Zagatali

Zagatala

Zagatala is a beautiful green city with spacious cobbled and paved streets lined with majestic plane trees. Most of the buildings are clean one-story houses with tiled roofs, but there are many modern three- and four-story buildings in the city. All houses in the city are built of local river stone and burnt brick, they are painted standardly and are very similar to houses in the provinces of Western Europe. It was unique in its diversity of peoples and ethnic groups living in it - Avars, Lezghins, Tsakhurs, Udins, Russians, Tatars, Ingiloys and many even smaller tribes, have been living here peacefully here along with Azerbaijanis for many centuries. In Zagatala there is where to relax. Especially good are the urban suburbs at the end of summer. The Talachaya floodplain saturated with river silt is a fertile environment for subtropical crops - tea and palm. Everywhere orchards of hazelnuts, walnuts, apple trees, dogwood, medlar, persimmons. And among the total fruit kingdom, solitary trees rise, humbled by spiky balls similar to green hedgehogs. These outlandish fruits are nothing but ripe chestnuts. The left bank of the Talachaya, which is outside the city, in contrast to the right, is more gentle.

                                        Plane Tree Alley

The city center is extremely busy with a picturesque square with dense centuries-old trees, a plane-tree alley is a number of very ancient plane trees, some of which are more than 700 years old. These trees, being witnesses of many historical events, with all their appearance show an example of Caucasian longevity and wisdom. Here, in a plane-tree grove, there was also a mosque, destroyed during the Soviet era, and built in the XIXth century the church is preserved. İt is true that it is not in its original, but very picturesque form. On the right side of the square grows the famous huge plane tree, which is 700-800 years old. The plane tree  is protected by the state as a natural monument, it is huge, several girths thick. The plane tree is surrounded by a circular bench. I have never seen such a tree! One of the most favorite leisure parks is named after Heydar Aliyev. It covers an area of ​​12 hectares, 27 species of trees are planted there.

From here begins a wide stone staircase, the darkness of the staircase (Galaduzyu Stairs), leading to a small plateau where the ruins of the Shamil fortress rise. After the revolution of 1905, the legendary Potemkins were imprisoned here.

 

It gives the city charm and connects the Galaduzyu housing estate, Zagatala fortress with the Heydar Aliyev Park of Culture and Rest.

Zagatala Fortress

Fortress walls. In 1830 a fortress was built under the name New Zagatala, and twenty years later (1851) it was given the status of a city. There are quite a few ancient buildings on the territory. There are warehouses and barracks.

Village of Yukhary Chardakhlar

Yukhary Chardakhlar is a village located in the Zagatala region of Azerbaijan. Avars and Tsakhurs live in the village. According to the legends recorded by the Avars of the village of Yukhary Chardakhlar, their ancestors came here several generations ago from the village of Tarysan (in the modern Rutul district of the Republic of Dagestan there are ruins of this village), later residents of another Dagestan village - Kusur began to move to the village.

The ancestors of the Tsakhurs settled in the village of Yukhary Chardakhlar later than the Avars. They appeared from the villages of Micheles and Muslach in the Rutul region, for the most part after the 1917 revolution. By the beginning of the 80s, Avars and tsakhurs in Yukhary Chardahlar did not live quarterly, but mixed. The communication language of the Avars and Tsakhurs among themselves is Azerbaijani, and the Tsakhurs had knowledge of the Avar language

Peri Gala

Peri Qala - Peri Fortress - is a fortress located 300 meters from the village of Yukhary Chardakhlar in Zagatala region on the steep part of the mountain, at an altitude of 150-200 meters from the land of Azerbaijan. It was built, according to some sources, in the IIIrd – IVth centuries, according to others, in the XII – XIIIth centuries or at the end of the XIVth century. The total area of ​​the fortress is about 30 square meters. In order to get to the fortress there was a path carved from a rock 1-1,5 meters wide, the remains of which have survived to this day. The trail leading to the fortress is impassable and makes the fortress practically inaccessible. According to historian Muhammad Hajiakhmedov, the fortress, according to legend, was built during the Sassanids in the IV – Vth centuries. Unlike other fortresses located on the territory of Azerbaijan, Peri fortress is different in that it is carved inside the mountain.

Zagatala Reserve

North of Zagatala, the Zagatala Nature Reserve, established in 1929, stretches over an area of ​​253 square km. Most of its territory is covered by forests. Beech forests are especially good in the reserve. The height of individual trees reaches 30-35 m, and the diameter of the trunks - up to 1,5 m. There are many trees under the age of 200 years. Mighty centuries-old lindens and elms are also found in the reserve. On steep rocky slopes, screes and river terraces, pine grows.

The fauna of the reserve is rich in ungulates, predators, rodents and birds. The scientific and practical significance of the Zagatala Reserve is great. The reserve also works on the cultivation of ginseng, the root of which is called the root of life and longevity. It has extraordinary healing properties and. is increasingly used in medicine. The beauty and originality of nature, favorable climatic conditions make the Zagatala Reserve one of the rarest corners of the country.