The city known as 'the city of the dead'!

The Dhaka Times Desk A city that is called 'the city of the dead'! There is such a city in Russia. The remote Dargavs village there is called the 'city of the dead'. Several medieval tombs exist near this village. There are 99 sloping roof tombs in this ancient burial ground. Each tomb has one window. And there are hundreds of corpses in every room. Some bodies are well preserved.

A city that is called 'the city of the dead'! There is such a city in Russia. The remote Dargavs village there is called the 'city of the dead'. Several medieval tombs exist near this village. There are 99 sloping roof tombs in this ancient burial ground. Each tomb has one window. And there are hundreds of corpses in every room. Some bodies are well preserved.

When and how this mysterious burial ground, located just over the Georgia border, was built, is still a mystery. But historians are gradually uncovering its secrets.

In the 16th century, the remote farmlands of southern Russia were used as burial grounds. According to one source, when the region was threatened by the invasion of Mongols and Tatars (a tribe belonging to the Turkic ethnic group) in the 13th century, the local people living in the 17 km long valley of the Caucasus Mountains built a similar structure to preserve the corpses above the plain.

Another fact is that this city of death was built in the Indo-Iranian tradition by the migrant Sarmesians who settled in southern Russia.

The story of the city of the dead may also be linked to another history of the region. And that is, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, plague appeared in the form of epidemics in the region. It is believed that plague-stricken people were then kept in the room to avoid infection.

Many visitors come to this 1.5 hectare cemetery to see this preserved medieval structure. Historian Luydmila Gabova thinks visitors may have come here for other reasons. He said, 'Visitors are also surprised by the beauty of this place. They feel the eternal fear of death as well as the sense of tranquility when they come here.'