Camel pasture food with a prickly name. Camel thorn name
Karelia- this is the pearl of the Russian North. Its modest beauty, bottomless lakes and relict forests no one is left indifferent. There, not far from the border with Finland, there is a unique natural monument and at the same time a museum under open air called Ruskeala.
MARBLE PANTRY
Mid-18th century. Newly proclaimed capital Russian state is developing rapidly. They build palaces, pave squares, create parks. St. Petersburg needs marble. Urgently and a lot. Preferably domestic, inexpensive and nearby.
Catherine II orders “geographical research throughout Russia.” Soon rich deposits of white-smoky, like St. Petersburg summer nights, marbles were found.
Ruskeala (from Karelian reskea - “brown, brown”) is a small village in the Northern Ladoga region. It would easily be lost on the map if it weren’t for unique nature and a glorious story.
For centuries these lands have been the subject of military disputes three states and went over to the Swedes, then to the Finns, then to the Russians. Therefore, the first developers of the Ruskeala marble quarries were the Swedes. They built the first quarries there at the end of the 17th century.
After the end of the Northern War, the Ladoga region remained with Russia, and the Ruskeala canyons came under the jurisdiction of Field Marshal Buturlin. Marble mining was temporarily abandoned.
Stone mining stopped and the ancient abandoned Ruskeala quarries turned into beautiful mountain lakes.
But in 1768, at the instigation of local pastor Samuil Alopeus, work began to boil again in Ruskeala. Master masons, architects and mining engineers came from all over. In just a few years, an inconspicuous border village became industrial center. Over the next 50 years, more than 200 thousand tons of marble were mined. The stone blocks were loaded onto a sleigh drawn by 80 horses and transported to the pier. There they were transferred to small sailing ships and floated along Lake Ladoga to St. Petersburg.
Second half of the 18th and early XIX century can be called without exaggeration the era of Ruskeala marble . This noble ash stone has decorated the interiors of many capital objects:
- Oryol Gate (Tsarskoye Selo);
- Roman fountains (Peterhof);
- columns of the Gatchina Palace;
- Chesma Obelisk (Gatchina);
- facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle and others.
But the most famous building, in the decoration of which Ruskeala marble was used, is St. Isaac's Cathedral. Architect Auguste Montferrand personally came to Ruskeala to supervise the removal of the stone. As a result, the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral are lined with beautiful white-gray marble about 50 centimeters thick.
In the second half of the 19th century, marble began to go out of fashion (metropolitan architects switched to granite). Active marble mining in Ruskeala has ceased. In 1896, the Finns leased the deposit: they built a marble-lime factory and produced marble chips, which, in turn, were used to plaster the walls and fill the floors.
Production closed at the start Soviet-Finnish War 1939–1940. Marble quarries were flooded. According to one version - by the Finns, according to another - by Soviet aviation.
Entrance to the adit. Photo: Tatyana Dorokhova.
View of the mine from the adit. There is a bridge across the mine for passage.
After the Great Patriotic War The Ruskeala plant resumed work. Its products (lime, crumbs, crushed stone) were supplied to 10 republics and 17 regions Soviet Union. Solid marble was practically never mined. The last ones to be lined with it were the Ladozhskaya and Primorskaya stations of the St. Petersburg metro.
In 1998, the Ruskeala marble quarry was included in the list of cultural and historical heritage of Russia as a monument to mining of the 18th–20th centuries. The flooded quarries became beautiful emerald lakes. A tourist park opened there in 2005.
WHAT TO SEE IN RUSKEALA?
4 kilometers from the village of Ruskeala there is a place that is impossible to pass by when going to the marble quarry. This is the Ruskeala cascade - a chain of four small but picturesque waterfalls.
The Tokhmajoki River (“mad river”) flows into Lake Ladoga and has many rapids and rapids, the largest of which form waterfalls. The largest is called Ahvenkoski, which means “perch rapid” in Finnish. To say that the place is beautiful is to say nothing. Just look at the fact that one of the scenes from the movie “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was filmed there.
Tohmajoki River.
This waterfall is clearly visible from the highway leading to Ruskeala. Next to it there is a parking lot, a gazebo and a souvenir shop. Ruskeala Waterfalls are a great place to relax on the way to the Ruskeala Mountain Park and take some photos.
Ruskeala waterfall Ahvenkoski.
But the pearl of Ruskeala is, of course, the Marble Canyon. It is part of the Ruskeala mountain park (more about it a little later) and is a huge stone bowl filled with bluish-emerald water.
Marble Canyon.
The length of the Marble Canyon is 460 meters, the width is up to 100 meters, and the depth in some places reaches 50 meters. This is the same place where marble was taken for St. Isaac's Cathedral and other St. Petersburg architectural monuments.
The canyon makes a colossal impression! Sheer silvery marble cliffs going deep into the depths clear waters, grottoes and adits - all this creates the feeling that you are in fairyland, and at any moment a dwarf with a pickaxe at the ready will peek out of the mine.
Water is especially striking. The quarry is fed by clean groundwater; there are no algae at the bottom. Therefore, its transparency reaches 15–18 meters; in some places you can even see equipment left at the bottom of the quarry.
The Marble Canyon was flooded to the upper underground horizon (there were seven of them in total: three underground and four aboveground).
A horizon is a layer defined within a rock.
