Every year this city freezes for a minute. Gorno-Altaisk: the city where time stops

A week ago I visited the capital of the republic Mountain Altai- Gorno-Altaisk. Actually, the purpose of my visit to this small town with a population of 50,000 people was a master class in photography, which I was offered to read at the Gorno-Altai State University. Actually, because of this, I could not attend the main task of the project, and the project had to be left (I will write about this later).

I first visited this city in the late 90s of the last century. Then I was on my way to Lake Teletskoye and did not pay attention to Gorno-Altaisk. On this visit, despite the 30-degree frost, we managed to see the city a little. Actually, a few pictures with comments.

01. Gates of Gorno-Altaisk - the bus station welcomes visitors with colorful national panels on the wall and wooden panels on the railings.

02. It seems that they are ready to meet and provide service here foreign tourists. Clock repair stand. The inscription on it is in three languages: Russian, Altaic and English.

03. Billboards on the streets remind that elections are on September 14th. And among the snow in December they look a little ridiculous.

04. Not crowded on the streets of the city at minus 30. Many young people were seen at the food court of the local mall eating pizza, french fries and other unhealthy foods.

05. View from the food court of the local mall to the drama theater. Outwardly, for some reason, he reminded me of a mausoleum.

06. central square and most high building in the city (which I happened to see) a 9-story house of justice.

07. For folk festivals in the warm season, there is a non-separable stage here. On the day of my stay, there was a poster for a concert by a local star on it.

08. The square in the neighborhood is decorated with colorful national wooden cultures.

09. And before entering main building Gorno-Altai State University flaunts a bust of the great Russian poet performed by Zurab Tsereteli.

10. In the university itself, renovations are in full swing, causing minor inconvenience to students and teachers.

11. In general, my master class was held as part of the three-day school of journalism "Pero". Actually, following the results of the work of this three-day school, a special issue of the student newspaper should be published.

12. And here is an ad that I saw on the front page of the local press. Looks like someone lobbied for something...

13. One of the active listeners of my master class, Vera Pashinina. I recommend subscribing to her instagram .

14. As part of a practical task, I organized a mobile photography competition for students. So in VK and Instagram you can find the work of my listeners under the hash tag #photopero.

15. As practice has shown, in the age of gadgets, mobile photography captivates students. By the way, Vera won.

The legend of Atlantis tells of a lost land that disappeared without a trace in the depths of the sea. In the cultures of many peoples, there are similar legends about cities that disappeared under water, in the sands of the desert or overgrown with forests. Consider five lost cities that have never been found. /epochtimes.ru/

Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z

Ever since Europeans first arrived in New World, there are rumors of a golden city in the jungle, sometimes called Eldorado. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Orellana was the first to venture along the Rio Negro in search of the legendary city. In 1925, 58-year-old explorer Percy Fawcett delved into the jungles of Brazil to find a mysterious lost city he named Z. Faust's team and himself disappeared without a trace, and the story became the subject of numerous publications. Rescue operations failed - Fossett was not found.

In 1906, the Royal Geographical Society of England, sponsoring scientific expeditions, invited Fawcett to explore part of Brazil's border with Bolivia. He spent 18 months in the state of Mato Grosso, and during his expeditions Fawcett became obsessed with the lost civilizations in the region.

In 1920, in the National Library of Rio de Janeiro, Fawcett came across a document called Manuscript 512. It was written in 1753 by a Portuguese explorer. He claimed that in the Mato Grosso region, in the Amazon rainforest, he found a walled city that resembles ancient Greek. The manuscript described a lost city with high-rise buildings, towering stone arches, wide streets leading to a lake where the explorer saw two white Indians in a canoe.

In 1921, Fawcett embarked on the first of his expeditions in search of the lost city of Z. His team endured many hardships in the jungle, surrounded by dangerous animals, and people were exposed to serious diseases.

In April 1925, he made his last attempt to find Z. This time he prepared thoroughly and received more funding from newspapers and communities, including the Royal Geographical Society and the Rockefellers. In the last letter home, delivered by a member of his team, Fawcett wrote to his wife, Nina: "We hope to get through this area in a few days ... Don't be afraid of failure." This proved to be his last message to his wife and the world.

Although Fawcett's Lost City Z has not been found, ancient cities and traces of religious sites have been discovered in the jungles of Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia, and Honduras in recent years. New terrain scanning technologies give new hopes that City Z will be found.

The Lost City of Aztlan, home of the Aztecs

The Aztecs are a mighty empire ancient America lived in what is now Mexico City. The lost island of Aztlán is considered to be the epicenter of Aztec culture, where they created a civilization before their migration to the Mexico Valley.

