Syanovsky caves. Syana Caves Punkevnye Caves on the map

My husband (35 years old) and my nephew (25 years old) visited this delightful excursion on 02/16/13. Everyone is delighted. We lead a very active lifestyle, we go somewhere every weekend, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that this is our best weekend in several years.
On the Kashirskoye Highway, 15 km from the Moscow Ring Road, there are old quarries from the era of Ivan the Terrible - the Syana Caves. I found out about them by reading in the Orange Guide. The author of the guidebook puts these caves in the TOP13 main attractions of the Moscow region as an alternative route. White stone was mined here for the construction of the Kremlin, cathedrals and monasteries in Moscow. The last batches of mined stone were used to strengthen the runways of the Domodedovo airfield. During the war there was a hospital there. After the war, the caves began to be actively visited, and the authorities decided to prohibit this and closed the caves. The caves were rediscovered only in 1988. Now the caves are completely safe, there is a flow of excursions there. The caves are a series of passages and holes with a total length of 27 (!!!) km.
To go for a walk in the cave you need 2 flashlights (plus a set of batteries just in case) and a guide. You should find a guide before you get lost in the cave, and it’s better to do this at home, on the Internet. We went with Dagon (vk.com/egordagon). The cave has its own community of people who go there all the time, they have their own Syanov names, and also have their own slang. Dagon is a great guide, a guide from God, and also a smart guy, thorough. Will find a common language with any company. The guide will create a route for you that is optimal for a particular company, guide you, and tell you real stories and cave tales.
The cave is constantly +10 degrees. Season: winter, from November. The fact is that in the summer there are a lot of interesting things outside, although in the summer they also go, no one locks the cave. It’s worth dressing in your very old clothes, because you’ll have to make your way leaning against the walls, sometimes crawling, and there’s a bit of wet mud at the entrance.
I’ll say right away that all my phobias are inflamed to the limit - both confined spaces and darkness. At home, if I'm alone, I sleep with the light on. I felt completely comfortable in the cave, even in the narrow passages.
The worst thing is the entry and exit. When I climbed into the cave, I had the thought: “Yes, I suspected that I had gone crazy, now I know it for sure!”))) You must climb right away with the flashlight on. A minute later I came to my senses and there were no further fears.
A cave is not just manholes, grottoes and everything. Many grottoes are adapted not only for spending time, but also for living. Some spend the night there. There is a concert venue (Rozhdestvensky Grotto), a temple with paintings worthy of a real temple, there are sculptures carved into the rock, as well as inscriptions with sparkling humor. There is a map of the caves on the Internet, but I strongly advise you to take a guide and grab the map just for fun.
We spent 4 hours in the cave and even ate. It’s an interesting thing, but despite the serious physical activity, I don’t want to eat in the cave. Almost everything was brought home. The cave is worth visiting for those who want to conquer their appetite.)) Despite the fact that polluted Moscow is nearby, the air in the cave is amazing. I feel this in my gut, and yesterday I felt like a newborn baby.
The cave has very high humidity. In the grottoes, it seems that there is smoke in front of you, and even in the photographs there is a reflection of the camera, like from a window on a bus.
The contingent of visitors is very different. Of course, the excursion has age restrictions. We met 2-3 groups of professionals - men 40-45 years old, 3-4 companies of teenagers, and one family with three children. When meeting, everyone says “good” to each other, since it is not clear exactly what is good now – either morning or evening..
The husband said that after communicating with the guide and the community in the cave, he felt what was meant by the words “Russian soulfulness.” This is not the ability to drink a bucket of water and not daring foolishness, it is the ability to rally in the face of difficulties and help a friend. In the cave, everyone exchanges things as if it were already communism. And on all corners they leave everything that could be useful to others - batteries, cigarettes... It seems that Moscow is nearby, but there is no malice in people.
I recommend the excursion to both Moscow residents and tourists. If I choose where to go - somewhere to a museum, where evil witch servants consider the goal of their lives to bark at visitors, or to a cave with its new emotions and nice people, then my choice is the cave. Happy travels everyone!
PS. One person who accuses me of writing custom reviews will not calm down here... I wonder who ordered this review of mine - the manufacturers of sausages for my sandwiches or Ivan the Terrible himself... So that there are no questions - all the photos this time have all the members companies.

The Syanovsky quarries have attracted us for a long time, especially after a walk through the old caves. They are located not far from Moscow - in the Domodedovo district, the network of passages is extensive and extensive, and there are a lot of people there on weekends.