Most of the adits are under water. Only one of them, in the northwestern part of the mountain park, remains above the water level and is open to the public. It is believed that the Finns broke through it in the 1930s to transport trolleys with marble from mine No. 2. The mine itself is flooded by about a third, and ice is visible at its bottom, which does not melt even in summer.
An adit is a horizontal or inclined mine opening that has access to earth's surface.
Another attraction of the Ruskeala mountain park is the Ruskeala Gap. This is a collapsed vault of an underground mine. From memory local residents, it was formed in the 1960s after strong explosion in a career. As a result, a huge hole approximately 30 meters wide formed on the surface of the earth.
A special feature of the sinkhole is its microclimate. In the distant parts of the mine, the ice never melts; there are bizarre icicles hanging from the walls. But directly at the place of failure in warm time year a small lake is formed. Therefore, in order to get deep into the workings, you first need to lower yourself onto a boat on a rope, and then use it to get to the ice “floor”. In winter, everything is simpler: you immediately descend onto strong ice.
Ruskeala failure. Photo: Vladimir Kirichenko.
The ice inside the mine does not melt even in summer. Photo: Vladimir Kirichenko.
On this interesting places they don’t end in the Ruskeala Mountain Park. There is also a so-called Italian quarry on its territory. Until the 1970s, block marble was mined there using Italian technology (hence the name) using foreign machines. Here the color and texture of the marble are clearly visible and the method of its extraction can be traced. Like bread, it was cut into large layers using wire saws, layer by layer.
Italian quarry.
Ruskeala sights are a rare symbiosis natural object and an open-air industrial museum. Looking at all these beauties, you involuntarily think: “How rich our planet is, how much it can give us.”
WHAT TO DO IN RUSKEALA?
As already mentioned, in 2005, the Marble Canyon, as well as the Ruskeala failure and the Italian quarry became part of the Ruskeala mountain park.
Scheme of the Ruskeala mountain park
The park was created by private companies that united, allocated money and put these objects in order. They removed garbage and scrap metal, laid out convenient paths, and built observation platforms. We installed lighting along the perimeter of the canyon - now at night the marble rocks shine with multi-colored tints. The only pity is that the artistic lighting works only in winter (from November to March) and only on Fridays and Saturdays.
The infrastructure was also created. They built a parking lot, cafes, toilets, souvenir shops and a pier where you can rent a boat. A boat trip along the Marble Canyon is considered the most exciting: you can swim into grottoes, swim up to adits and feed ducks.
The park is open all year round, only the regime changes from season to season. After the Ruskeala attractions were improved, entrance to the park, of course, became paid - 150 rubles per person. Boat rental, guide and other services also cost money (detailed price list here).
But the park offers its visitors a lot of entertainment. Those who like to tickle their nerves will appreciate them:
Jump from a 24-meter cliff Marble Canyon. Of course, with insurance. The free fall height is 8 meters.
Walking over a rope bridge : three ropes are stretched across the canyon at a height of 24 meters - you walk one at a time, hold on to two.
Trolls - this is a high-speed roller descent along an inclined rope straight to the surface of Marmara Lake.
Another popular way spending time in the park - diving . As you remember, the Ruskeala marble canyon has three underwater horizons. Flooded mines connected by adits, like a mysterious labyrinth. Diving enthusiasts can feel like real explorers and see what is hidden in ancient quarries.
But perhaps the most exciting adventure in the mountain park is descent into the hole . To do this, you need to have special equipment and permission from the management of the institution. In addition, rappelling to a depth of 16 meters is a very risky activity, so this must be done in the presence of professionals. Even if you are not an extreme sports enthusiast, the views that open inside the hole are worth overcoming your fears. In winter it's like a residence Snow Queen!
From the calmer ones winter activities - riding huskies (those fluffy cuties) and taking pictures with them. Also, various entertainment events are held from time to time in the park and in its surroundings: concerts, folklore holidays, historical installations, competitions and more.
Observation deck. Photo: Andrey Kirnov.
Pier and rope rides. Photo: Andrey Kirnov.
It is better to come to Ruskeala for a couple of days. Moreover, there will be no problems with placement. Near the park there are two recreation centers and a tourist complex. In addition, in summer time Many people prefer to set up a tent camp and have a camping holiday.
But at the camp sites you will find not only comfortable beds, barbecues and equipped baths, but also additional entertainment. So, you can rent an ATV and ride around the surrounding area, you can buy a jeep tour or go on a rafting .
Rafting- is a sports alloy mountain river on six-, four- or two-seater inflatable boats.
Rafting is carried out along the Tokhmajoki River - you can not only see the Ruskeala waterfalls, but also feel their power.
In a word, you won’t be bored in Ruskeala. From this place you will take away many picturesque photographs and no less vivid impressions.
HOW TO GET TO RUSKEALA?
The village of Ruskeala is located in the Sortavala region of the Republic of Karelia, 37 kilometers from the regional center and 20 kilometers from the Russian-Finnish border. You can get to the Marble Canyon and other attractions three ways.
By personal car
From St. Petersburg the route runs along the A129 highway, through the cities of Priozersk and Sortavala. Having reached the last one, you need to turn onto the A130 highway. The distance from St. Petersburg to Ruskeala is about 300 kilometers.
From Petrozavodsk the M18 highway (another name is R-21) leads first to Ruskeala, from which in the area of the city of Pryazha you need to turn to the villages of Lyaskelya and Helyulya (road M130).
