Underground megalithic complex and bell caves Hurvat Midras (Adulam National Park) and Lusita (Israel) - Earth before the Flood: Disappeared Continents and Civilizations. Serpievsky cave city: conquer the underworld! Caves of the southern Urals bell

Since the end of the 18th century, the descendants of the first settlers have been living in a special way in the Old Believer village of Serpievka. This is in the Southern Urals, in the Katav-Ivanovsky region.

Out of habit, local residents are wary of strangers and keep memories of those times when services were held away from prying eyes in one of the many caves here - Kolokolnaya. The entrance to the cave really looks like a bell. Underground services were held until the 30s of the 20th century. Natural shelter helped the locals to keep a secret in order to avoid repressions of which there were many against the Old Believers at all times. Local residents invented a whole system of conditional signals. A special cord was disguised at the entrance to the cave.

It connected with a bell in one of the distant halls. Only the Old Believers were privy to this secret. Entering the cave, they rang the bell. If steps were heard, but the bell was silent at the same time, then a stranger had come and an urgent need to hide.

Length caves Kolokolnaya 190 meters. In addition to the main passage, there are several branches and secret manholes hidden from random people. No one conducted special experiments, but the old-timers say that fifty people could well hide in the back streets and go unnoticed here. One of the small halls of the cave is called a cell. Washed in the rock with water, and then processed by human hands, there are a bench and a sofa here. They lived in this room, hiding from the royal authorities. However, the Old Believers were far from the first people to appreciate the space Bell Cave. Washing away the soot and soot left by the torches, the scientists found drawings made with red ocher on the stones. It was determined by radiocarbon method that the age of these drawings is 14.5 thousand years. Here was the preparation for the initiation rite. The boys had to pass tests of courage and courage and prove that they were worthy to bear the title of a man. This was an important stage in the life of every member of the tribe.

At the same time, entering the cave, the boys could not use a torch or a torch, but remain in complete darkness. They moved, finding by touch apparently some kind of signs set for them. Each boy had to take out a stone with a sign, as proof of his courage, and show it to the leader.

Ancient runes were found in the Kolokolnaya.

It is considered one of the most beautiful in the Southern Urals. Water enriched with minerals penetrates through the thickness of the earth, flows along the walls and forms amazingly beautiful drawings, bizarre lines, graceful curves. This is a natural phenomenon experts call calcite rivers. People with a rich imagination will be able to see a panther in the cave. She seemed to freeze, listening to what was happening. And you will go from the other side and the panther will turn into a cobra. There is also a rhinoceros and guards and a bull's head. These are all calcite formations.

Shouldn't we go to the underground cities? See the unseen halls hidden from strangers, dip your palms into the icy water of the lakes, admire the fantastic pattern of calcite deposits and bizarre limestone sculptures created over the centuries.

Yes, they are caves! Dark, mysterious, alluring with its unique beauty, ancient secrets and treasures hidden in the depths.

In the coming weekend, frosty and invigorating, you should not sit at home, but rather rush to nature Park"Serpievsky cave city" and become the conqueror of the underworld. Especially the winter the best time to visit the caves!

Just a warning, the caves are not for the neat. The stone walls and floor are wet and dirty, but beautiful and... unusual. In them, it is not always possible to move while standing, and often even squat or crawl on bark. Sometimes you have to lie down on your belly and crawl. Crawl, crawl and crawl...

But today the story will be about two caves, where the skills of plastun movement are not needed for new impressions.

cave city

The valley of the Sim River is famous for the abundance of a wide variety of caves. There are over 150 of them! But the most popular and easily accessible are located near the village of Serpievka, Chelyabinsk region. It is these caves that are called "Serpievsky Cave City". underground city stretched along the river bank for 15 kilometers! Karst caves are located here one after the other. Among them there are funnels, and failures, and niches, and arches, and grottoes. Underground rivers flow in large caves, forming lakes.

Serpievsky castle is not only famous a tourist route but also unique archaeological site of world importance, as in many caves and grottoes traces of the stay of primitive people were found and many bones of prehistoric animals were found.

For ordinary, not accustomed to cramped skins and manholes, but very curious tourists, caves are ideal Bell tower, Mayskaya and world famous Ignatievskaya.

Conquer the underworld

The trail to the caves starts from a steep cliff on the banks of the Sim, from where scenic view to the pine forest and the river valley.

The first cave that you will meet on the way - Mayskaya. The entrance to it is wide, but you need to go bent over. But the kids are just the right size.

