Museum-Monument to the Defenders of the Caucasus Passes

About museum

The museum presents an exhibition dedicated to the heroic deeds of the defenders of the Caucasus passes. This place is intended to remind visitors of the invaluable price paid for the victory over the Nazi invaders. The Museum-Monument to the Defenders of the Caucasus Passes is the only architectural ensemble of its kind in the North Caucasus; it was opened on November 2, 1968, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Komsomol. It was built with funds collected by the youth of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, and was designed by Georgian architects V. Davitaya and A. Chikovani. The site was chosen deliberately — it offers a panorama of the mountains stretching from Karachayevsk to the Caucasus Range with their snow-white, fanciful caps of eternal ice. The monument consists of a reinforced-concrete pillbox-type structure (DOT) located at the mass grave of 150 unknown soldiers, along with a museum exhibition devoted to their heroic deeds. Thus the memorial complex commemorates the immense price of victory over the Nazi invaders.