Driving directions.
By bus
Intercity buses run from Petrozavodsk to Sortavala every day. The schedule can be found here. In turn, you can get from Sortavala to Ruskeala by commuter bus. You can also get from Sortavala to the Marble Canyon by taxi for a few hundred rubles. You can agree with the taxi driver on the day and time when he will return for you.
By train
Train 350A “St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha” runs from St. Petersburg to the city of Sortavala. 23 hours - and you are there. It's a pity that the train doesn't run every day. Study the schedule. How to get from Sortavala to Ruskeala - see above.
It is also possible to go by train, but you will have to make several transfers.
The railway route is considered the most inconvenient and time-consuming.
WHY IS IT WORTH SEEING RUSKEALA?
This is a must see! Because Ruskeala is a beautiful mountain park with a system of underground caves, the Marble Canyon, waterfalls and recreation centers. This is a tourist complex where you can spend an active weekend with the whole family at any time.
The Marble Canyon is so beautiful that even the Norwegian fjords fade into darkness. Sheer silver walls embrace a transparent emerald lake, and adit caves are visible. It seems as if you are in a fairy tale and everything around you has special magical properties.
But most importantly, Ruskeala is an industrial monument through which you can trace the history of mining from the 18th to the 20th centuries. For centuries, workers worked hard to extract the marble that decorated luxurious palaces St. Petersburg.
- Based on materials from the LifeHacker portal
- November 18, 2014
I continue the story about our weekend trip to Karelia by car. The main goal travel was the Ruskeala Marble Canyon.
I was eager to visit Karelia because I really wanted to see northern landscapes, rivers and lakes instead of the rather boring views of Thai palm trees and beaches.
Sounds strange, right? I think many people dream of just the opposite - to soak up the warm sand away from the hustle and bustle and swim in the sea, but when the weather and landscapes outside the window hardly change for five months, they begin to want something else. Like most people, I like variety.
From time to time, guys write questions in social networks about whether I regret coming to Russia and whether I miss Asia. Where is it? Russia has gorgeous nature, summer is coming soon, so it’s time to continue exploring this vast country, especially since the Ruskeala marble quarry, which opened to my eyes in Karelia, is perhaps one of the most striking natural attractions that I visited this year. Russia conceals many more such treasures.
Hotels and apartments in Sortavala
About the start of the journey and organizational issues, prices in Karelia and our hotel you can read in the post:
If you plan to spend the night in the canyon area, you should keep in mind that the nearest place where you can rent a hotel, apartment or hotel is the city of Sortavala, 30 km from Ruskeala.
It is better to book accommodation in advance, especially on weekends or in summer. high season. We went to May holidays, most of the hotels in Sortavala were occupied.
You can study prices on several search engines or at least write down the addresses of the hotels you like so that you know where exactly to go. Links to hotels in Sortavala:
So, having checked into the pre-booked Seurakhuone hotel in the city of Sortavala, Marina, Kostya and Max and I went to the Ruskeala Canyon, which is located near the village of the same name, 30 km from Sortavala. Approximately the same number of kilometers separate the marble deposits from the Finnish border.
History of the Ruskeala Mountain Park
The Ruskeala Mountain Park became a tourist attraction only in 2005. Interestingly, it was created with private funds from several entrepreneurs from the Northern Ladoga region. It took about two years and about 600 thousand rubles to develop the surroundings of the canyon and create tourist infrastructure.
Until the second half of the 18th century, the territories near Ruskeala belonged to the Swedes, who actively extracted marble from the bowels of the earth. After the Northern War, the lands went to Russia, and the quarries were forgotten.
The Russians remembered the marble deposits in those parts under Catherine II, with light hand in which development resumed, and marble of four began to be extracted from the quarries different types: white with gray veins, ash gray, white-gray-blue and gray-green.
The construction of St. Petersburg required significant volumes materials. Blocks were taken from the Ruskeala marble quarries for the cladding of St. Isaac's Cathedral, the finishing of the Mikhailovsky Castle and many other buildings in St. Petersburg, Gatchina and Len. region, he also laid out the floors of the Kazan Cathedral and decorated the memorial Brest Fortress in Belarus.
With the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War in 1939, production at the quarry completely ceased. After the Second World War, weak attempts were made to resume marble mining, but the aquifer was already damaged, and the water in the quarry was rising so quickly that marble miners in a hurry abandoned tractors, cranes and other special equipment.
In 1973, marble mining resumed in new workings created near Ruskeala. Currently, work is being carried out in limited quantities due to the danger of the quarry collapsing.
Parking within the park is free, but entrance to the park itself is paid. Tickets are sold in this wooden house:
On the right are ticket offices, on the left is the entrance to the territory of the Mountain Park
Souvenirs (magnets, mugs and wooden items) are sold on site. There is also a cafe.
What to see in Ruskeala Mountain Park:
— Marble Canyon Ruskeala
Perhaps one of the most interesting attractions of the Mountain Park can be safely called the man-made Marble Canyon. This is a giant bowl, hollowed out by human hands in a mountain layer and filled with groundwater over the years of its existence.
There is a picturesque path along the canyon, which offers breathtaking views of grottoes, caves, and an incomparable expanse of water. Walls former quarry pierced by adits, drifts and mines in which marble was previously mined. Now most of the workings are flooded with water. The length of the canyon is about 450 m, width – 60-100 m, depth – 30-50 m.
