Dargavs is known as the City of the Dead, and the name is accurate. On a bare slope above the Gizeldon Valley in North Ossetia stand about a hundred small stone buildings, like a village of tiny houses with pointed roofs, and each one is a family tomb. Inside, wooden boats once served as coffins, and skeletons and old bones can still be seen through the doorways, lying on shelves and stone benches. The crypts date from roughly the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, though some may be older, and they are the best known of the several necropolises in the Ossetian mountains.
Nobody knows exactly why the Ossetians built tombs in this way. Some explanations point to old beliefs about the afterlife and the journey of the dead, and to the Alanian heritage, and others suggest the plague or the harsh climate. A legend says that the tombs were used to isolate plague victims, who were walled in and left to die, but historians treat that story cautiously. What is certain is that the site is eerie, windswept and quietly impressive, with the white peaks of the Main Range rising behind. The hamlet of Dargavs is a few stone houses nearby, and visitors have to pay a small fee and sometimes ask permission to enter the tombs, a request that should be taken seriously, since this is a sacred place for many people.
The road from Vladikavkaz, about thirty kilometres away, climbs through villages into the Gizeldon Valley, and the final stretch to Dargavs is narrow and steep, with hairpin bends and a rough surface. The tarmac is patchy, with potholes and gravel, and landslides are possible after heavy rain. The views are excellent, particularly as you gain height, and a few viewpoints allow you to look out over the valley and the plain. Cloud often wraps the hills in the afternoon, so aim for the morning. Spring and autumn are quiet seasons, and in winter, snow can block the road.
The village has a small café or two in season, but not much else.
Walk up among the crypts, and keep your voice low. Whatever the truth of the stories, the place invites silence.