russia: chechnya: grozny and argun

My first weekend in November was a holiday weekend, so I got an extra day to go somewhere. I chose to visit Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. And before you ask, no, I wasn't scared to go to Chechnya.

The Chechen Republic is old. Very very very old. Wikipedia tells me there is evidence of habitation in the area that dates back to 40,000BC. Chechnya is one of several regions where locals call themselves Caucasian because of the nearby Caucasus Mountains. In the west the word caucasian has come to mean white, but in Russia it means something completely different. 

This area of the world has a long and complicated history.

Russia started getting involved in Chechnya in the 16^th century when a local leader sent emissaries to Moscow to ask Ivan the Terrible for help against another local leader. Ivan the Terrible then married the daughter of the first guy, and from then on, Russia was involved, if not completely ruling the area.

The Caucasian War lasted about 50 years, in the 19^th century, when Russian forces invaded the Caucasus, and annexed the northern region.

Obviously, locals weren't a big fan of all this, resulting in fighting that went on for years and years.

Grozny is a growing city of around 275,000 residents, though just before the fall of the Soviet Union there were almost 400,000.

The modern city of Grozny is relatively young in terms of Russian history, as it was originally founded as a fortress for the Russian military on the Sunzha River in 1818. The fort of Groznaya became obselete after a while, and the city of Grozny was granted official town status in 1870.

Just after the end of the October Revolution, a group of Bolsheviks took control of Grozny. Then the White Army came back and took over, until the Caucasus front of the Red Army arrived and pushed back the White Army. From this point on, Russia is the official ruler, though locals didn't always acknowledge or accept that fact.

Toward the end of WW2 the entire population of Chechens were deported or killed on the spot, the death toll was at least 170,000. All the traces of them having lived were destroyed by the NKVD, including books and graveyards. 

After the deportation the USSR moved Russians into the city, making it completely ethnically Russian.

Chechens were allowed to return in 1957, which of course caused massive disruptions in economic, social, and political systems. The returnees didn't think the Russians should be there, and the Russians didn't think the Chechens should be there. Fighting ensued, to the surprise of no one. It went on and on, even when there wasn't anything official happening. 

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Chechnya wanted to be completely independent. At the time, heaps of Russians left the area, as they did many other areas of the former Soviet Union, heading to Russia itself.

The first Chechen War took place from 1994-1996, at the end of which the Russian Army captured Grozny. Though they were officially in charge at that point, there wasn't much of a city to be in charge of. The Russian Air Force had basically bombed the city into smithereens.

Also, even though the Russian Army had officially claimed victory, the Chechens continued fighting, and everything ended in a cease fire. At this point the city was renamed Djohar, and nearly all remaining Russians fled.

There were a couple years of 'normal life' before the second Chechen War broke out, with a Russian seige of the city. In 1999 the Russian military sent missiles into a city market and a maternity ward, killing at least 140 people and officially starting more fighting. 

After a while, Russia closed in, and offered safe passage to the 'militants,' who saw no other option so they accepted.

The Russian military mined the 'safe passage' out of the city, leading to the death of the mayor of Grozny and the local military commander, as well as other 'militants.' At that point, Russia basically snuck in and raised the Russian flag in the city, then continued destroying what little was left. Wikipedia tells me the UN said that Grozny was the most destroyed city on earth in 2003.

Since 2003, pretty much the entire city of Grozny has been rebuilt, with none of the destroyed buildings remaining. The rebuild included the infrastructures of utilities and roads, as well as commercial and residential buildings.

This new city is what I saw, and as a result, I didn't feel like I got to see much of the 'real' Chechnya.

Getting to Grozny didn't go as I expected, I think it was because of weather. Not too long before we were supposed to land in Grozny the pilot on the airplane made an announcement, and I heard the name Mahachkala. 

There was no announcement in English, but as soon as we landed I looked at the map on my phone and it said we were in Mahachkala, not Grozny. Sigh.

Everyone deplaned, then hung out at the gate in the airport, I don't think we were allowed to leave. From what I could tell, the airline was trying to figure out how to get everyone to Grozny, since that was the whole point of the flight. I heard talk about buses, but after a little while they got us queued up again and got back on the plane.

All this to say we landed in Grozny several hours later than planned. Since the original flight was supposed to land at 0500 or so, the delay wasn't a big deal to me. The weather I saw as soon as I walked out of the airport was a huge surprise, it was dumping snow, and quite windy.