Marble Canyon Ruskeala
Trail around the canyon
Scenic walking path
Toads bask in the sun :)
There are many observation platforms along the perimeter:
@Photo by Marina Samorosenko
The main thing is not to go beyond special fences, because in some places the walls of the canna are destroyed
It is prohibited to enter this site, as it is gradually being destroyed. Relatively recently, 20 tons of earth and rocks fell into the water. Unknowingly, we spent about half an hour on this site, until a guide passing by told us about the possible danger.
Under the water on the left you can see collapsed layers
In addition to the improved quarry, there are several other abandoned or developed quarries on the lands near Ruskeala, but we did not look for them.
— Adits at the Ruskeala quarry
There is only one adit left on the territory of the mountain park, which can be visited without a guide, and which was not flooded by the Finns before the Soviet-Finnish war. To be honest, this is the first adit I have visited in my life.
Before going to the quarries, I didn’t even know such a word. By the way, in St. Petersburg I also became acquainted with the concept of “lahta”. In general, sometimes useful for enrichment vocabulary travel and change place of residence. :)
View of the adit from above
An adit is a horizontal or inclined mine opening that has access to the earth's surface. Marble was once mined in the adits.
Entrance to the adit. It's very cold inside, water is dripping from the ceiling Adit from the inside
There is still snow at the very bottom
— Ruskeala failure
The Ruskeala failure arose in the 60s of the 20th century as a result of explosions in neighboring quarries. If you go down into this hole using a special rope (the descent will cost 1000 rubles) and walk through the tunnel, you can get to the center of marble production. Interestingly, the ice in the corridors does not melt even in summer. Previously, it was possible to get to the main quarry through the Ruskeala gap, but now all the passages are blocked.
In winter, the thickness of the ice is about 25 cm. Brave climbers who are not afraid of the cold descend into the Ruskeala chasm, spend the night there and carve figures out of ice, so that tourists invited to the cave can then admire the ice sculptures. You can also go ice skating in the hole in winter.
Ruskeala failure in mid-May
We chatted with the guy who is responsible for lowering tourists into the Ruskeala chasm along a rope. He told us a story about how, on the day of our visit, one thrifty citizen decided to climb into the cave for free through the mine, without informing the Ruskeala Park workers.
He went on an adventure not alone, but with a friend. Being a smart man, our citizen gave his friend the opportunity to go first. As a result, his comrade fell through the ice without taking even a few steps.
Fortunately, our adventurer lent a helping hand in time and pulled his companion by the scruff of the neck. In general, if you are not an experienced speleologist or a novice suicide, then it is better to go down into the cave under the supervision of the mountain park staff. The guys claim that they passed special training and in case of danger they can save everyone.
The Ruskeala failure is still covered with ice
— Italian quarry
After examining the Ruskeala failure, you can follow the path to the Italian quarry to see the marble in cross-section. Relatively recently, the Italians began to develop this part of the quarry, but the quality of the marble at the exit turned out to be so low that pasta lovers abandoned their idea and left the development. The fact is that the quality of marble depends on the depth of its location, and on the surface marble is too fragile.
Italian quarry
What to do in Ruskeala Mountain Park:
— Diving in the Ruskeala Marble Quarry
The marble quarry is very famous and popular among Russian divers (especially among cave divers and technical divers). People come to Ruskeala to dive from clubs in St. Petersburg and Moscow, because it is the only deep body of water in the north-west of Russia with underwater caves and excellent transparency. In the quarry visibility reaches 12 meters, in adits it reaches 17 meters. Inspection of underwater mines is only available to experienced divers.
The equipment remained at the bottom of the quarry. The crane, cars and motorcycles were sunk by the Finns before the start of the 1939-40 war. and now rest peacefully in the depths. Several underwater routes of varying degrees of difficulty have been developed.
You can see pieces of a collapsed mountain underwaterOfficial descent to the banks of the canyon
Mid-18th century. The newly proclaimed capital of the Russian state is rapidly developing. They build palaces, pave squares, create parks. St. Petersburg needs marble. Urgently and a lot. Preferably domestic, inexpensive and nearby.
Catherine II orders “geographical research throughout Russia.” Soon, rich deposits of smoky white marble, like St. Petersburg summer nights, were found.
Ruskeala (from Karelian reskea - “brown, brown”) is a small village in the Northern Ladoga region. It would easily be lost on the map if not for its unique nature and glorious history.
For centuries, these lands were the subject of military disputes between three states and passed either to the Swedes, then to the Finns, then to the Russians. Therefore, the first developers of the Ruskeala marble quarries were the Swedes. They built the first quarries there at the end of the 17th century.
After the end of the Northern War, the Ladoga region remained with Russia, and the Ruskeala canyons came under the jurisdiction of Field Marshal Buturlin. Marble mining was temporarily abandoned.
But in 1768, at the instigation of local pastor Samuil Alopeus, work began to boil again in Ruskeala. Master masons, architects and mining engineers came from all over. An inconspicuous border village became an industrial center in just a few years. Over the next 50 years, more than 200 thousand tons of marble were mined. The stone blocks were loaded onto a sleigh drawn by 80 horses and transported to the pier. There they were transferred to small sailing ships and floated along Lake Ladoga to St. Petersburg.
