This is a book about mysterious Tuva – for a lot of people a country situated very far, but for me a very close country – my little motherland. Even though the Republic of Tuva is situated behind the mountain range of high Sayan, among taiga and steppes in the centre of Asia, its history and culture are inseparable part of the immensely rich historic heritage of Russia.

“Mysterious Tuva” was written by a famous scientist, Honored worker of Science of the Russian Federation, professor S.I. Winestein. Practically a half of his life he dedicated to the studies of the history of the culture of Tuva, he made expeditionary research in different areas of the region, in different groups of its nomadic and settled population, trying to get as close as possible to traditions of my nation. The research of professor S.I. Winestein is a rare example of a successful combination of ethnographic observations and archaeological excavations. He succeeded to discover monuments of the great periods on the territory of Tuva – from ancient stations of primitive people in the basin of river Yenisey to mysterious middle age towns.

In 1957 S.I. Winestein began the excavations of the Por-Bazhyn fortress, discovered at the end of XIX century by Russian scientist D.A. Klementz on the Tere-Khol lake, and then forgotten by historians. These excavations permitted to find behind high walls of the fortress a magnificent castle, built in VIII century.

Today S.I.Winestein is the scientific consultant of the historic and cultural project on studies for protection of historic heritage of the fortress Por-Bazhyn, which is performed with the support of the EMERCOM of Russia.

I’m sure that the book of S.I.Winestein will offer to readers an opportunity to imagine him a member of the many-year expedition for studying the unique culture of Tuva and to discover its rich historic heritage.

Minister of the Russian Federation for the Affairs of Civil Defense, Extraordinary Situations and Disaster Relief

S.K.Shoigu