Hussar (city)

In the early 1820s, Gusar became the location of the headquarters of some parts of the Separate Caucasian Corps . One of the reasons for his choice was that at a distance of 70 miles to the north of it was located with. Ahty , which was a strategically important fortified point. The presence of Russian troops in the summer, in the vicinity of Akhta, for a long time was almost mandatory. Through the crossings that were prepared on Samur , the troops could quickly force this river. Along with the mountain road on with. Konagkend , to the village Annyh was equipped with a toll road and after a bad one - to s. Murukh, where, due to the terrain, it turned into a mountain trail that reached s. Lese ^[2] .

In 1836, M. Yu. Lermontov visited Kusary (these data are not confirmed by scientific sources (see: Lermontov Encyclopedia. M., 1981)), where he met with the philosopher Haji Ali-effendi and there he heard from the famous ashug Lezgi Ahmed dastan “ Ashik-Garib ” and after that he wrote based on the famous work “Ashik-kerib”. The city has preserved the poet’s house-museum with a memorial plaque on which Lermontov’s famous lines are written:

In tsarist times, Kusary was part of the Cuban Uyezd formed in 1840, which was first the administrative unit of the Caspian Region , and then became Derbent Uyezd in 1846, and the Baku Province since 1860.

Beginning in 1844, the Shirvan Infantry Regiment lodged here, which since 1864 became the 84th Shirvan Infantry Regiment . Most of it in the summer was usually north of headquarters, on expeditions against the highlanders ^[2] . When at the head of the regiment, from 1848 to 1853, was Major General Z. S. Manyukin , the headquarters in Kusary was finally equipped; spacious barracks were erected, a regimental church was laid ^[4] .

In April 1877, an uprising broke out in Chechnya against the Russian authorities, which then spread to Dagestan . On September 12, an uprising swept through the Lezgins of the Kyurinsky District , which on September 15 crossed Samur and invaded Cuban County. The residents of this county, in solidarity with them, revolted and elected second lieutenant Hasan-khan as khan. In October, Akhtynites joined the uprising, proclaiming the captain of police Kazi Ahmed as the Samur khan. The Akhtyntsians, intending to expand the territory covered by the uprising, moved to the Cuban district and attacked the fortress of Kusary. After three unsuccessful attempts to seize it, part of the rebels appeared in the Kusar fortress and surrendered, while the rest, led by Kazi Ahmed, retreated ^[5] .

In 1895, the Shirvan regiment was transferred from Hussar to Dagestan. Khasav-Yurt ^[4] . On August 8, 1930, the Gilsky district ^[6] was formed, the center of which was Kusary ^[7] . By a decree of July 19, 1938, the Gilsky district was renamed Kusarsky ^[8] and in the same year the village of Kusary received the status of a city ^[9] .

The city is located near the Bazarduzu , Shahdag mountains and the border with Russia . In Kusary, the mountain river Kusarchay flows. The city also has an artificial lake Violet .

Climate

Russian writer A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky gave the following description:

The maximum recorded temperature is +39 (2014), and the minimum −31 (1943). The average annual rainfall is about 498 mm. Snow cover in the city itself usually lies 70 days. Periodic thaws melt the snow. The first snow usually falls in late October - early November. Average monthly temperatures are very close to cities such as Vienna , Ljubljana and Budapest .

Throughout its history, Gusar has been a place of residence for Russians, Jews, Lezgins, and Azerbaijanis . All remaining Jews were converted to Islam by the Iranian military leader Nadir Shah Afshar , who captured Kusara in 1731 ^[9] . A significant part of the Jews left Kusara in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries and moved to Cuba ^[9] .

According to the list of settlements compiled by the Caucasus Statistical Committee (according to information from 1859 to 1864), the headquarters of Kusara had an Orthodox church and a Roman Catholic church. According to the same information, the official village of Kusary was located not far from the headquarters, where there were 44 courtyards inhabited by Tatars and Kyurinians (that is, Azerbaijanis and Lezghins) who were Sunni Muslims ^[11] . According to the " Caucasian calendar " for 1857, in the village of Kusar (original name ﻗﻭﺻﺎﺭ), which belonged to the Syrt magal of the Khazrinsky district of the Cuban district, there were Sunnis Lezghins with the Kurin (that is, Lezgin ) language ^[12] .