Skeptics regard the Aztlán hypothesis as a myth like Atlantis or Camelot. Thanks to the legends, the images of ancient cities live on, but it is unlikely that they will be found. Optimists dream of rejoicing at the discovery of legendary cities. The search for the island of Aztlan extends from Western Mexico all the way to the deserts of Utah. However, these searches are fruitless, because the location of Aztlan remains a mystery.

According to Nahuatl legend, seven tribes lived in Chicomostok, "the place of the seven caves." These tribes represented seven Nahua groups: Acolhua, Chalca, Mexico, Tepaneca, Tlahuica, Tlaxcalan, and Xochimilca (sources give variant names). Seven tribes with a similar language left the caves and settled together near Aztlán.

The word Aztlan means "land to the north; the land from which the Aztecs came." According to one theory, the inhabitants of Aztlán became known as the Aztecs, who later migrated from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico. The Aztec migration from Aztlan to Tenochtitlan is a turning point in Aztec history. It began on May 24, 1064, the first solar year Aztecs.

Seekers of the homeland of the Aztecs, in the hope of finding the truth, undertook many expeditions. But ancient Mexico is in no hurry to reveal the secrets of Aztlan.

The Lost Land of Lionesse - A City Under the Sea

According to Arthurian legend, Lionesse is the birthplace of the protagonist of the story of Tristan and Iseult. This mythical land is now called the "lost land of Lioness". It is believed that she plunged into the sea. Although Lionesse is mentioned in legends and myths, it is believed that he sank at sea many years ago. It is difficult to define the line between fiction and reality of hypotheses and legends.

Lyoness - Big City surrounded by one hundred and forty villages. He disappeared on November 11, 1099 (although some stories give the year 1089 and some speak of the 6th century). Suddenly, the sea flooded the land, people drowned.

Although the story of King Arthur is a legend, Lyoness is believed to be a real place adjoining the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall (England). At that time the sea level was lower.

SEAL is the westernmost and southernmost point of England and also the southernmost point of Great Britain. Photo: NASA/wikipedia/Public Domain

Fishermen from the Isles of Scilly say they pulled pieces of buildings and other structures out of their fishing nets. Their words are not supported by evidence and are criticized.

Tales of Tristan and Iseult, Arthur's final battle with Mordred, the legend of a city that was swallowed up by the sea, stories of Lionesse prompt the search for a ghost town.

The search for Eldorado - the lost city of gold

For hundreds of years, treasure hunters and historians have searched for the lost golden city of Eldorado. The idea of ​​a city filled with gold and other riches tempted people from different countries. The number of people who want to find the greatest treasure and ancient miracle does not decrease. Despite numerous expeditions to Latin America, the golden city remains a legend. No traces of its existence have been found.

El Dorado in the middle of the lake. Photo: Andrew Bertram/wikipedia/CC BY-SA 1.0

The origins of Eldorado originate in the stories of the Muisca tribe. After two migrations - one in 1270 BC. and another between 800 and 500. BC. - The Muisca tribe occupied the Cundinamarca and Boyaca regions of Colombia. According to legend in El Carnero by Juan Rodríguez Freile, the Muisca performed rituals for each new king using gold dust and other treasures.

The new king was brought to Lake Guatavita and naked covered with gold dust. The retinue led by the king on a raft with gold and precious stones went to the center of the lake. The king washed off the gold dust from the body, and the retinue threw pieces of gold and precious stones into the lake. The meaning of this ritual was to make a sacrifice to the Muisca god. For the Muisca, Eldorado is not a city, but a king, who was called "the one who is gilded."

Although the meaning of "el dorado" is originally different, the name has become synonymous with the lost city of gold.

In 1545, the conquistadors Lazaro Fonte and Hernán Pérez de Quesada wanted to drain Lake Guatavita. Gold was found along the shores, which kindled suspicions among treasure hunters about the presence of treasures in the lake. They worked for three months. The workers along the chain handed over buckets of water, but did not drain the lake to the end. They didn't make it to the bottom.

In 1580 Antonio de Sepulveda made another attempt. And again, gold items were found on the shores, but the treasures remained hidden in the depths of the lake. Other searches were carried out on Lake Guatavita. The lake is estimated to contain $300 million worth of gold.

"Manoa, or El Dorado" on the shores of Lake Parime. Map by Hessel Gerrits (1625). El Dorado was mapped near Parime from the time of Walter Raleigh (1595) to Alexander Humboldt (1804). Photo: Hessel Gerritsz/wikipedia/Public domain

However, the search was stopped in 1965. The Colombian government has declared the lake a protected area. However, the search for Eldorado continues. The legends of the Muisca tribe and the ritual sacrifice in the form of treasures eventually turned into the current story of El Dorado - lost city from gold.

