Archeologists have found ruins of an ancient Christian church and stone cross next to it in the Targim cavin of the Dzheyrah Region of Ingushetia.

      The construction is more than one thousand years old, the scientists assume.

      According to the Ingush archeologist Umalat Gadiyev, the church was most likely constructed in the 10th - 13th centuries, during the blossoming of Christianity in the North Caucasus. Walls of an ancient prayer hall, about 80 centimeters thick and a few meters high with remains of a dome above were found. The dome was most likely destroyed by a powerful sill flow.

      Four ancient Christian churches have been found in Ingushetia. The most valuable among them is Tkhaba-Erdy - one of the most ancient temples of the Christians in Russia. Built in the 7th -9th centuries it is also situated in the Targim cavin. Another Targim church, about six meters high, is just several tens meters away from the recently discovered historical relic, which is smaller in size than other ancient churches in Ingushetia.