The second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century can be called, without exaggeration, the era of Ruskeala marble. This noble ash stone has decorated the interiors of many capital objects:
- Oryol Gate (Tsarskoye Selo);
- Roman fountains (Peterhof);
- columns of the Gatchina Palace;
- Chesma Obelisk (Gatchina);
- facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle and others.
But the most famous building, in the decoration of which Ruskeala marble was used, is St. Isaac's Cathedral. Architect Auguste Montferrand personally came to Ruskeala to supervise the removal of the stone. As a result, the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral are lined with beautiful white-gray marble about 50 centimeters thick.
In the second half of the 19th century, marble began to go out of fashion (metropolitan architects switched to granite). Active marble mining in Ruskeala has ceased. In 1896, the Finns leased the deposit: they built a marble-lime factory and produced marble chips, which, in turn, were used to plaster the walls and fill the floors.
Production closed with the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940. Marble quarries were flooded. According to one version - by the Finns, according to another - by Soviet aviation.
After the Great Patriotic War, the Ruskeala plant resumed operations. Its products (lime, crumbs, crushed stone) were supplied to 10 republics and 17 regions of the Soviet Union. Solid marble was practically never mined. The last ones to be lined with it were the Ladozhskaya and Primorskaya stations of the St. Petersburg metro.
In 1998, the Ruskeala marble quarry was included in the list of cultural and historical heritage of Russia as a monument to mining of the 18th–20th centuries. The flooded quarries became beautiful emerald lakes. A tourist park opened there in 2005.
What to see in Ruskeala?
4 kilometers from the village of Ruskeala there is a place that is impossible to pass by when going to the marble quarry. This is the Ruskeala cascade - a chain of four small but picturesque waterfalls.
The Tokhmajoki River (“mad river”) flows into Lake Ladoga and has many rapids and riffles, the largest of which form waterfalls. The largest is called Ahvenkoski, which means “perch rapid” in Finnish. To say that the place is beautiful is to say nothing. Just look at the fact that one of the scenes from the movie “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was filmed there.
This waterfall is clearly visible from the highway leading to Ruskeala. Next to it there is a parking lot, a gazebo and a souvenir shop. Ruskeala Waterfalls are a great place to relax on the way to the Ruskeala Mountain Park and take some photos.
But the pearl of Ruskeala is, of course, the Marble Canyon. It is part of the Ruskeala mountain park (more about it a little later) and is a huge stone bowl filled with bluish-emerald water.
The length of the Marble Canyon is 460 meters, the width is up to 100 meters, and the depth in some places reaches 50 meters. This is the same place where marble was taken for St. Isaac's Cathedral and other St. Petersburg architectural monuments.
The canyon makes a colossal impression! Sheer silvery marble cliffs going deep into clear waters, grottoes and adits - all this creates the feeling that you are in a fairyland, and at any moment a gnome with a pick at the ready will look out of the mine.
Water is especially striking. The quarry is fed by clean groundwater; there are no algae at the bottom. Therefore, its transparency reaches 15–18 meters; in some places you can even see equipment left at the bottom of the quarry.
The Marble Canyon was flooded to the upper underground horizon (there were seven of them in total: three underground and four aboveground).
A horizon is a layer defined within a rock.
Most of the adits are under water. Only one of them, in the northwestern part of the mountain park, remains above the water level and is open to the public. It is believed that the Finns broke through it in the 1930s to transport trolleys with marble from mine No. 2. The mine itself is flooded by about a third, and ice is visible at its bottom, which does not melt even in summer.
An adit is a horizontal or inclined mine opening that has access to the earth's surface.
Another attraction of the Ruskeala mountain park is the Ruskeala Gap. This is a collapsed vault of an underground mine. According to the recollections of local residents, it was formed in the 1960s after a strong explosion in a quarry. As a result, a huge hole approximately 30 meters wide formed on the surface of the earth.
A special feature of the sinkhole is its microclimate. In the distant parts of the mine, the ice never melts; there are bizarre icicles hanging from the walls. But directly at the site of the sinkhole, a small lake forms in the warm season. Therefore, in order to get deep into the workings, you first need to lower yourself onto a boat on a rope, and then use it to get to the ice “floor”. In winter, everything is simpler: you immediately descend onto strong ice.
The interesting places in the Ruskeala Mountain Park do not end there. There is also a so-called Italian quarry on its territory. Until the 1970s, block marble was mined there using Italian technology (hence the name) using foreign machines. Here the color and texture of the marble are clearly visible and the method of its extraction can be traced. Like bread, it was cut into large layers using wire saws, layer by layer.
Volga/Shutterstock.com
Ruskeala attractions are a rare symbiosis of a natural site and an open-air industrial museum. Looking at all these beauties, you involuntarily think: “How rich our planet is, how much it can give us.”
What to do in Ruskeala?
As already mentioned, in 2005, the Marble Canyon, as well as the Ruskeala failure and the Italian quarry became part of the Ruskeala mountain park.
The park was created by private companies that united, allocated money and put these objects in order. They removed garbage and scrap metal, laid out convenient paths, and built observation platforms. We installed lighting along the perimeter of the canyon - now at night the marble rocks shine with multi-colored tints. The only pity is that the artistic lighting works only in winter (from November to March) and only on Fridays and Saturdays.