I was not wearing waterproof shoes, which I immediately regretted, but oh well, lesson learned for next time. (Later on people told me this snowstorm was NOT typical early November weather, but that didn't make me feel any better.) 

Finding the spot to hop on the bus into the city meant walking through some snow and slush, not fun.

I got off the bus and started walking, feeling pretty comfortable with where I was going. That comfort didn't last long, as my feet got wet and cold pretty quickly. I tried to follow pavements, but they weren't always clear, since the snow covered everything. The map on my phone didn't always have me on streets with pavements, making it even more fun.

The adventure continued when my phone died because it was cold. I tried connecting my external battery, but moisture somehow got into the connection, so that didn't work. I was able to turn the phone on for a few seconds at a time, and eventually got to my accomodation. At that point I was grateful I had spent some time looking at the map ahead of time, so when the phone died I knew I didn't have too much further to go.

I checked in, took off my socks and shoes, put them on the radiator to dry out, and took a nap.

I don't normally do that straightaway, but I needed it. (I also charged my phone and external battery, of course.)

After a while I went back out into the city. Even though I'd dried everything, that didn't last for long after I stepped outside. Instead of walking into the city center I took a marshrutka, which thankfully stopped about a block away from my room. The ride into the city center went as expected, which was a comfort at that point.

My first and only main sight for the day was a huge mosque. 

The Akhmat Kadyrov Mosque (officially known as the Heart of Chechnya,) opened in October of 2008, after four years of construction. It is named for the first president of the Republic of Chechnya, who commissioned the building.

Big mosque. Big big mosque. According to 'them,' it is one of the biggest mosques in Europe.

The Heart of Chechnya architecture was based on classic Ottoman style. The central hall of the mosque is covered by a 32 meter high, 16 meter diameter dome. The minarets are 62 meters tall.

The mosque is supposed to be able to hold 10,000 people, though I always wonder how that number is calculated.

To go in this particular mosque, women have to have a head scarf, and a full body dress. There are headscarves and these coverings to borrow, they even fit over coats. Every woman wearing one basically looked like a female version of the Michelin man. Since you're there to see a religious building, not to have glamour photos, I didn't care. (That being said, some women inside were definitely trying for glamour shots, sigh.)

The inside of the mosque is beautiful, but women don't get to have all the views. Women have to go up to the women's section, which should be a balcony stretching around three sides of the main hall. When I was there, half of this space was blocked off, so women had even less space.

As I was going down the stairs to leave, a group of three men were going up the stairs, which irritated me to no end. It should've been obvious to them that they were the only men on the stairs, but they missed it. I don't speak much Russian, but I stopped in front of them, and told them the area they were going to was the women's area, not for them. It took them a while to understand what I was saying, but eventually they turned around.

There are a number of chandeliers in the main hall, really plush carpet, marble walls and columns with inlays, etc... There were multiple smaller cupolas in addition to the main rotunda. It is designed to be stunning, and it is. 

I just wish I could've seen the entire thing, like men are able to do.

By the time I walked out of the mosque, it was the beginning of dusk. The night lights on the mosque were coming on, and the nearby business district of Grozny City was starting to light up as well. I watched those for a while, then walked along one of the main streets, looking for a place to find dinner food. 

I ended up eating at Makovskiy, a direct copy of McDonald's in everything but name. The decoration was the same, the menu was the same – except for the item names, etc... The slogan was "I need it," which also sounded pretty familiar.

The next morning I took a looong time to get going, whoops. Despite the crazy snow of the day before, much of the sidewalk and street was already dry, which made me feel a lot better. I hopped off the marshrutka at what I thought was the closest point to Lenin park, as it was labeled on the map on my phone.

I walked the rest of the way, which wasn't as short as I wanted it to be, but oh well. At least I thought I walked all the way to the park, but when I got to the boundaries I did not see anything related to a park. Maybe I didn't go far enough, but I didn't see a park. Argh.

I walked up another main street to what was called Journalists Square, which I think was supposed to honour those who had given their lives in honour of that profession. There was a statue in the middle of the area, but not much else. On one corner was a place called Star Cafe, another copyright infringement in a city full of them.

Star Cafe was a copy of Starbucks, down to the same colours of everything. I'm not going to lie, my hot chocolate was cheaper and tastier from Star Cafe than I've ever had from Starbucks, hee hee.

My next stop was labeled as Heroe's Alley on the map. It wasn't an alley, but there were a number of monuments in the area. The middle of the area is a museum dedicated to Kadyrov, they take the man REALLY seriously in Grozny. There is a straight line of smooth stones in front of the entrance to the museum, I found out the hard way that you're not supposed to step on this part of the pavement. 