Lost in the Desert Cities of Dubai: A Buried History

Dubai maintains the image of an ultra-modern city with amazing architecture and effortless opulence. However, forgotten cities are hidden in the deserts. History shows how early sand dwellers adapted to and overcame dramatic climate change in the past.

The Lost City - the legend of Arabia - the medieval Julfar. Historians knew about its existence from written records, but could not find it. Home to the Arab sailor Ahmed ibn Majid and ostensibly to the fictional Sinbad the Sailor, Julfar flourished for a thousand years until it fell into ruin and disappeared from human memory for two centuries.

Ahmed ibn Majid is from Julfar. Photo: wikipedia/Public Domain

Julfar was known in the Middle Ages as a prosperous port city - the center of trade in the southern part of the Persian Gulf. It was located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, north of Dubai, but archaeologists discovered its actual location in the 1960s. Traces found at this site date back to the 6th century. The inhabitants of the port carried on regular trade with India and the Far East.

Simbad. Photo: Rene Bull/wikipedia/Public Domain

The 10th-14th centuries were a golden age for Julfar and for long-distance Arab trade, when Arab navigators regularly traveled halfway around the world.

Arabs swam into European waters long before the Europeans managed to swim across Indian Ocean and get into the Persian Gulf. Julfar played an important role in the maritime adventures of the Persian Gulf for over a thousand years. Arab merchants considered daunting 18-month sea voyages to China to be commonplace. The range of goods will surprise modern merchants.

Julfar attracted constant attention from rival powers. In the 16th century, the Portuguese took control of the port. Already 70 thousand people lived in Julfar.

Exclaves of Oman and the UAE Oman Abu Dhabi (UAE) Dubai (UAE) Sharjah (UAE) Ajman (UAE) Umm al-Qaiwain (UAE) Ras al-Khaimah (UAE) Fujairah (UAE) Photo: Jolle and Nickpo/wikipedia/CC BY 3.0

A century later, the city was captured by the Persians, but in 1750 they lost it. Then he fell into the hands of the Qawazim tribe from Sharjah, who entrenched in the neighborhood, in Ras al-Khaimah, which they continue to rule to this day. And the old Julfar gradually fell into decay, while its ruins, located among the coastal sand dunes, do not forget.

Today, most of Julfar, in all likelihood, still remains hidden under the sands north of Ras al-Khaimah.

Deerfield is a town of history, in which old houses of 200-300-and-more years ago have partially turned into museums, and partially live as if nothing had happened (the account goes not even by tens, but by hundreds). In general, Massachusetts is an amazing place. You look into the next street, and there is an ordinary residential building marked "1736" and the data of the first owner.
A broker friend says that in such houses not only the facade, but often the windows-doors-ladders-railings are completely authentic. What can we say about furniture and parquet floors! Wide boards made of ship pines, noble woods, old Dutch mirrors - beauty and nothing more. And all this was so carefully preserved that one wonders: with what trepidation they treat history here.

However, I'll start from the beginning.

The first settlers appeared here a long time ago - in 1673. Their life was by no means easy: French Canadians on the left, Indians on the right, in front and behind - a marvelous mixture of the first and second, united in a reckless pursuit of troubled English heads.

It was easier with the Indians: they killed men and mostly spared women, especially young ones - the tribes needed new blood and working hands. The French, on the other hand, slaughtered everyone, fiercely cleaner than any other redskin.

Some houses were burned to the ground. But the stubborn Anglo-Saxons came back and rebuilt them. Therefore, some of the houses (small) are restored. 200 years ago.

Each house has a guide, many of them are willing to give a tour of the house, many of them - tadammm! - professor of history. Retired. Typical for North America picture: all guides without exception are volunteers. And they work solely out of love for art.

For example, in the house of Jonathan Ashley, an important person and a respectable citizen, there is a brilliant tour guide. He is 80 years old, but from the first phrases you notice professional work with the audience: the most interesting encyclopedic details, excellent diction, where necessary - an accent or a joke. And all this is easy, openwork, exciting. "Are you a historian?" - the physicist is interested.
- University of Florida, retired professor of anthropology. - the guide smiles, deftly circling between fake Chinese porcelain and copper stove utensils.
Such altruism certainly deserves applause. We are overflowing with gratitude.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in the houses (apparently, the sale of postcards and catalogs somehow covers minor repairs and the work of cleaners).
But a couple of times they still managed (a couple of handsome Americans were the first to start!).

Of course, these are not living rooms with gilded mirrors, coquettish French wallpaper and precious 300-year-old carved chests. Not bedrooms, with hand-embroidered canopies and a lady's hat coquettishly thrown on the table. And not even forced by all sorts of interesting kitchens. But let.

View from the window:

Interestingly, the Puritans were not at all alien to such human weakness as show-off vanity. They tried to paint the living rooms with fabulously expensive blue paint, but the kitchens were practically covered with cheap red. Chinese porcelain was rather crudely counterfeited by Dutch craftsmen, and silverware was imitated by alloys of lead and tin.
In the house of George Washington himself (not in Deerfield), panels of cheap wood were hand-painted with noble cracks, so that the wood seemed more expensive).

But what painted chamber pots the local ladies had, I can’t tell!

Gunsmiths in ancient costumes hang out in front of one of the houses. The old peroxylin gunpowder required the special care of the gunsmith, so the muzzle was drilled with amazing accuracy for those times and technologies. The cost of such a firearm was indecent.
Oh, where are you, Nathaniel Bumpo!

The sun is hot in summer.

One of the houses invites you to cook authentic pies and cookies. Of course, we all honest company fall down there.
Chinese theoretical physicists are investigating the American furnace, yep.

We are told about how hard the everyday life of a simple American woman was in those days when she was not stolen by the Indians, what efforts it took to achieve the right temperature for making a pie or soup, how they carried water and what spices they used. Did you know that gerbera is a great substitute for saffron (not in aroma, but in color), and fern leaves are amazingly good in pickles?
It is interesting that the sugar we were used to was obscenely expensive and was brought in by such heads.

But local gardens gave so much fruit and maple syrup that there was no shortage of sweets.

The lovely ladies in the pictures above are baking pies according to the recipes of the first settlers. And they are wildly proud of their difficult, but extremely exciting hobby.

The hearth burns so comfortably that you really do not want to leave it. But yay.
Cast iron cookware. Tinker with this one and no rocking chairs are needed.

In one of the houses, decorated with paintings by the best Boston artists and pastels of the hostess, we are greeted by a smiling elderly Polish old-timer.

And again a lecture of aerobatics about the secular life of the local nobility (yes, social events, balls and other zhurfixes were also not alien to the Puritans). We actively participate in the conversation.
"Oh, how interested you are in history, how well-read you are!" the Polish woman (also a professor, so that you have no doubt) moistens her eyes, "are all Russians like that?" We did not specify that the question was asked to two theoreticians of the Soviet hardening and two red-diploma philologists. Let at least somewhere about the Russian think well.
At the end of the tour, the guide asks us to sign in the guest book - reviews are left so rarely! If we had known earlier, I would have riveted memoirs in every house: it’s a trifle for us, but it’s nice for the guides.

Speaking of Russians.
People here often ask: "Where are you from?" I noticed that, despite the pathological politeness, the mention of "Russia" among some natives causes slight alertness. And then I fly in with my brisk "Ukraine!"
Everyone smiles, tension subsides.

I picked up obsidian arrowheads from the local souvenir shop as a memento,

and we went to have a bite to eat at a local restaurant - a very young tavern, opened only some 150 years ago.

Fine onion soup (the right rich tea color, with oven-roasted clear onions, topped with a delicious Parmesan crust on a toast) cost $6. French fries with white truffle and parmesan - too.
While the company was ordering beer, I dreamed about white wine.
- May I see your ID, ma'am? The waitress smiled cheerfully.
- Everything is OK, - I rounded my eyes, - I'm 35, and I forgot my rights.
And what do you think? Not allowed! No 35 years, no guilt. This is what is called "control". I respect.
Satisfied with tomato juice. Under general jokes.

But the marvelous hot cider with cinnamon in a neighboring shop was allowed to pour me without any ID.

Our next stop was Deerfield Academy, a private school in the local collection of "specially prestigious" that has taught more than one US Senator and even one King of Jordan.

Education at the Academy costs about $50,000. For foreigners and sheikhs, the rates are higher.

Student huts the devil knows how old.

I don’t know how they teach there, but the place is beautiful.

The public is getting ready for Halloween.

The time is late (16:30), the museum is closed. But we didn’t even see half of the houses!

The Siamese cat from Ashley's house imposingly purrs after us.

Leaving Deerfield, I see the legendary giant pumpkins under 200-300 kg of weight being unloaded at some houses.
Eh, what are you!

We don’t make it to the Butterfly Museum, but we make it to the eternal realm of candles and the Yankee Candle holiday.
But that would be a completely different story...

Almost forgot)
Happy Columbus Day America!