monuments confirming the centuries-old Christianity among the Ingush in particular, and the Vainakhs in general. The scientist's study describes numerous testimonies of historians and travelers of the early and middle Middle Ages, according to which churches or even, possibly, a monastery were built on the territory of the Ingush lands. In particular, according to the testimonies of Russian German scientists Johann Güldenstädt and Peter Simon Pallas, who visited Ingushetia in the 18th century, in the Tkhaba-Yerdy Church (an example of architecture of the 9th-10th centuries) ancient documents were kept, written, according to them the interlocutor-monk, «in gold, blue and black letters», that above the doors of the temple there is an inscription in «Gothic letters». Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late XIX - early XX centuries, indicated the presence of Christians and pagans among the Ingush: Islam Islam began to penetrate to the ancestors of the Ingush as early as the 8th century as a result of military campaigns of the Arabs against the Khazars and Alans, which ran through the Darial and Derbent gorges. This period includes a bronze figure of an eagle («The Eagle of Suleyman») from the tower settlement of Erzi in the Kistin Gorge of mountainous Ingushetia, which probably came here in the form of a military trophy and today is the oldest accurately dated bronze product of Islamic art. The eagle served as the coat of arms of the village of Erzi (from the Ingush. "Eagle") and was passed from generation to generation to the eldest family member. And the name of the village of Dzheyrakh in mountainous Ingushetia is associated with the name of the Arab commander Jarrah ibn-Abdullah. Also, the legends of the Ingush connect the spread of Islam among them with another Arab commander named Abu Muslim. Some researchers tend to associate the penetration of Islam with the presence of the Mongol-Tatars in the flat regions of Ingushetia, especially with the coming to power of Khan Uzbek (r. 1312–1340), when Islamization began to be carried out more intensively. V. B. Vinogradov believed that the headquarters of Khan Uzbek was located in the area of the modern Ingush village of Plievo, the city of Karabulak and the mausoleum of Borga-Kash. This unique architectural monument was built in 1405-1406. There is an opinion that here may be buried the ruler Burakan (Borokhan), mentioned in the chronicles "Zafar-name" ("Book of Victories")