And when we came across an advertisement that you could take a tour of Syanami with a guide, we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.

And so, on Sunday morning, we took bus 439 from the Domodedovskaya metro station. You need to get off at the “School” stop in the village of Novlenskaya. Then you need to go to the Pakhra River, cross the dam and follow the path to the left. In a large recessed funnel, at the very bottom, there is a bus stop with a heap of garbage. Under the roof of the stop is the so-called. “Cathole” is an entrance to the caves, opened in 1988. Before this, all entrances to the quarries were filled with concrete or destroyed. Until now, the “Cat's Lair” is the only entry point to the Syanovsky quarries.

Descent into the quarries - “Cathole”

I would like to warn you right away: the excursion is carried out at a fairly fast pace and lasts about 4 hours. Most you have to walk on half-bent legs, sometimes at a goose step, so that the next day your legs hurt noticeably. In some places we climbed on our bellies, one after another. In some places they pulled themselves up, in others they climbed forward with their feet. They all came out dirty as pigs. But very happy.

In general, the people living there are cheerful - and some, indeed, spend several days, almost weeks there. All the time along the way there are various signs, such as: Stop of the first carriage, Korolev (our guide announced: and now we are near Korolev). On a stone suspended from chains lies a clothed skeleton named Aristarchus - “spirit of the cave.” There are numerous examples of rock paintings on the walls.

Triangular manhole

Aristarchus - spirit of the cave

The first one went

Narrow passages (each with its own name) alternate with large halls. There are also dining rooms with tables and gas stoves, rookeries, and a “column” hall with a pole in the middle - for discos. There is also a temple - with frescoes on the walls, icons and burning candles. They say that the Satanists gathered in the cave for some time, laid out a certain sign out of stones, and installed a magic stone in the center - but were eventually evicted from the caves.

The opening looks narrow, but this is not the most bottleneck which we climbed

Temple in Syanakh

"Frescoes"

Prayer text

Disco with a pole in the middle

Here and there in the cave water oozes and collects in a trough - this water is used as drinking water.

In one of the halls, we sat around a table and had lunch.

Dining room

Since it was Sunday, there were quite a few people in the cave. From time to time we came across a group, or even single visitors. In one place people were lying and smoking hookah. And we didn’t get to the famous “skinner” Shchuchok, as some kind of large group. They say that after passing through Pike, people remembered how they were born into this world.

But we went through a baptism of fire in Gromov’s hole. You have to get into the hole with your feet first. First you screw into a horizontal hole, then it turns into a vertical one. Your legs are hanging in the air, and your hands have nothing to hold on to. They tell you from below: the ground is close. And then you flop down and find yourself in a narrow horizontal cavity. Getting out of it to the top is much more difficult, since there is nothing to rest your feet on and the size of the crevice does not allow you to turn around. In general, everyone struggled to get out of the treacherous hole.

There was also a triangular hole on our route, and we had to take a triangular shape, and then, as we moved, twist so that our feet were in front, and slide down feet first. And there was another hole where we crawled on our stomachs one after another. I can’t imagine what’s going on on Shchuchka - it seemed to me that in this hole we were barely squeezing forward. The backpacks, of course, were taken off and they were pushed ahead of them.

Some images

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Not all Muscovites know that some twelve kilometers from their city there is a large cave system. This fact may seem unexpected, but it has a logical explanation. These caves - Syans - were made by human hands and for a reason. In Syany, limestone rocks were mined for the construction of white-stone Moscow.

A little history

These passages have the largest length of passages in the Moscow region. And in Russia they occupy 5th place. The total length of the underground passages is 19 km, and these are only known and verified ones. There is a possibility that the Syana caves near Moscow may turn out to be more extensive. At the same time, their position in the ranking of caves will rise.

Large caves in the Moscow region began to be created in the 13th century. The fastest increase in underground passages occurred in the 15th century, when construction using limestone actively developed. Peasants mined it in adits only in winter. This is due to two reasons:

  1. During the rest of the year, peasant people worked on the land, growing grain and raising livestock.
  2. In winter, the risk of tunnel collapse decreased. In the past people did not have sufficient experience and means for securing and supporting the vaults. In winter, the ground froze from severe frosts, and moving areas froze.

Stones were mined in these adits until the 20th century. Work underground completely ceased in 1917. In the thirties of the last century, a number of stones were removed from the caves in order to strengthen the runway at Domodedovo Airport. From that time on, limestone rocks were no longer removed from Syan. During the Great Patriotic War, a hospital for wounded soldiers was set up in the dungeon.