Its essentially a permanent red carpet for the guy.

On top of the museum is a tall gold obelisk. I wanted to get closer, but the walkway around the rotunda was blocked off. I imagine that was because of the weather, as walking around there would've been super slippery and dangerous as such.

In another area were busts of various military heroes, (both Chechen and Russian I think,) as well as a couple tanks and a statue of a guy on a horse. This section wasn't particularly interesting, I didn't stay long.

Heading back into the city center, I passed a souvenir shop and stepped in. Grozny doesn't get a lot of tourists, I knew I wouldn't have many chances for things like postcards or magnets. While I was in the shop one of the 5 times daily prayer times started, and an employee rolled out a prayer rug in the direction of Mecca and started his prayers.

My next official sight was the National Museum of the Republic of Chechnya. I think the building was purposely built, and it's unique to say the least. After I walked in I had to sit and wait for a few minutes before buying tickets, I never did learn why. 

For all I know, they wanted a woman to deal with me instead of a man, who knows. I wish I spoke enough Russian to ask why, and understand the answer.

The museum was pretty good, though somewhat confusing in how to go through. You start in the basement, and end up on the 2^nd floor, but in the meanwhile there are side halls and a main atrium. I liked each section, it just didn't flow together very well.

I splurged on dinner that night, eating steak because I didn't want more fast food.

The next day I packed up and checked out, and took the now familiar marshrutka into the city center. This was November 4^th, the official observation of Unity Day. After getting off the marshrutka I followed the streams of people walking to the big platz across from the big mosque. Heaps and heaps of people were walking, some were carrying flags (both Chechnya and Russia,) others placards with photos of the current Chechen president, the first Chechen president, or Vladimir Putin. There were so many people walking, I've never seen anything like it.

I didn't follow the crowds though, as my destination for the day was a totally different place. I walked to the central bus station and caught the next marshrutka to a nearby city called Argun.

Along the way I stopped in Flower Park, which didn't really have any flowers at the time. It seemed like the entire park was designed to create a whole bunch of Instagram backgrounds, I imagined they all looked better in late spring, summer, and early fall. 

There was even a section with 'safari animals' covered in fake green grass or something along those lines.

I went to Argun because I wanted to see another huge mosque. The Aimani Kadyrova Heart of Mother Mosque is named for the wife of the first president of the Chechen Republic.

This mosque is quite new, it only opened in 2014, after 3 years of construction. The dome is bigger than the one in Grozny, at 23 meters, but the minarets are 'only' 55 meters. This mosque is supposed to be able to hold 15,000 people, so I guess that makes it bigger than the one in Grozny. 

The city of Argun has just ~30,000 people, so I don't know where all those people would come from.

To go inside the mosque I had to borrow another full body covering robe, but this time I was the only visitor, which was nice. It was completely quiet inside, which I loved. More plush carpet, more chandeliers, and more delicate decoration everywhere.

The women's section was again a balcony overlooking the main floor, but it was quite big, and felt closer to being equal than the area in Grozny. All in all, another mosque designed to impress, and it succeeded.

The mosque is the only thing to see in Argun and I couldn't find a bus stop nearby, so I ended up calling a taxi to get back to Grozny. I got out not too far from the bus station and started walking back in the direction of the city center.

I'd found a park and mosque on the map, but when I got to that spot I discovered they were behind security gates, and seemed to be part of the property of the President's House. Darnit.

At that point I was getting tired of wandering around. Grozny isn't a picturesque city, I didn't feel like I was seeing much of anything worth remembering. 

I walked back to the big platz that had been filled with people in the morning, there were none of them left by the time I got there.

I noticed a very familiar monument on the side of the platz, a stelae designating Grozny as a city of military glory. Given all the fighting that has taken place here, that seemed only right. There was also another war memorial nearby, but I didn't figure out which war that one was dedicated to, if just one war in particular.

From there I went to my third copyright infringement meal, at a place called Crispy. Dead on copy of KFC, with everything identical except the names of the menu items. 

I stayed there for a while, then walked back to Star Cafe for another hot chocolate.

After that I made my way back to the airport, catching bus #111 to get there. Thankfully my flight back to Moscow went as planned, and I only had to wait an hour for the next train back into Moscow to get home.

I would love to return to Chechnya and explore the countryside. There are plenty of villages in the mountains, beautiful lakes, visible culture, etc... The city of Grozny though, I think I've seen all of it that I want to see.