The infrastructure was also created. They built a parking lot, cafes, toilets, souvenir shops and a pier where you can rent a boat. A boat trip along the Marble Canyon is considered the most exciting: you can swim into grottoes, swim up to adits and feed ducks.
But the park offers its visitors a lot of entertainment. Those who like to tickle their nerves will appreciate them:
- Jump from the 24-meter cliff of the Marble Canyon. Of course, with insurance. The free fall height is 8 meters.
- Walking along a rope bridge: three ropes are stretched across the canyon at a height of 24 meters - you walk one at a time, hold on to two.
- Trolling is a high-speed roller descent along an inclined rope straight to the surface of Marmara Lake.
Another popular way to spend time in the park is diving. As you remember, the Ruskeala marble canyon has three underwater horizons. Flooded mines connected by adits, like a mysterious labyrinth. Diving enthusiasts can feel like real explorers and see what is hidden in ancient quarries.
illucesco/Shutterstock.com
But perhaps the most exciting adventure in the mountain park is the descent into the hole. To do this, you need to have special equipment and permission from the management of the institution. In addition, rappelling to a depth of 16 meters is a very risky activity, so this must be done in the presence of professionals. There are guys who organize a descent into the Ruskeala Gap. Even if you are not an extreme sports enthusiast, the views that open inside the hole are worth overcoming your fears. In winter, it's like the residence of the Snow Queen! Watch this virtual tour and you will understand everything for yourself.
Quieter winter activities include riding huskies (those fluffy cuties) and taking pictures with them. Also, various entertainment events are held from time to time in the park and in its surroundings: concerts, folklore festivals, historical installations, competitions, etc.
But at the camp sites you will find not only comfortable beds, barbecues and equipped baths, but also additional entertainment. So, you can rent an ATV and ride around the surrounding area, you can buy a jeep tour or go rafting.
Rafting is a sport rafting down a mountain river on six-, four- or two-seater inflatable boats.
Rafting is carried out along the Tokhmajoki River - you can not only see the Ruskeala waterfalls, but also feel their power.
In a word, you won’t be bored in Ruskeala. From this place you will take away many picturesque photographs and no less vivid impressions.
How to get to Ruskeala?
The village of Ruskeala is located in the Sortavala region of the Republic of Karelia, 37 kilometers from the regional center and 20 kilometers from the Russian-Finnish border. There are three ways to get to Marble Canyon and other attractions.
By personal car
From St. Petersburg the route runs along the A129 highway, through the cities of Priozersk and Sortavala. Having reached the last one, you need to turn onto the A130 highway. The distance from St. Petersburg to Ruskeala is about 300 kilometers.
From Petrozavodsk the M18 highway (another name is R-21) leads first to Ruskeala, from which in the area of the city of Pryazha you need to turn to the villages of Lyaskelya and Helyulya (road M130).
By bus
Intercity buses run from Petrozavodsk to Sortavala every day. You can view the schedule. In turn, you can get from Sortavala to Ruskeala by commuter bus. You can also get from Sortavala to the Marble Canyon by taxi for a few hundred rubles. You can agree with the taxi driver on the day and time when he will return for you.
By train
Train 350A “St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha” runs from St. Petersburg to the city of Sortavala. 23 hours - and you are there. It's a pity that the train doesn't run every day. Study the schedule. How to get from Sortavala to Ruskeala - see above.
It is also possible to get there by train, but you will have to make several transfers.
The railway route is considered the most inconvenient and time-consuming.
Why is it worth seeing Ruskeala?
Because Ruskeala is a beautiful mountain park with a system of underground caves, the Marble Canyon, waterfalls and recreation centers. This is a tourist complex where you can spend an active weekend with the whole family at any time.
The Marble Canyon is so beautiful that even the Norwegian fjords fade into darkness. Sheer silver walls embrace a transparent emerald lake, and adit caves are visible. It seems as if you are in a fairy tale and everything around you has special magical properties.
But most importantly, Ruskeala is an industrial monument through which you can trace the history of mining from the 18th to the 20th centuries. For centuries, workers worked hard to extract the marble that decorated the luxurious palaces of St. Petersburg.
Associated with sand dunes, monitor lizards, snakes, scorpions, phalanxes and, of course, camels. The camel, a proven means of transportation in deserts, feeds on camel thorn. This is the main pasture plant of deserts, semi-deserts and arid steppes.
The camel, this powerful and capricious animal, surprises with its ability to obtain small leaves of a plant with its tongue, deftly avoiding large strong thorns, and at the same time eat to its fill and also store fat in reserve in its humps. And all thanks to these seemingly inconspicuous, half-naked shrubs.
surprises with its ability to exist in desert climates on crushed stone or sandy soil not covered with soil. It is especially surprising where the plant gets its water from. At the same time, it still manages to bloom magnificently and produce fruits in the form of pods. It turns out that the roots of camel thorn can penetrate deep into the ground (more than three meters) and nourish unpretentious plant And the camel thorn spends this water, obtained with such difficulty, not only on the formation of a bush 1 m high, covered with small leaves and large spines, but also on cheerful flowering under the scorching sun from May to September.Its flowers, like moths, “sit” right on the thorns - 3-5-8 pinkish-scarlet flowers at a time, similar in shape to pea or bean flowers. And this is understandable: camel thorn is a relative of all legumes, it is from their family. By autumn, the plant produces a harvest of seeds from the pods. The thorn can also treat you with sweet “semolina” - the sugary juice released from the leaves solidifies into grains similar to semolina. From one bush, if desired, you can collect up to 2-4 g of such treats.