14 years of silence

Already in the 1960s, speleologists became interested in these caves. And a lot of them began to appear here. The caves began to live a second life. A few years later, the government decided to wall up all entrances and exits for security reasons. The dungeons were empty for 14 years, after which activists opened one of the exits. In 2007, it was brought back to normal, concrete rings were lowered and a staircase was built. This did not diminish the extremeness.

The Syana caves are not considered a sanitized place for tourists. Visitors are required to follow guidelines for behavior in the caves; excursions are regularly held here, and some even celebrate holidays. For example, celebrating the arrival of the New Year in a dungeon is not so commonplace.

Life underground

Making fires is strictly prohibited by established rules of conduct, because other speleologists may suffer from the carbon monoxide released. Some visitors stay in the cave for more than one day and are forced to cook food and boil water using gas and alcohol. These features of being underground give a certain zest to such trips. This may surprise you, but there are people who may not come to the surface at all for a number of days. You can lie down and sleep in special extensions of the passages. Artist performances and dances are sometimes organized underground.

Many tourists are attracted by Syana's cave. Unfortunately, not all fans know how to get there. extreme type recreation.

Conditions in the dungeon

Conditions in the cave do not change all year round. Constantly 7 to 10 degrees above zero, and humidity - about 80 percent. If you have warm and comfortable clothes, then you will not experience any discomfort. This is the case if you do not have claustrophobia. Ceiling heights can range from 0.3 to 2.5 meters. The width of the passage is about 1.5 meters.

All passages studied by speleologists are on special maps, which will help tourists not to get lost. All the passages and halls in the cave are named. In addition, when traveling through the adits, you can meet professional speleologists who are always ready to help or give advice. Every tourist will be enchanted by the caves of Syana. The photos in these places look mysterious and mystical.

As soon as you go down to Sjany through the active entrance (there is only one for now) called “Cat Hole”, you will notice a notebook. This is an improvised visitor log. Everyone who enters and exits must make an appropriate entry in this notebook. It was created to help rescue teams in the event of an emergency, quickly and accurately have data on how many people are currently in the dungeon.

It is worth keeping in mind that when meeting underground, regular guests dungeons greet each other with the phrase: “Good day.” Without the usual ending in the form of time of day, because there is no way to determine what really is now. There is still no need to shine a light in each other's faces, especially strangers. This is unpleasant, so in Syany it is accepted as a rule.

The underworld looks like another reality. While walking, you can get into the hall called “Aristarchus”. A human skeleton was found in this place long ago. Now Aristarchus, considered a local deity, is hanged in metal shackles. There is a legend that in order to receive protection from a deity, one should leave gifts. For this reason, the entire hall is littered with the belongings of guests and worshipers of the deity. In Syany you cannot throw away or leave behind any garbage. This simple rule is strictly observed by everyone without exception, even though its implementation is not monitored.

In the system of passages of the Syan caves you can stumble upon an interesting grotto, called the “Milky Way”. For simplicity, it is called briefly: “Millery”. The vault is formed by amazing rocks that play with millions of lights in response to the lantern's beam. Reminds me of a starry sky. When the light is turned off, it will continue to shine with phosphorescent lights for some time. What you saw will be remembered for a lifetime.

There is one more thing in the system interesting place- “Pike hole.” It has a very small height and width, but it is quite long. “Pike” will give you an adrenaline rush, if, of course, you overcome your natural fear of confined spaces.

How to get to the cave?

Six kilometers away from Gorki Leninskikh you need to go along the main road towards Yam. After the bridge, turn left to the village of Novlyanskoye. At the end of this settlement you need to cross the Pakhra river, there is a platinum there. Further we keep the path along the river to the left. The entrance to the caves is located in the second ravine on the right, nearby

Vacation in the Dungeon

Vacation is not only a time of relaxation and well-deserved idleness. This is also an opportunity to get a lot of new impressions. For example, in... caves. Yes, yes, it is very exciting to explore the underground depths. And to help tourists, experts have compiled a list of the five most famous and beautiful caves in Russia. Moreover, one of them is located very close to us - in neighboring Khakassia. But first things first.

Akhshtyrskaya cave. Adler

Akhshtyrskaya Cave is the most significant cave near the Sochi coast, popular among tourists. Both adults and children can get to it - the cave is located on a cliff above Mzymta. A narrow winding path leads to the cave itself, sandwiched between a rock and a cliff.

