Participants of the project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" will help in the restoration of monuments

Assistance in the restoration will be provided by the participants of the youth project of interethnic harmony “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus” - 2017. Students from various Russian universities will help professional restorers. Until now, specialists from other cities were invited to carry out restoration in the mountainous Ingushetia, but this time the local company Teplokomhars took up the work.

The course of restoration work is supervised by the Dzheirakhsko-Assy Historical-Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve. Its director, Magomed Kharsiev, declined to name the exact cost of the project.

We had an agreement with the sponsor not to disclose his identity and the amount allocated to him. The philanthropist wants to keep his act anonymous. But we are talking about funds no less than two tens of millions of rubles. Students will provide significant assistance to local restorers within the framework of the project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus. They will do support work. Last year we restored the Khamkhi tower complex. Then local and non-resident students also took part in the restoration work, - said Magomed Kharsiev.

According to him, thanks to philanthropic funding this year, restoration will begin on the territory of another tower complex - Khart.

Future historian, student of the Ingush State University Khamzat Guliyev for the second time becomes a participant in the project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus. On his personal experience of participation, he was convinced that the goal of the project was successfully achieved.

The project is aimed at rapprochement of peoples, interethnic dialogue, in order to jointly help in the restoration of ancient monuments. Last year it covered only two regions - Ingushetia and North Ossetia. This year, students will help in restoration work in eight regions - six republics of the North Caucasus, Adygea and South Ossetia. Thanks to the project, stereotypes about the Caucasus are broken among young people from other regions of Russia, they get the opportunity to get to know the culture of the Caucasian peoples better, - said the project participant.

The project is implemented in an interesting format - international student groups replace each other. Student exchange is carried out between two Caucasian regions. Half of them are students of Moscow universities and the remaining half are university students from the regions participating in the project. Last year, 15 students participated in the project, and this year there were even more.

Khamzat Guliyev notes that thanks to the project he has made new fellow students of other nationalities.

Every year the project promises to gain more and more scope. As far as I know, territorial expansion is also planned, with further coverage of central Russia. Already this month, restoration work will begin on the Duhargisht tower complex. They will help in the restoration of ancient monuments also in Kabardino-Balkaria. We, students, help specialists with auxiliary work. Most often we are talking about the work of a mason's assistant. I myself know how to lay bricks, but only restorers are allowed to do such work,” says Khamzat Guliyev.

In the project, the Ingush student is attracted not only by interethnic dialogue, but also by the opportunity to contribute to the restoration of ancient cultural and historical monuments.

The tournament "Battle in the mountains" held the day before was held not far from the "Khamkhi" complex. And people really noticed the transformation on the towers. They visited the complex and noted that it became very beautiful. I am pleased to know that I also participated in this transformation. Still, without the preservation of our monuments, we have no future, - concluded Khamzat Guliyev.

Events within the framework of the youth project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" will be held in the republics of the North Caucasus, Adygea and South Ossetia from July 29 to August 14 this year. The start will be given on July 28 in Moscow, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center near the Friendship Fountain. The official closing ceremony will take place on the platform of the Mashuk-2017 forum, where the project will be officially presented. Each youth group consists of 20 people - 10 students from Moscow universities and 10 students from the two republics participating in the project. In the regional pair with Ingushetia this year was Kabardino-Balkaria.

The Duhargisht tower complex is located on the southern slope of the Mat-loam (Table Mountain) mountain range. The total area of ​​buildings with defensive walls is 6 thousand square meters. m. Duhargisht consisted of one semi-combat and four residential towers. Its construction began in the 11th-12th centuries. At this time, a significant part of the ensemble has been preserved, but the architectural structures are in a dilapidated state.

