Kuban River, at its confluence with the Teberda River, on the Sokhumi Military Highway, 45 km of the railway station of Dzheguta (terminal of the branch from the Armavir - Mineralny Vody line). Population (1992 est.) 21.6 thousand, (1979 est.) 19.2 thousand.

Founded in 1926-1927, town since 1929. Referred to as Mikoyan-Shahar till 1944, Kluhori in 1944-1957, Karachayevsk since 1957. Present Karachayevsk has a toolmaker, enterprises of food-processing industry, production of building materials. Pedagogical institute.

The city is divided into 3 districts: the central one lies between the rivers of the Kuban and the Teberda), the right-bank one stretches along the Kuban and the left-bank one along the Teberda; among constructions of the 1930-1940s, the S. Khalilov Cinema should be mentioned (the 1930s). House of Soviets (1940). Hero of the Soviet Union K. Bogatyryov Park (1966) with the Zelyony Theatre (1967).

To the north from Karachayevsk, there is an Ossetian village named after Kosta Khetagurov with a monument to the poet (1959, sculptor I.U. Dzanchiyev); near the village, on Mount Shoana, there is a Christian temple referred to as the Shoana one (the 10th century, a radial plan, consisting of four equal vaulted arms proceeding from a dome over their crossing, with 2 vestibules), St. George's Cell (the 19th century). Not far from the settlement of Ordzhonikidzevsky, there is the Caucasian Saddle-Points 1942 Defense Museum (architects V.V. Davitaya, A.Y. Chikovani). At the village of Khumara, there is an ancient settlement of Khumara (8-10th centuries), representing a plateau of more than 25 hectares, surrounded by a wall (traceable as fallen earthwork). To the south of Karachayevsk (15 km), there is the village of Nizhnyaya Teberda (former Senty), near which, on the left bank of the Teberda River, on one of the ledges of the ridge, skirting it, there is a Christian temple referred to as the Senty one (10th century, a radial plan, consisting of four equal vaulted arms proceeding from a dome over their crossing, remains of frescos), a mausoleum (10th century), the Saviour and Transfiguration monastery (end of the 19th century).