Why is this particular cave on everyone’s lips and not some other? Yes, because only here you can see a clearly expressed cultural layering of ancient times. At least two human ancestors - Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons - once lived in the Akhshtyrskaya Cave. Coming here is like visiting a museum of the history of the Caucasian race. Scientists believe that the first settlers began to settle here 70 thousand years ago. True, after about 20 thousand years, due to a natural disaster, Neanderthals left their native lands. But the sharp drop in temperature was hardly noticed by the bears, who became full-fledged owners of the cave for the next fifteen thousand years. The return of upright primates occurred in the Early Bronze Age. Their intellectual level has grown, and this is reflected in the quality of their everyday life. All the details of the life of the Cro-Magnons were revealed by a five-meter “cultural layer”, mastered by archaeologists back in the last century.

Moreover, in addition to its historical significance, the cave is quite picturesque. Spacious halls give way to narrow, oppressive corridors.

Vorontsov Cave. Sochi

The Vorontsov cave system is a real underground miracle created by nature millions of years ago. The beauty and grandeur of this place attracts a huge number of tourists who come to spend their holidays in Sochi. The caves are located in the Khostinsky district, and anyone can get to them today. The complex owes its name to the village of Vorontsovka, which is located nearby.

Vorontsov caves in Sochi occupy third place among the longest caves in Russia. The total length of the entire system is 12 kilometers. It includes several caves: Vorontsovskaya cave (its length reaches four kilometers), Labyrinthovaya (3.8 kilometers), Kabanya (2.3 kilometers) and Dolgaya (despite the name, the shortest of the Vorontsov caves is one and a half kilometers long).

Once upon a time, in the place where the Vorontsov Caves are now located, there was a huge ancient ocean called Tethys. Millions of years ago, terrible cataclysms occurred on our planet: the seas dried up, the continents collapsed, and mountains, on the contrary, rose from the depths of the sea. So once upon a time the territory of the Caucasus rose to its present height, and the seabed of the dried up ocean turned into mountain ranges. Even today, layers of marine sediments and fossilized particles are clearly visible in the caves. sea ​​creatures: shells and hedgehogs. Each of the layers can tell a lot of interesting things about its era. In the Vorontsov Caves different time There lived saber-toothed tigers, woolly rhinoceroses, cave bears, wolves, wild boars, and even leopards. Researchers and archaeologists have found in caves the remains of hearths, traces of sites and rookeries of ancient tribes.

Kashkulak Cave (Cave of the Black Devil), Khakassia

It acted as a cult place for shamans, where they worshiped the stalagmite, which is a symbol of procreation and fertility, and also made sacrifices. Now the cave, located just 20 kilometers from the Shire, can be freely accessed on a guided tour.

If you have a delicate sensitivity or want to touch the mystery, then you need to visit this mysterious place! Moreover, the cave attracts not only mystical stories, but also the few surviving examples of rock art.

The Kashkulak cave welcomes guests in different ways: it is favorable to some and helps to cleanse itself, while it brings horror, fear and hallucinations to others. Some people see the image of a Shaman in a fox hat, hear the voice of a tambourine, experience inexplicable fear and even get lost in time, but many succumb to the influence of this anomalous place. However, paleontologists, geologists and speleologists do not observe any devilry here, but unanimously urge not to burn shamanic fires, but to take care of the fragile and unique ecosystem of this amazing natural monument. In its underground galleries all forms of cave formations are observed - stalactites, stalagmites, growths, limestone flows. The total length of these labyrinths is eight hundred and twenty meters. The depth also does not bring the Kashkulak cave into the category of record holders - forty-nine meters.

Kapova Cave (Shulgan-tash), Bashkiria

The Bashkir name of the cave is Shulgan-Tash. The word “tash” in Bashkir means “stone”, and “shulgan” means “disappeared”. To the left of the entrance - Blue Lake, which is small in size - about three meters in diameter. The underground river Shulgan flows from it, flowing into the Belaya River. At first, this river flows along the surface, disappearing 2.5 kilometers north of the entrance to the cave. This river can also be found inside the cave.

The length of the Kapova Cave is 3,328 meters (of which 728 meters are under water). Has three floors. Consists of corridors, galleries, huge halls. There are underground lakes. An interesting thing is the huge stalagmite, three meters high and about eight meters wide at the base. The length of the first floor of the cave is only about 300 meters. You can climb to the second floor through a vertical well. And on ground floor The Shulgan River flows, continuing to form new karst cavities.