From July 28 to August 14, 2017, a youth project of interethnic harmony “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus / Culture of the Caucasus "-2017. The slogan of the project is “Towards the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi”, the motto is “Preserving the heritage. Bringing the nations together!
Forty students from Moscow universities will go to the Caucasus, where they will meet with the same number of local peers. Under the supervision of specialists, all together they will take part in auxiliary work to preserve the Caucasian historical and cultural monuments: signal, combat and residential towers, fortresses and structures. The planned types of work do not require special permits.
Participants: instructors from the All-Russian Student Corps of Rescuers and student volunteers from the State University of Management (GUU), Moscow Technological University (MIREA), Russian University of Cooperation (RUK), as well as young people from 8 republics of the Caucasus. The operator of the project is the charitable foundation for helping children “Warm with kindness”. Organizers: creative association "Beacons of Friendship", Centrosoyuz of the Russian Federation, State University of Management (GUU).
"Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus/Culture of the Caucasus"-2017
In 2017 “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus/Culture of the Caucasus” will be held in the territories of 8 republics. The organizers formed four regional couples and four international groups: 1) Dagestan - South Ossetia, the Highlanders group. 2) Chechnya - Karachay-Cherkessia, group "Dzhigits" 3) Ingushetia - Kabardino-Balkaria, group "Kunaki", 4) North Ossetia-Alania - Adygea, group "Eagles". Each group consists of 20 people: 10 representatives from Moscow universities and 5 from each republic.
The first shift of the project is from July 30 to August 6 in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania. The second shift from August 6 to 13 in South Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea.
Work objects. In Dagestan, the guys will work at the Preobrazhensky redoubts and the Munin signal-watch tower of the Botlikh region of the republic. In South Ossetia-Alania in the Dzaussky district on the tower complex of the Taymazovs. In the Cheberloevsky district of Chechnya, on the fortress and tower "Kezenoy", as well as in the abandoned village of guards Khoy. In Karachay-Cherkessia, the object of work will be the ancient Alanian astronomical observatory in Nizhny Arkhyz. In Ingushetia, volunteers will work at the Duhargisht tower complex in the Dzheirakhsky district. In Kabardino-Balkaria on the defensive towers of the Cherek gorge Abai-Kala and Malkar-Kala. In the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, work will take place on the Mostiev tower and in the mountain house of travelers in the village of Stur-Digora, where the famous adventure film "Chermen" was filmed, and in Adygea on Khadzhokhsky and nearby dolmens.

All work, as a rule, will take place in the first half of the day, and in the second half of the day, the project participants will have cultural and educational events organized by local authorities. Volunteers will be introduced to the national characteristics of the Caucasian republics, sights, and interesting people.
According to the terms of the project, all its participants must keep open electronic diaries-notes on a special website (http://nashibashni.ru), in which volunteers will reflect the most interesting and vivid events of the day, share personal impressions.
Pilot project
In August 2016, the pilot project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" was successfully implemented in the republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania.
International groups lived in shifts in both republics, where, under the supervision of specialists, they participated in auxiliary work to preserve the towers, studied the local history and cultural characteristics of the regions. Students made daily electronic records, photo and video reports (more details can be found here: http://2016.nashibashni.ru/).
Pilot project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" became a nominee for the international award of the Russian Geographical Society - an award in the field of national geography, ecology, conservation and promotion of the natural, historical and cultural heritage of Russia.
Thanks to the successful implementation of the pilot project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus/Culture of the Caucasus"-2017 received state support in the form of a Presidential grant as a socially significant project.
July 20, 2017 youth cultural and historical project of interethnic harmony “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus/Culture of the Caucasus”-2017 was presented to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations in Yoshkar-Ola.
Solemn start of the project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus/Culture of the Caucasus 2017 on July 28 in the Hermitage Garden in Moscow, the official opening ceremony will be held in Pyatigorsk on July 30.

Project author: Gusarov Ruslan Vladimirovich - journalist, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, academician of the International Academy of Television and Radio (IATR), expert of the Moscow Caucasian Club, head of the Creative Association "Beacons of Friendship".

Nomination:"Education and enlightenment".

From August 5 to 16, 2016, the first Interethnic youth cultural and historical project "Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" was held in the territories of the republics of Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania and in the Stavropol Territory. The slogan of the project: "Towards the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students Sochi-2017!". The project participants are students of Moscow universities, as well as universities of the republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania. For 12 days, on a voluntary basis, students conducted auxiliary work in the mountains of Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania to restore ancient family towers - objects of the cultural and historical heritage of the Russian Federation.

Project geography: Moscow, Republic of Ingushetia, Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, Stavropol Territory.

