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Since the mid-twentieth century, humanity has successfully studied and developed near-Earth space. It is believed that the Earth has been explored and traveled far and wide by us, so we should not expect new discoveries here.

However, the faster modern civilization develops, the more questions our own planet poses to it. And people cannot yet resolve these issues. The technical equipment of earthly science is not yet so highly developed that it is possible to easily penetrate into all corners of the sky, land and ocean. But, most importantly, our consciousness is not yet ready for a large-scale study of earthly reality. We must understand and calmly accept the fact that next to us on our home planet there are other civilizations that we have already encountered many times.

The 21st century brings with it the rapid improvement of science and technology, thanks to which scientists are already beginning to explore areas previously inaccessible to us globe. These include the ocean depths, the underground world of the planet and ice kingdom Antarctica. And the most superficial acquaintance with these regions showed that in each of them a person can meet unfamiliar life forms, and possibly intelligent civilizations, which we learn about from legends and myths created by folk art.

Part 1

Meetings with the unknown

Legends about meetings between people and the inhabitants of the Underworld exist among different nations. In Russia, the first documented reports of contacts with underground civilizations unknown to the Slavs are considered to be the records of the Novgorod Primary Chronicle under 1096 (11th century), which convey the story of the Novgorod governor Gyuryata Rogovich, who collected tribute from the peoples of the North subject to Novgorod. The chronicler narrates: “Now I want to tell you what I heard 4 years ago from Gyuryata Rogovich, a Novgorodian, who said this: “I sent my youth to Pechora, to the people giving tribute to Novgorod. And when my boy came to them, he went from them to the land of Ugra. Ugra, on the other hand, is people who speak an incomprehensible language, and they neighbor Samoyed in the northern regions.”

As it is further reported, the Yugras told the envoy of Gyuryata Rogovich an amazing story. Far in the north, on the shores of the White Ocean, there are mountains that rise with their peaks to the very sky. The path to these mountains is difficult and dangerous due to abysses, snow and dense forests, and the Ugras rarely reach there, to remote and deserted places.

But those who have nevertheless been near these mountains say that inside the stone mountain slopes one can hear people talking and shouting (“in those mountains there is a great shout and talk”). And when the unknown inhabitants living inside the mountains hear the presence of a person, they cut “small windows” in the rocks and call the stranger, and point with their hands at his weapon, and with signs they ask for it. And if a hunter gives them a knife or a spear, then in return he receives sable fur and expensive gemstones.

A large number of legends about underground inhabitants came to us from medieval Rus'. The famous Russian ethnographer A. Onuchkov, studying the folklore of the Urals at the beginning of the 20th century, recorded messages from local residents about the mysterious people found in the Ural forests and among the rocks. The people of the Urals call them marvelous people. This is what they told the scientist. “Diva people” live in deep underground caves, but sometimes they rise to the surface of the earth and walk among people, but people do not see them. Their culture is high, and the light in their underground cities is no worse than our Sun.”

According to eyewitness descriptions, the Divyas are short people. They are beautiful and speak in a pleasant voice, but few hear them - those who have a clear conscience and who live according to Divine laws. Divya's people warn villagers about upcoming events, and help some in misfortune. Thus, witnesses from the Ural village of Beloslutskoye talk about a gray-haired old man from a wonderful people who, accompanied by the inexplicable ringing of bells at night, comes to the church and, standing on the porch, predicts his fate to everyone who appears here.

In the first decade of the 17th century, Russia experienced the Great Troubles, caused by the suppression of the royal Rurik dynasty and the interregnum that followed. The struggle of boyar groups for the royal throne went beyond the borders of the Russian state, and therefore there was a danger of Russia losing its national independence.

The Polish king, under the pretext of restoring the allegedly escaped Tsarevich Dmitry, son of Ivan the Terrible, to the Russian throne, organized a military intervention against Moscow. Detachments of Polish soldiers led by False Dmitry the First, and then False Dmitry the Second, invaded Russia. At the same time, Swedish mercenaries penetrated Russian territory from the north, trying to cut off the Novgorod and Pskov lands from Moscow.

The treacherous policy of the Russian boyars led to the fact that the Russian army was defeated in battles with the Swedes and Poles. The Poles captured Moscow, and the King of Poland, Sigismund, was already preparing to be crowned on the Russian throne.

At this most difficult time for Russia, Nizhny Novgorod The formation of a people's militia began to fight the Polish-Swedish occupiers. It was headed by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. According to archival chronicles, before this, the Underground Elder appeared at Minin’s house, who told him to start collecting funds for the militia throughout Russia, and to invite Prince Pozharsky as the military commander of the militia.

The elder also handed over to Minin and Pozharsky certain documents containing new laws by which Russia would have to live after the defeat of the intervention. As you know, the people's militia liberated the country from the Polish-Swedish occupiers, but Minin and Pozharsky were pushed out of power and were unable to fulfill the order of the Underground Elder set out in these documents.

Tales of small underground people can be heard in the north of the Urals and Siberia. Here these people are called miracles. The Komi, living in the Pechora Lowland, tell legends about little men emerging from the ground and also predicting the future for people. According to the legends of local residents, at first the little men did not understand the human language, but then they learned it and showed people how to mine, smelt and forge iron.

The priests of Chud are called “Pana” here. They are keepers of secret knowledge and know about countless treasures hidden underground and protected by powerful spells. Even today, anyone who dares to approach these treasures either dies or goes crazy. Because the treasures are guarded by special servants of the priests - cinders. These cinders, formerly miracles, were once buried alive along with treasures. Until now, they faithfully serve near ancient treasures.

