Rekom

Rekom is a wooden sanctuary standing in a clearing of fir and pine forest in the Tsey gorge, high in the mountains of North Ossetia–Alania in southern Russia, close to the border with South Ossetia, at an altitude of nearly two thousand metres. It is reached by a short climb on foot from the road through the valley, a few kilometres before the ski resort of Tsey, and it is one of the most revered holy places of the Ossetians.

The Ossetians speak an Iranian language and descend from the Alans, a people of the steppe related to the Sarmatians and Scythians, who settled in the central Caucasus in the early Middle Ages. Their traditional faith, still widely observed alongside Orthodox Christianity and Islam, honours a supreme god and a group of patron saints. Rekom is dedicated to Uastyrdzhi, the patron of men, travellers and warriors, whose name and form are linked with Saint George. By Ossetian tradition, women do not enter the sanctuary.

The sanctuary is a log building with a steep pitched roof, hung with the horns of wild goats and other offerings left by worshippers. It is thought to be medieval in origin and has been rebuilt more than once; a restoration completed in 2016 renewed the building in its traditional form. Ossetians come here to pray and to make offerings, and many visitors pause at Rekom on their way up the gorge to the glaciers above.