In the 1880s, 10 Ashkenazi Jews , retired soldiers and 10 Mountain Jews, lived in Kusary ^[9] . According to the materials of the family lists for 1886, there were 253 smoke and 861 people in the Kusary tract, of which 758 were Russians and 91 representatives of other nationalities (for example, the presence of Jewish smoke), but the Kurin and Tatar (that is, Lezgi and Azerbaijan) population was absent ^[13] . The list of populated areas of Baku province, based on family-friendly lists compiled in 1888, indicates that in Kusary there were 255 smokes and 1,140 people consisting of Russians, as well as 2 churches, 1 church, 1 mosque and 1 synagogue ^[14] .

The census of 1897 showed 1,595 people in Kusar, of whom 936 were Orthodox, 361 Muslims and 211 Jews ^[15] . In the statistical sheet attached to the Review of the Baku province for 1902 and showing the ethnic composition of the villages of the Baku province as of January 1, 1903, 253 smoke and 624 people, consisting of Russians and Jews, are indicated by Kusar ^[16] . According to the issues of the Caucasian Calendar for 1910, 1912, 1915 and 1916, its population consists mainly of Russians . Only in two issues (for 1910 and 1912) does Kusary appear as a village, and in issues for 1915 and 1916 as a natural boundary. According to the "Caucasian calendar" for 1910, 1044 lived here in 1908, 1047 lived in 1912, and 1203 people lived in 1915 and 1916 ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]} .

According to the 1921 census of Azerbaijan , Russians made up 32.1%, Lezghins - 28.3%, Azerbaijanis - 27.6%, Jews - 4.1%, Persians - 3.6%, Mountain Jews - 2.0% of the Kusarov population ^{[ 21]} . In 1926, 120 mountain Jews lived in Kusary, in 1939 - 241 Jews ^[9] .

In 1936, its population was 3.4 thousand inhabitants ^[7] , and according to the 1959 census - 7.366 people ^[22] . According to the 1979 census of the city, the population of the city was 12,225 people ^[23] , and in 1989 reached 14,230 people ^[24] . Most of the Kusar Jews left for Israel in the 1970s and 1980s ^[9] .

The city has a cannery, dairy and asphalt plants.

In 1998, the State Lezgi Drama Theater was opened in Gusar ^[25] .

In 2008, there were 6 secondary schools in the city, of which one was Azerbaijani and 5 were Russian. The city also has two state pre-school educational institutions, one private pre-school educational and educational school - Panda and English courses - Apex.

In total, there are several intra-city routes operating in the daytime. The city has a bus station, from where buses go to Guba , Baku and the district.

Bridges

• Old bridge
• New bridge

In the city there is a climbing club, engaged in the conquest of the mountains of the Caucasus .

Shahdag winter-summer tourist complex is 32 km from Gusar.

• Mustafa Kazdal Mosque
• Park named after Nariman Narimanov
• Lermontov House
• General Mahmud Abilov Square Museum of History and Local Lore, founded in 1982. The museum has 3,000 exhibits.
• Olympic sports complex, where there are many sports.

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  Old bridge in Gusar

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  New bridge

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  Mosque

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  Panorama of the city in the evening

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  Gusarchay River

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  Entrance to the hussar park

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  Monument to the mountain ram in Gusar

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  Bus station

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  Cableway to the Zirvya Hotel ( Shahdag winter and summer tourist complex )

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  Hussar Olympic Sports Complex

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  Lermontov House

• Hussar (city) - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• prayer times schedule for the city of Gusar
• Gusar City News

• Korolev S.V. On the outskirts of the Caucasian war: the Russian garrison in Kusary // New Sentinel. - 1999. - No. 8-9 . - S. 23-26 .