In the Republic of Tuva, almost on the very border with Mongolia, in the mountains at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level, there is Lake Tere-Khol. A mountain reservoir, of which there are thousands in Russia. But it is unique in that in the middle of it, on the island, there are the ruins of an ancient fortress.
The Por-Bazhyn fortress (in Tuvan - "clay house") on the Tere-Khol lake was built in the middle of the 8th century by order of the head of the Uygur kagan Eletmish Bilge-kagan. In 750 he came with troops to the territory of present-day Tuva with the aim of capturing it. In order to gain a foothold in the conquered territory, he erected a fortress. Its walls were ten meters high. The central palace, which stood on a high platform, belonged to Eletmish Bilge-kagan himself. The ancient builders had to bring in thousands of tons of clay and burnt bricks. The monument has a complex architecture - inside a regular rectangle there is a whole labyrinth of buildings that resemble a Buddhist or Hindu mandala.
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