Inside, at a distance of about one meter from the floor to the ceiling, there is constantly fog, which settles with moisture on the ceiling and walls and immediately turns into a snow cover, similar to large white moss.

The clay floor of the cave is decorated for the winter with unusual decoration. Water, dripping from the ceiling, gradually creates transparent ice columns that dot the entire floor. Ice stalagmites look like rock crystals that shimmer and shimmer under the rays of lanterns. A very unusual sight! At other times of the year you will not see such beauty!

The whole cave is essentially one big corridor. The exception is the hole at the end, through which you need to go on all fours or crawl. It leads to another large hall. The May Cave is easy, it is impossible to get lost in it.

On the way to the next cave Bell tower, we will meet a couple of small grottoes in the rock, unremarkable, but nevertheless you need to look at them with one eye and be surprised at the beauty of your native land.

The second cave is quite spacious, with a high ceiling. It is unrealistic to get lost in it, because the cave has only one main passage.

The entire floor of the cave, as in Maiskaya, is dotted with ice columns. But there are many more calcium deposits and limestone figures, which turned the smooth, torch-smoked walls into incredible paintings.

People with a good imagination see petrified echoes of the distant past of our planet in the rock carvings: the ridges and bones of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, the trunks and branches of giant trees and ferns, the shells of prehistoric mollusks, and even the imprints of unprecedented paws and claws.

However, who exactly lives in the cave is bats! Small brown creatures hanging from the ceiling can be easily spotted by looking up and lighting up the upper walls. Mice hibernate during the winter, so be careful not to disturb their long sleep.

Once in the Kolokolnaya, in its very bowels, there was an Old Believer church and divine services were held. According to one version, the cave got its name because of the bell that hung in the back room. In order for it to ring, it was necessary to pull the rope hidden at the entrance. Only the initiated could know about it. Thus, the caller warned the others that "one of his own" was going into the cave. On one of the rocky ledges, a bell was hoisted, which rang during a church service.

There is also a hole in the cave, about eight meters long, which can only be overcome by crawling. The guides say that this tunnel was one of the elements of ritual initiations, through which boys crawled in pitch darkness, symbolically passing through the birth canal, saying goodbye to childhood and already becoming adults.

In our times, the Kolokolnaya cave has not lost its mystical appeal either. And it still serves as a place of worship for higher powers, judging by the candles placed in the hall, and the symbol of the sun-svarog on a stone in the cave.

It is said that scientists have found drawings of primitive people here. Now they are all hidden under a layer of soot and inscriptions of contemporaries.

Near the cave Kolokolnaya there is a small rocky arch, called Ring rock, and under the arch are two stones carved in the shape of hearts, which bring happiness to lovers if a certain ritual is performed.

A lot of legends and legends are connected with caves, mountains and rocks in the Urals. They intertwined and legends about the Old Believers-hermits, and faith in magic stones and wonderful places. In the same Belfry there are stones, according to beliefs, that give male strength, treat female problems, help with infertility, and cleanse the body, heart and soul. Believe it or not, it's a personal matter. But locals sincerely believe.

And finally

Is in underground journey its charm. You enjoy an adventure in pitch darkness, (dim lights don't count), from unusual place and atmosphere and go to the surface realizing yourself as a dungeon conqueror, because everything here is REAL. Here, as in the replicated tourist caves (Kungurskaya, for example), there is no foppish concrete path, no electricity that goes out immediately behind the backs of the tourists, no annoying screams of organized groups delivered by Ikarus every 15 minutes - only genuine caves, as they were hundreds of thousands of years ago and you.

By the way, not far from these two caves, there is a very famous Ignatievskaya cave. A whole art gallery of the Paleolithic era was found in it - there are only two similar caves with so many ancient paintings in the world - one is in Spain, the other in France. And, besides, here is the greatest treasure of the Ignatievskaya cave - the miraculous Ignatievskaya Mother of God, created by nature itself. But that story is for the next article.

How to get there?

From Ufa we leave for the Chelyabinsk highway, past the city of Sim, to the fork in Kropacheva. We turn right at the sign Serpievka and drive to the village. We pass it, and right behind the "ancient" ruins of the farm, which the cheerful tourists dubbed the local "Stonehenge", there will be an exit from the road to the pine forest. We leave the cars and go deeper into the forest. After 200-300 meters there will be a rocky cliff and several equipped pavilions and bonfires. You're at the place.

Bell Caves located in the center of Israel. These caves are man-made miracle Sveta. In total, there are about 80 large caves similar to a bell. These caves are located in national park Beit Guvrin. Bell caves appeared as a result of limestone mining in the III-II centuries BC. This extensive network of caves is similar to miracle city underground with amazingly clean air and amazing acoustics.