Objective of the project: interethnic (strengthening interethnic ties and friendship between the peoples of Russia, subjects of the Russian Federation and neighboring states in the Caucasus, acquaintance of young people with the historical heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation, their culture and traditions), historical and architectural (making a practical contribution to the process of restoring the towers, drawing attention to the problems preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Caucasus, the Russian Federation), tourism (drawing attention to watchtowers, battle and family towers as objects of tourism, sights and one of the important and recognizable symbols of the North Caucasus, as well as to the tourism opportunities of the Russian Federation), environmental (promotion the growth of the ecological culture of society, the popularization of environmental activities, the promotion of a responsible attitude towards nature and man, the holding of environmental events).

Results:

According to experts, Moscow and local students during their stay in Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania, two-shift consecutive work on the family towers of both republics provided tangible practical assistance in preserving cultural and historical heritage sites, showed the best human and moral and psychological qualities, learned more about the traditions and cultures of the peoples of Russia, established and strengthened friendly relations among themselves, contributed in every possible way to the development of a favorable climate in the field of interethnic relations in neighboring regions. The international detachment of students consisted of two groups - "Highlander" and "Dzhigit", working in shifts in each of the republics. At the same time, students of the national republics, according to the terms of the project, were the "host" and acted as "hosts". As a result, in practice, the main motto of the project is "Help, learn, tell. Be friends!" was implemented as follows: in the first half of the day - work on tower objects, in the second - excursions, informative lectures and various actions, in the evening - writing diaries and posting them on the project website. The final chord of the project "Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" was its official presentation on August 16 at the youth forum "Mashuk-2016" in Pyatigorsk.

Information support of the project was carried out on the website "Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus" (nashibashni.ru). The joint editorial office in the North Caucasus and Moscow promptly prepared and posted original text, photo and video materials: information messages, notes, reports, photographs, sketches, diary entries, videos. Members' diary pages have become the most popular on the official website. Also, with the help of the hashtag #ourtowers, the project was actively supported in social networks. More than 50 materials were devoted to the project in regional and federal media, including NTV news.

A meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin was held on July 20 in Yoshkar-Ola.

The discussion was devoted to the implementation at the regional and municipal levels of the Strategy of the state national policy of Russia for the period up to 2025.
During the meeting, an expert of the Moscow Caucasian Club, journalist Ruslan Gusarov told the head of state about the youth project of interethnic harmony “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus. Culture of the Caucasus.

Gusarov said that the project, which is being implemented for the second year, is aimed at eliminating interethnic stereotypes and prejudices caused by insufficient knowledge about the culture of the peoples of the Caucasus. To do this, representatives of the North Caucasian and central regions were invited to travel to the Caucasus, study the local culture and talk about the progress of the project in blogs and in the media.

“We became laureates of the Presidential Grant - 2017, and next week we continue “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus” is already in eight regions of the Caucasus. Our new members are Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Adygea and the Republic of South Ossetia (state of Alania),” he said.

According to Gusarov, during the project, 80 representatives of the North Caucasian republics and children from the central regions of Russia will work on cultural sites in the North Caucasus: towers, fortresses, dolmens and others. “80 people are 80 original publications from the Caucasus by the project participants every day for two weeks. This is a very powerful information wave,” the project leader emphasized.

He noted the initiatives put forward by the regions hosting the project participants. “So, in Chechnya and Dagestan, the organizers have already come up with the initiative to organize a mass youth subbotnik together with the volunteers of the Lighthouses of Friendship,” Gusarov added.

The project manager also announced the planned 2018 "Beacons of Friendship" in the Volga region, and its possible merger with the "Towers of the Caucasus" at one of the stages. “We are not going to stop at just one regional project, and we see our project, perhaps, as the all-Russian volunteer movement “Beacons of Friendship”,” he shared.

We add that from July 30 to August 14, a detachment of student volunteers from Moscow, the North Caucasian republics of Russia and South Ossetia, under the guidance of specialists, will take part in the work to preserve and restore Caucasian towers and fortresses. The detachment will work in Dagestan from July 30 to August 7.

The event was attended by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko, Deputy Head of the APR, Executive Secretary of the Council for Interethnic Relations Magomedsalam Magomedov, Vice Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Ilyas Umakhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Alexander Khloponin, member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and human rights Maxim Shevchenko and others.