Chemical analyzes showed that camel thorn, which was used in folk medicine, contains such useful substances, such as saponins, carotene, flavonoids, sugars, vitamins C, K and group B, coloring and tannins, essential oils, alkaloids in small quantities.
Medicinal honey made from camel thorn flowers is tasty and aromatic. The thorn, a photo of which is posted in the article, is also good not only for bees. People have also found use for the plant: leaves with a thorny stem, flowers, fruits, and even a woody stem along with the root are used to treat many diseases. An infusion and decoction of crushed thorn stems and leaves is used as a bile and diuretic. The substances contained in the decoction of the plant are destructive to such dangerous microbes and bacteria as streptococci and staphylococci, and disenteric bacillus. Antiseptic properties are used in the treatment of skin pustular lesions, eczema, festering wounds and ulcers in the form of washes and compresses. They gargle with this decoction for sore throats, and rinse the mouth for stomatitis. Baths and rinses for hemorrhoids can be healing. Decoctions of camel thorn help with colitis, peptic ulcer stomach, various diseases liver, for dysentery. “Manna” is given for uncontrollable dry coughs and as an antipyretic and diaphoretic in cases of colds. Manna is given to children as a mild laxative.
Here, in brief, is everything about this modest, but such a generous desert plant - the camel thorn.
Camels are created by nature to live in the waterless desert and dry steppes. There is little food in the desert and the camel is content with plants that are inedible for other animals, such as camel thorn. The camel willingly chews its shoots, studded with thorns, which, if stepped on, will easily pierce the sole of the boots.
camel thorn, jantak, yantak (Alhagi Adans), perennial, subshrub of the legume family, forage plant of 7 species. The most common camel thorn is the common camel thorn. Pink or red flowers sit on spines in the axils of the leaves. The height of the subshrub is 40-120 cm with a powerful vertical tap root system that reaches groundwater. It forms thickets in steppes, deserts and semi-deserts and serves as one of the main honey plants in arid areas. Grows in the southeast of the European part of Russia, Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia. It begins to grow in April, blooms in June, bears fruit in August - September. Used as a pasture plant, as well as for hay and silage.
Chemical composition of camel thorn in the flowering phase (in%): water - 63.8, protein - 4.5, fat - 1.1, fiber - 10.8, BEV -16.7, ash - 3.1. 100 kg of green mass contains 23.2 units. and 2.6 kg of digestible protein. In hay harvested before flowering, there are, respectively, 33.5 units. and 4 kg. During the growing season chemical composition changes little, so camel thorn can be harvested for hay throughout the summer. Can be silaged mixed with cane, corn and other plants. To improve palatability, the hay is chopped. The yield of green mass is on average 25-40 centners, hay - 7-10 centners per hectare. Camels readily eat hay, worse than sheep and large cattle, horses don't eat.
The camel thorn, as a symbol of the barren desert, is at the same time the richest green pharmacy, as Avicenna pointed out. It contains the whole complex biologically active substances. In Eastern folk medicine, camel thorn, collected and dried in the summer, has long been used as a remedy against microbes. Every experienced traveler, going to the Karakum Desert, will not forget to take a flask with a decoction of this plant. Nothing better than this drink will quench your thirst and remove “fatigue toxins.”
I.I. Lakoza notes that well-fed camels with humps filled with fat are physiologically complete animals. Fat accumulated during favorable conditions feeding, is a natural source of energy and can be used during interruptions in feeding. The condition of good nutrition of camels is determined by filling the humps with fat. For long journeys, well-lubricated camels are always selected. But hump fat should mainly be an emergency reserve.
Camels are grazing animals and the basis of their diet is pasture vegetation. They are believed to be unpretentious in their choice of food, but in fact this only applies to salt-rich desert plants. Camels raised in the desert, when exposed to abundant pastures, lose weight and eventually die. In part, scientists believe, this is probably due to the great need of these animals for salt. But, despite the significant salt content in ordinary desert plants, camels still obtain additional salt by eating saline clay on takyrs, smooth soils devoid of vegetation.
Unlike other animal species, camels practically do not injure pastures. Goats, for example, pull out grass by the roots, sheep eat it clean, trampling plants and destroying the top layer of soil with their sharp hooves. Camels' flat feet are soft and wide; they graze haphazardly and do not stay in one place for long, biting off part of the plant as they go. Camels spend less time grazing than other animals. For example, horses graze 14-15 hours a day, and camels - 6-7 (in the summer, when animals' grazing is not limited - 7-9 hours).
Most often, camels feed in the morning and evening on various solyankas (cherkez, karakambak, chagan, shora, saxaul, biyurgun), wormwood, and eat legumes (bede, bozganak, zhantak, camel thorn, etc.), cereals (ernek, kiyak, etc.) , herbs of deserts and semi-deserts. The camel diet is extremely varied. It includes, for example, 33 of the 50 main species of desert flora of Kazakhstan. With good pastures, camels do not require any additional feeding.
The camel constantly needs fresh green food, digesting dry food much worse. For example, organic matter freshly cut alfalfa is digested 30% better than dry alfalfa hay. And it can be difficult to bring a camel that has lost hump fat to a state of good fatness on a diet of even high-quality hay.
