Kungur ice cave description and photos - Russia - Volga region: Perm region (Topic)

Kungur Ice Cave description and photos - Russia - Volga region: Perm Territory. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

One of the most mysterious and popular sights of the Urals is an ice cave near the city of Kungur. The cave was formed about 10-12 thousand years ago and continues to grow and develop to this day. The length of the Kungur Ice Cave is about 5,700 meters, while only 1,500 meters are open for tourists to see (along this length, the lights are on for entertainment and paths are cleared). There are 48 grottoes in the cave, one of which (Geographers) with a volume of 50 thousand cubic meters, more than 60 lakes and 146 so-called "organ pipes" - high mines, up to 22 meters high, reaching almost to the surface.

Semyon Remezov in 1703 first drew up a plan of the Kungur cave, and later VN Tatishchev gave the correct explanation of the origin of underground voids. The first excursions to the "Ice Tale" were organized by AT Khlebnikov (grandson of the famous traveler), who rented the attraction from local peasants in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Like all the mysterious places of the planet, the Kungur ice cave has overgrown with legends over time. According to one of them, the difficult anhydrite steps in front of the Central grotto are called "Ladies' tears" in honor of the daughter of the German princess Louise, who broke her knee when visiting the cave. Later, when the girl grew up, she married the Swedish king, becoming a real queen and the elder sister of the last empress of Russia - Alexandra Fedorovna.

At the top of the ice cave mountain there is an archaeological monument "Ermakovo settlement", according to the legend of the local population, located at the wintering place of Ermak's squad before the trip to Siberia.

In 2011, the Kungur Ice Cave was included in the top ten most impressive caves in the world.

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Topic: Kungur ice cave description and photos - Russia - Volga region: Perm region.