Shoana Church
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Shoana Church (Russian: Шоанинский храм), also known as Khumara Church (Хумаринский храм), is an early 10th-century Alanian church sited on a cliff above the left bank of the Kuban River, 7 km upstream from Karachayevsk and 4 km downstream from the ruins of Skhimar, in the vicinity of Kosta Khetagurov Village. It is a typical Byzantine-style church, 12,9 meters high, with three naves, separated by four pillars. The building was first explored and depicted by Joseph Bernardazzi in 1829; a more scholarly description was given by Abraham Firkovich in 1848. Two medieval books from this church are now in the Gottingen University.