According to B. Bardin, in the system of measures aimed at strengthening the food supply, important role belongs to the introduction of scientifically based methods of pasture use. Science recommends two systems of pasture rotation: in downed, heavily degraded areas, the “rest” should be longer, the operating cycle should be short, in areas with satisfactory grass stand, where the food supply mainly consists of wormwood, ephemeral forbs and ebelek, more significant loads are permissible. There are many such problems, the solution of which is overdue.
The industry expects a lot from science, in particular from plant breeders, geneticists and biologists. During the winter stall period, animals are fed hay 3 times a day, a total of about 16 kg per head. During periods of intense work, they are additionally fed with concentrates (oats, crushed barley, ground cakes, bran, mill waste), 2-3 kg per day. It is more convenient to feed working camels from sacks with concentrates.
Good hay can be prepared not only from camel thorn, but also from fallow vegetation, as well as reeds. The yield of reed hayfields is very high - up to 8-9 tons per hectare. It is prepared before flowering, since later plants they become coarser and become suitable only for bedding. It is good to feed camels alfalfa hay mixed with straw or adobe.
I.I. Lakoza provides data on the energy consumption of a camel in comparison with a horse.
These tables show a clear advantage of a camel over a horse when working on sandy soil. At rest, a camel also spends 38% less energy compared to a horse.
When compiling rations for non-working camels, one should take into account their nutritional status.
For normal milk production, camels are given an increase of 0.7-0.8 units for every 1 liter.
From minerals camels experience an increased need for salt. This need varies significantly depending on its content in plants and drinking water. In any case, salt is not limited to animals. They put it in ground form in special feeders installed on the base or in pasture sites. One adult camel requires approximately 100 g of salt per day.
The need for water also depends on the time of year and the nature of the food eaten. The ability of a camel not to drink for a long time is determined not by the supply of water in the stomachs, as was previously thought, and not by the fact that fat in the humps can be broken down to form water, as was believed quite recently. The peculiarity of these animals is that they are able to lose up to 25% of their weight due to loss of water, but at the same time retain required quantity water in the blood, preventing it from thickening. An increase in body temperature even to 40° does not cause increased sweating, as in other animals. For example, a camel loses water 3 times slower than a donkey under the same conditions. Camels can drink a lot and quickly. In 10 minutes, the dromedary drinks 130-135 liters (10 buckets) of water. He drinks almost as much Bactrian.
Calculations have shown that for 1 kg of dry food consumed, a camel requires an average of 2.71 liters of water. They need to be watered daily both in summer and winter. Camels usually drink water slowly, with pauses.
After prolonged water fasting, animals should not be given large amounts of water at once. First they drink a little, and then plenty. It is necessary to avoid drinking from stagnant bodies of water, as this can lead to infection with helminthic infestations.
In many countries of the world, methods of keeping camels remain quite primitive. IN old times In the nomadic economy of the republic, no quarters were built for camels and the animals were kept in the open air all year round. IN winter time To protect animals from piercing winds, natural lulls, dunes, reed thickets and other shelters were used. In addition to such lulls, the nomads of Kazakhstan built the simplest structures - fences, the walls of which were woven from reeds, and equipped bases from brushwood, weeds, and the remains of hay.
Modern methods of keeping camels should include the construction of premises near places with hay reserves and areas suitable for winter grazing. IN southern regions For the republic, it is enough to build pens, closed on four sides, with walls 2 meters high. To protect against precipitation, shed roofs with an outward slope are installed on the walls of a quadrangular courtyard on two or four sides. The height of the roof in its low part must be at least 2.5 m, and in the middle part - 3 m. large quantities camel bases must be divided into sections of 25-50 camels. The content is loose. The floor area under the sheds must be sufficient to support all camels during bad weather (minimum 4.5-5 m2 per camel).
The open part of the base should be built at the rate of 8 m2 per head.
In areas with cold and long winters, it is better to build closed sheds surrounded by a yard for camels to roam freely. The walls are built from cheap local material - brushwood or mud brick, the roof - from brushwood or reeds, with the obligatory coating of both the walls and roof with clay. For such closed bases, glazed windows and simple exhaust ventilation pipes are provided. The height of the roof, which also serves as the ceiling, must be at least 3.5-4 m. The calculation of the floor area per 1 animal is 8 m2. The floor in the bases is made of adobe or sand.
Straw, reeds and hay residues are used as bedding. The litter must be dry, because Dampness and drafts are very dangerous for a camel.
Gates for closed bases are made 3 m high and 3 m wide. Except for severe snowstorms and frosts, the gates remain open. Hay feeders are located near the walls of the yard. Their height is 1 m, width at the top is 0.8 m. Feed is distributed using feed dispensers.
To protect against colds, blankets are used for animals when working outdoors. This is especially necessary for weakened and sick animals.
Experts believe that in order to fulfill the tasks set for the industry, it is necessary to radically change the existing system of herd keeping, to apply elements of the cultural herd system, consisting of an improved system of keeping animals through the construction of the necessary production facilities (light premises for queens, producers, butyatniks for young animals, splits for veterinary activities).
Along with this, it is necessary to improve the feeding of all age and sex groups of camels by correct use pastures, in quantities that guarantee feeding of animals in winter.