Such an amazing shape was formed due to the mining method, in which first a hole with a diameter of about a meter was drilled from above, and then the channel was widened, approaching soft rocks. Such forms have survived to this day. This mining method was well thought out. With this technology, the necessary moisture was maintained to facilitate extraction.

Now the sunlight enters through the upper openings and illuminates everything inside with amazing light. There is information that these caves used to be used for congregations of early Christians. In some caves, images of crosses were found on the rocks, reminiscent of templar symbols. Currently, chamber orchestras give concerts in the caves. Most often, such performances are organized during Easter week. The halls of these caves not only look like bells. They also took from them the properties of energy storage and acoustic preservation.

caves located near Jerusalem. If you go by car, then the road will take 20-30 minutes. These caves are concentrated in small areas in huge numbers. The number of holes in the ground is sometimes up to a hundred pieces. When expanding, such channels merge into one large cave.

The caves are remarkable in that traces of several eras of human development have been preserved in them. After the quarries, the caves began to be used as columbarium. This is a room where pigeons were bred, both postal and for food and sacrifices. There are inscriptions from different times on the walls. Currently, rock climbers have chosen the caves.

I continue a series of publications about our weekend trips. This time I will tell you about the hike along the route of the village. Krasnaya Volya - confluence of Kudepsta and Psakho - Kolokolnaya cave - Dry canyon - Trout farm.



On Sunday morning, our small company gathered at the Khosta-most stop. The desire to go was expressed by about 20 people, and as a result, only seven gathered, and this is for the best.
By bus, we got to the village of Krasnaya Volya. On this day, I had the intention to visit two caves (Shirokopokosskaya (Bogomolnaya) and Kolokolnaya), which I had not been to before. I did not know their exact location, and therefore I was guided by the story of a person who recently visited them.
From the stop we went along the road towards the Kudepsta canyon.

We go along the road.

The asphalt road ended, we went down the dirt road to the right, and then at the apiary we went to the marked path that runs along the canyon. As it turned out later, we slipped through the cave a little.
From this path there was a descent down, the path is not very trodden, but there is.

Descent.

A small snake in a crevice.

We did not meet anything particularly interesting there and climbed the main path, along which we descended to the confluence of Psakho and Kudepsta.

The beginning of the Kudepstinsky canyon.

At this point we crossed the river and began to climb along the other side of the canyon. Somewhere in this place there should have been a path to the Bell Cave. The path to the cave is well-trodden, but it can be easily missed. After some searching, we finally found it. It turned out that last time we did not reach the beginning of the trail quite a bit.

We go to the cave.

Soon we came to a cave. The entrance to it is narrow, and the ascent is quite steep, but it is worth visiting the cave.

The cave was dry, only in a few places in the passages it was damp and dirty. We walked along the right path to two high halls. They did not go up to the second tier.

In the Bell Cave.

Dome.

Pass.

To the exit.

After exploring the cave, we made a short halt in the clearing at the entrance, had a snack, ate pancakes (the last day of Maslenitsa after all) and drank delicious tea. After lunch, we returned to the main trail, climbed it to the clearing, and then went through the clearing to the Dry Canyon.

In the meadows

In Dry Canyon.

dry canyon.

Blockages.

We did not stay long in the Dry Canyon. At the very beginning of the canyon there is a path descending to the river, along which we went to Psakho in the area of ​​the waterfall.

Waterfall on the river Psakho.

Here they arranged a small halt, and after that they crossed the river ford.

Ford.

There is a marked trail along the river. It probably leads to a base downstream. We didn’t go to the base, but climbed up the slope without a path, and then went out onto the road near summer cottages.

Climb.

In the woods.

On the road.

The total length of the route is 15-16 km, the difficulty is medium.

Thank you for watching and I wish you a great mood.

The order of the objects here is as follows (from right to left on the map):
Mayskaya Cave (Serpievskaya-1), "Small Serpievskiy Grotto", Kolokolnaya Cave (Serpievskaya-2), Rock-Ring, "Big Serpievskiy Grotto", Water Cave, White Queen Cave (Serpievskaya-3). On the opposite side of the road there is another cave - Solomennaya. I don't recommend even trying to go there. She collapses due to highway. In addition, I heard that in Solomennaya there were cases of the appearance of gas unsuitable for breathing.

2. Map of the location of the caves. Please note that the "White Queen" cave is located at a distance from the main complex. They usually cannot find it precisely because they do not know that they have to go quite far.