Kapova Cave has gained worldwide fame thanks to its Paleolithic paintings. Age rock paintings impressive: about 14-14.5 thousand years. There are 195 images in total, but only about three dozen are relatively well preserved. The size of the drawings is extremely large - from 44 to 112 centimeters. Almost all the drawings are made in red ocher, but there are a few made in charcoal. Our distant ancestors depicted mammoths, horses, and other animals in cave grottoes. There are also anthropomorphic figures, as well as signs that are more difficult to interpret.

Kungur cave, Perm region

The Kungur cave is rightfully considered the most beautiful in Russia. Its entire surface is covered with eternal layers of ice and frost. According to scientists, the age of the ice layers reaches about ten thousand years.

Ice droplets here gather into magnificent crystals, shimmering in many colors. This is achieved thanks to a lighting system based on laser illumination. There are also man-made ice sculptures here.

Surprisingly, despite the eternally reigning cold, a person once lived in the cave. This is evidenced by the hermit's hut discovered here, a dug well, as well as a lost bast shoe.

Accent:

Krasnoyarsk, or rather near our city, has its own protected dungeons. In particular, the Karaulnaya cave. This is a whole scientific and recreational environmental complex, which has a lot of interesting things. Those interested can visit Karaulnaya with a specially organized excursion.

Photo hotel-shira.ru

People are always drawn to secrets, and where can there be more of them than in dungeons? Many people are well aware of the catacombs of Rome, Paris or Odessa. The Greek word "catacombs" can be translated as "labyrinth" or "interweaving of underground passages." These places retain their age-old charm and attract many tourists, although visiting these artificial caves comes with certain risks. Often there are reports that someone is lost there, and rescuers conduct multi-day searches.

7925-904-76-87 Darina (call from 11:00 to 23:00) - organizer of excursions to Syny

Syany - artificial caves

The Moscow region also has its own catacombs. These are Syany or Syanovsky quarries - a system of artificially created caves. They are located near the village of Starosyanovo, on the left bank of the Pakhra River, 12 km from the Moscow Ring Road. The length of the drifts is close to 20 km, their main direction is east and northeast. The height of the passages is from 0.4 m to 3.5 m. The appearance of all artificial caves is associated with human activity. Sandstone was brought from quarries near Moscow for the construction of Moscow churches and cathedrals, starting in the 17th century. Stone mining was especially active in the 19th century and finally stopped only at the beginning of the 20th.

Previously, there were several entrances to the caves, but in 1974 they were all filled up. Allegedly, a boy climbed into the quarries and disappeared there.

In 1988, students from Moscow universities dug up one of the entrances to the Cat's Manhole cave at their own risk. Since the pilgrimage to these places was already gaining momentum, in 2007, with the help of the same enthusiasts, the entrance was strengthened and expanded, and a metal staircase was welded.

Attractions Xian

The second Sunday in September is the day of the grand opening of the caves. It gathers up to 2 thousand people. Newcomers undergo a kind of “initiation” from Aristarcha. It's an old jumpsuit with a skull head. A peculiar subculture with myths, traditions and rituals has developed around the object. Aristarchus is the chief keeper of the caves. They bring him gifts - money, cigarettes, etc. Next, the “neophytes” must crawl into the narrowest holes, which are called “ Pike" And " Pocket" Beginners who are overweight cannot handle this task; they remain uninitiated. And rightly so, overeating is harmful.

To help newcomers, regulars drew maps of moves and marked “attractions.” In addition to those already mentioned Aristarcha, Pike And Karmana, There is Milky- grotto black with soot. Drops of water create picturesque patterns on the soot, reminiscent of moire embossing. A naked woman flies along one of the walls of the grotto on a broom - Margarita. Venus Laz- a narrow passage in the shape of the Latin letter V, connecting two halls. Only a girl with the figure of the goddess mentioned in the title can get into it. Trains only- intersection of main passages. Visitors like to gather here to chat and eat. There are tables and chairs in the cave.

The most famous myth is the story of the White Speleologist, who helps good people and harms bad people, circling them around caves for a long time, luring them into dangerous places.

Safety system

The security system is very well thought out. At the entrance to Syany there is a visitor log. In this notebook, everyone must write down their first name, last name and address, so that if a person is lost, rescuers immediately begin a search. It is forbidden to burn fires; combustion releases carbon dioxide, which disturbs the microclimate of the cave. Rules of decency dictate that you say hello, don’t leave trash, and don’t shine a flashlight in the face of someone you meet.

To summarize, we can say that Syany can be considered an unusual tourist attraction, suitable for visiting by both extreme sports enthusiasts and ordinary people, although not very demanding of comfort.