Monuments of Kabardian nobility of the late XVII - middle XIX centuries (mausoleums and stone cist-fences)

The data on cheshana stone buildings (mausoleums and cist-fences) in Kabarda, the end of the XVII - the middle of the XIX century is summarized in the paper. These historical and architectural monuments were built for the burials of the Adyghe nobility who practiced the Islamic rite of burial. The area of distribution of these types of monuments, their typology, chronology, origins of architecture, the reasons for the spread, evolution and decline of their construction are discussed in the research. A comparative analysis is carried out with overground stone crypt constructions of the late Middle Ages and New Times in the foothill and mountain regions of the North Caucasus. The author comes to the conclusion that the mausoleums and stone fences are particularly as the most complex monumental monuments of the Kabardian elite and the most important part of the historical and cultural landscape of the Kabardian-Pyatigorie region. These buildings during the end of the XVII century - 20s XIX century were peculiar markers of the territory of resettlement of the Kabardian ethnic group. The same role was played by more numerous, but less majestic burial mounds and ancient slabs (synyzh).