From the picture where the caves are marked, it can be seen that a dirt road approaches the caves. Friends, let's not drive into the clearing by car! There is convenient parking next to the highway. Everyone has alarms, no one will touch your car without you noticing.

3. Forest on a rock, in the depths of which there are caves.

4. 200 meters from the road, and you are standing on a rock, located in the middle of the ridges overgrown with taiga.

5. View of the Sim River in early spring. The ridge that runs on the other side of the river is called the Comb.

6. If you look to the left while standing on a rock, you can see a straight line of the highway.

In the middle of the rocks, there is a steep descent to the river. From the descent to the right there will be Mayskaya and Kolokolnaya caves. Don't confuse them with others. Below I will give photos of the entrances to all the caves.

7. Entrance to the Maiskaya Cave (Serpievskaya-1).

8. View from the cave.

9. Immediately after entering Mayskaya, a long and rather low move begins. It is more convenient to move here the way chimpanzees move. Speleologists call this way of moving "crustacean".

10. Until April, stalagmites of ice remain in the entrance part of the cave.

11. In the far part of the passage leading from the beginning of the cave, the ceilings are covered with mondmilch. This is a special state of calcium - crystals in the form of plates. To the touch, the substance is similar to cottage cheese and water can be squeezed out of it. Unfortunately, the visitors spoiled everything.

After a small, but unpleasant skinning, we find ourselves in a huge hall covered with white streaks.
This is the only place in the cave where you can stand up to your full height!

12. Great Hall.

In the hall there is a huge mountain of stone blocks. Over the centuries, they have become numb with a calcite crust, making them slippery. The most convenient way to climb to the top is on the right side of the mountain.

13. View from the top of the mountain. See how much the blocks are overgrown with streaks.

14. Ceiling slabs hang overhead. They are so even that it is hard to believe that this is a creation of nature, and not of man. There are many white stains on the walls.

15. In the wall of the grotto opposite from the skinner, a piece of wall fell out. The destruction in this place continues. Every time I see fresh stones and clay under the hole. One day, a second entrance to the cave will open here.

Between the Mayskaya and Kolokolnaya caves there is a recess in the rock, the vault of which is covered with soot from fires. This is the "Small Serpievsky Grotto". Primitive people lived here and burned fires, and modern savages are not averse to smoking ancient stones.

16. "Small Serpievsky Grotto".

Cave Kolokolnaya (or Serpievskaya-2) is famous for the fact that divine services were held here and the cave was used as a temple. They say that scientists have found drawings of primitive people here. Now they are all hidden under a layer of soot and inscriptions of contemporaries. There is a lot of soot in the cave. The soot is left by torches that travelers used to light their way.

17. Entrance to the Kolokolnaya cave.

There is a legend that a large bell used to hang in the cave. Allegedly, that's why it was called the Bell. Personally, I think this is not true. The entrance to the cave, if you look from the inside, is very much like a bell. Look at the next photo.

18. View from the Kolokolnaya cave.

Not far from the entrance, the cave is divided into two passages. You can go for anyone. They connect in 15..20 meters. At the junction is a large hall.
In the right wall of this hall there is a passage leading to the second floor.

19. Move to the second floor.

Nothing to see on the second floor. It's dangerous to climb there. You can easily fall down from a decent height. But if you climb to the level of the second floor, then you get good photos from below.

20. Moves.

The floors of the cave are covered with dense clay. She was pressed down over many years of intensive visitation. There are many fragments of bottles and cigarette butts in the clay. The villains are not appeased, unfortunately.

21. In the place shown in the photo, there are mysterious artificial notches on the ceiling slab. They say that in the grotto where this plate is located, there used to be an altar.

By the way, modern people also walk with torches, which puts me in a state of complete misunderstanding! Flashlights cost a penny. But people stubbornly continue to breathe fumes and smoke the walls of the caves.
Nature does not give up. In places, on top of the soot, fresh sinter formations began to appear. The cave hides injuries received from people.

23. White stains on the wall.

A narrow smoky passage leads to a small crack, from which we get into the ruined gur baths.

24. Once upon a time, water overflowed from one snow-white bathroom to another. At the bottom of the baths lay cave pearls. Now everything is smoked and broken.

25. Those who did not give up and climbed through a narrow hole to the very end, a huge swell awaits, similar to a woman's breasts.

26. Plan of the cave.

In the second part I will talk about the caves Vodyanaya and "White Queen". And also, about the Rock-Ring and the "Big Serpievsky Grotto".

Continuation