Lats – Architecture, Sanctuaries, and Nart Tradition

• Lats is one of the oldest settlements in the Kurtat Gorge.
• The architectural complex is of federal significance.
• Four residential houses belong to the complex.
• The “Latsy Uastyrdzhi” sanctuary is part of the complex.
• The Nart Nykkhas is laid out like an amphitheater.
• Lats has an old village cemetery with well-preserved underground tombs.

The architectural complex includes family towers, sanctuaries, residential houses, and burial sites. Four residential houses are part of the complex. Lats also has preserved residential and defensive towers associated with the Khadikov and Tebiev families. The terms residential tower and defensive tower describe two structural functions: living and defense. The village’s architecture therefore cannot be reduced to a single building type; the forms mentioned include residential buildings as well as religious and burial sites.

The “Latsy Uastyrdzhi” sanctuary is part of the complex. The “Khuytsauy dzuar” sanctuary in Lats consists of an old chapel surrounded by an enclosure and a small 19th-century building. People from Lats gather to pray in this small building. This distinction clarifies the sanctuary’s structure and prayer practice: the chapel and the small building are two parts of the site, while the prayer gathering takes place in the smaller building.

The local population associates several places in Lats with the Narts: the Nart Nykkhas, Nart burial sites, the House of the Narts, the Nart cemetery, the Nart Simda meadow, the Nart prayer ground, and the Nart horse tethering post. This list encompasses different place names, including meeting, burial, and prayer sites. The Nart Nykkhas—the Nart assembly—is an amphitheater-like structure with stone seats arranged in a circle. Among the places associated with the Narts, the Nykkhas thus represents an assembly with a clearly recognizable spatial form.

The famous cup-marked stone of Lats is a stone table with depressions distributed across its entire surface. One interpretation is that it may represent a projection of the starry sky. It is helpful to distinguish between form and interpretation: the table shape and depressions describe the object, while the starry sky remains a possible interpretation.

Lats has an old village cemetery with well-preserved underground tombs. The cemetery and tombs give the village’s burial sites a tangible form. Lats’s cultural heritage therefore includes historical burial sites as well as residential and religious buildings.

What is included in the Lats architectural complex?

The complex includes family towers, sanctuaries, residential houses, and burial sites. Four residential houses are part of it.

Where do people from Lats gather to pray?

They gather in the small building of the “Khuytsauy dzuar” sanctuary, which consists of an old chapel and this 19th-century building.

What is the Nart Nykkhas?

The Nart Nykkhas is the Nart assembly in Lats, an amphitheater-like structure with stone seats arranged in a circle.

What is one interpretation of the cup-marked stone?

It is a stone table with depressions. One possible interpretation is that it represents a projection of the starry sky.

For the broader travel overview: Alagirskiy District.