Kala Koreish — An Abandoned Village Full of Secrets, Dagestan

Discover Kala-Koreish village in the mountains of #Dagestan! Once upon a time the village of Kala-Koreish was the capital of the largest medieval fiefdom. The village is one of the oldest in Dagestan. In ancient times, it was one of the largest in the Caucasus. The village was founded in the 7th century. Legends are passed from generation to generation that the first inhabitants were Arabs from the Quraysh tribe. Kala-Koreish translates as “fortress of the Quraysh“, Kala - a fortress. Quraysh - is a Meccan Arab tribe from which the Prophet Muhammad originated. This place was the center of the spread of Islam in the North Caucasus. Quraysh people founded their settlement on the top of an inaccessible mountain, standing at the confluence of five rivers. Having occupied such a strategic point, they could control trade in the region and at the same time spread their religion. On the territory of the settlement there is a mausoleum, a semi-cylindrical sarcophagus, a mosque and many other architectural monuments. The mosque located in this village dates back to the XI-XII centuries and is the oldest in Dagestan. To the east of the mosque is the mausoleum, which is considered a sacred place. The gravestones are decorated with sacred Islamic texts. The mausoleum is of great scientific and historical importance. This is the oldest dated religious building in the territory of Dagestan. Over time, in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the plain areas of Dagestan began to be more actively populated and the influence of Kala-Koreish gradually diminished. The last residents were evicted from here during the Soviet era, in the 40s of the 20th century. Today its population consists of only one inhabitant. Thus, once a thriving fortress turned, in fact, into a ghost village… We visit Kala-Koreysh village during our tours to Dagestan, join us! Original footage of this video available on request. Produced by Pavel Ageychenko | Founder of BaikalNature: