Arqun Muzey-Qoruğu, Historical museum and nature reserve in Caucasus Mountains, Russia.
Arqun Muzey-Qoruğu is a protected nature reserve with museum facilities in the Caucasus Mountains that displays exhibits both indoors and outdoors. The site consists of several buildings where regional objects, archaeological finds, and specimens of local wildlife and plants are presented.
Created by decree of the RSFSR Council of Ministers on 2 June 1988, the reserve was formally declared by the Chechen-Ingush ASSR on 15 November 1988 to protect architectural and historical monuments along with rare fauna and flora. A presidential decree of 20 February 1995 listed it among federal cultural heritage objects. Its monuments span five millennia, from the 3rd millennium BC to the late 19th century.
The reserve's name comes from the Argun river and its Sharoy-Argun tributary, whose gorges hold the tower settlements. The protected complexes include Sharoy, Khimoy and Khoy, where medieval dwelling and watchtowers stand among later ruins. The site also holds more than 20 cult places and about 150 underground, above-ground and rock-cut tombs.
The reserve spans 233,800 hectares across the Sharoy, Itum-Kali, Galan-Chozh, Cheberloyev and Shatoy districts of southern Chechnya, from the foothills of the Greater Caucasus to ridges above 4,000 m. The administration sits in Grozny, at 19/65 Delovaya Street. Access to the towers and necropolises is by mountain roads, so plan for long drives and walking on uneven ground.
The reserve's Shcheki-Khyekh cave holds sulfur springs 137 m deep, and a hydrogen-sulfide stream flows out of it. Its closed biocenosis rests on bacteria living without photosynthesis or oxygen, and their activity forms specific minerals. A speleotourism cluster with a 4 km mountain road is planned there.
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