373F+WW Derbent, Republic of Dagestan, Russia
Dzharchi-kapy (from Turkic: Herald's Gate) are the first gates from the citadel Naryn-Kala in the northern wall. At these gates, the khan’s herald (from Turkic: Dzharchi) proclaimed the orders and decrees of the city’s rulers. Arabic written sources from the 9th-10th centuries call these gates Bab al-Muhajir (Gate of the Refugees). According to legend, the Khazars, who ruled the city, unable to withstand the siege by the Arab army led by Maslama in 734, secretly left the city through these gates. Another, already Russian name, “Water Gates,” is connected with the proximity of several springs that once supplied the city with water and formed a unified system of so-called bulags, water-drawing fountains. On both sides of Dzharchi-kapy, two such fountains were arranged. One of them, Khan-bulag, supplied water to the local residents of the ninth magala. Dzharchi-bulag, located outside the city wall, allowed travelers and caravans who did not manage to enter Derbent before dark to quench their thirst. As a result of archaeological research on the outer side of the wall near Dzharchi-kapy, an inscription in Old Persian meaning “water” was found. It is assumed that the inscription appeared in the 6th century during the construction of the northern defensive structure and indicates proximity to ancient aqueducts or underground reservoirs located near the gates. The “Water Gates” or “Herald’s Gates,” rebuilt and restored many times, have unfortunately lost their original appearance by the time they reached us. In the upper part of the masonry, as early as the beginning of the 18th century, the famous scholar of that time, Prince D. Kantemir, discovered ancient Arabic hieroglyphs stating that the gates were repaired by master Yakub in 1108 AH, which corresponds to 1696 AD in the Gregorian calendar. The current appearance of the properly circular arch of the gate opening was adopted after its reconstruction in 1812 according to the design of the Russian military engineer Karpov. In drawings and sketches from the earlier period, the gates have the typical pointed shape of the East. The gates are crowned with loopholes and decorative pointed battlements.
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