In 1975, a group of Soviet history students tried to find a treasure of chudi under an ancient stone on which mysterious signs were carved. In one of the northern chronicles of the 15th century, the guys found a spell that supposedly protects a person from cinders. They read this spell three times over an ancient boulder, but found nothing except two ancient silver medallions. And soon the student who was digging up the treasure was killed by a bear. A rumor immediately spread among the local residents that the master’s curse had overtaken the wicked man who dared to encroach on the treasures of the miracle.

Similar legends exist among European peoples. An example is the story recorded by English chroniclers of the 13th century about the appearance from underground of two small children with green skin and an incomprehensible fear of sunlight. That's what this story is about.

In Suffolk, UK, there is a village called Woolpit, which has an unusual and mysterious story. Its name translates as “Wolf Pits”, and the village’s coat of arms depicts a wolf and two children – a girl and a boy. It was here in the 12th century, 112 kilometers from London, that the last wolf of England died, falling into one of the many wolf pits.

Then a strange incident happened here. One day two small children appeared in the village. It happened on a hot August day during the harvest. They crawled out of a deep hole that had been dug to catch wolves, which is how the village got its unusual name. The boy and girl came out of the pit and headed towards the people. What was surprising was that the babies’ skin had a greenish tint, and they were wearing strange clothes, cut from an unknown material. The children were very scared and waved their arms as if they were driving away bees. With their appearance they confused the peasants, however, having come to their senses, the reapers took the children to the village and brought them to the landowner Richard Kane.

Having calmed down a little, the children began to speak in an incomprehensible language, in which hissing and whistling sounds predominated. They spoke in shrill, high voices. The residents did not understand a word, although in those days in England the villagers were familiar with all the languages ​​of neighboring peoples. Here they well remembered the Normans and Danes with Scandinavian dialects, heard the French language of the knights, did not forget the German-Anglo-Saxon dialect, recognized the Celtic dialects of the Scots, Irish and Welsh, and the priests knew Latin. When the children were taken to the village, they began to cry and refused to eat anything, although they were very hungry.

Richard Kane was very surprised by the appearance of the children, but having seen enough of them, he ordered the servants to prepare the best delicacies, but the children refused everything. So, they starved for several days, until one day the villagers brought into the house a harvest of beans, picked straight from the stems. The boy and girl were very interested in beans, but could not find their fruit. They seemed to know what it was and understood that it could be eaten. When one of the servants showed them where the food was, they began to open the pods and greedily eat the beans. For several months the children ate exclusively on them. Richard Kane turned out to be a kind man and allowed the children to stay in his castle.

After several months, the boy died. He was younger than his sister and could not adapt to local life. The child gradually withdrew into himself and refused to eat, so he soon fell ill and died. The girl survived and after baptism received the name Agnes. But religion remained something incomprehensible to her, and religious ones only caused inconvenience. Gradually she learned to eat ordinary food, and her skin lost its greenish tint. Agnes became blonde with blue eyes and fair skin. She adapted to life here relatively easily, grew up, got married, learned English language and lived for many years in Norfolk County. Ralph mentioned in his work that she was very willful and capricious, but despite this, her husband and children loved her very much.

Agnes remembered little about her origins. However, she said that she came with her brother from the Land of St. Martin, where all the Christian inhabitants were also green. According to her, there was eternal twilight and the sun never shone. She also said that their house was located “on the other side big river" Agnes said that she and her brother came across the cave while tending a flock of sheep. Bells were ringing outside the cave, the children followed this sound and ended up in some cave. There, according to Agnes, they and their brother got lost and only after some time they found a way out. But when they left the cave, they were blinded by a bright light. The children got scared and wanted to go back, but the entrance to the cave disappeared.

The girl also added that the Land of St. Martin can be seen from a great distance, that it looks like a “luminous country on the other side of the river.” Agnes, with the permission of Richard Kane, tried several times to find a way back to her homeland, but was never able to do so. But this is not surprising, because by order of Richard, the hole from which the children emerged was filled up. He feared that armed people might come for his brother and sister. The girl knew nothing about this.

This story was recounted in two of their chronicles by Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh, who were authoritative chroniclers and historians of the Middle Ages, worthy of trust. The works were created around 1220. The unusual children of the bishop are also mentioned in the book of Bishop Francis Godwin, who was distrustful of this legend. He included it in his chronicle with reluctance. But Ralph of Coggeshall relied in his chronicle on the words of Richard Kane, in whose house Agnes worked as a maid. Many details indicated that all the facts presented were genuine. Ralph of Coggeshall lived in Essex, which was located near Suffolk. Therefore, he could communicate directly with other participants in the events.

Many people tried to unravel the mystery of the origin of the “green children” and the location of the rather strange Land of St. Martin; many different assumptions were put forward. According to one version, children could have come to Woolpit from copper mines, which used child labor at that time. The skin and hair of children from constant contact with copper could actually acquire a greenish tint. But then what about the material from which the children’s clothes were made, Agnes’s story, and the fact that they could not eat ordinary human food?

Bold versions were also expressed that the children could come from another dimension, underworld or even aliens who came to Earth completely by accident. Some researchers believed that the cave through which the boy and girl came to our world was something like a path that connected the Earth with another planet. Or the road that was laid between the past, present and future. Paradoxically, such a hypothesis explains everything, because if they came from another dimension, then only minor genetic changes would be enough for hair and skin to acquire a normal human color. “Green children” could well be a product of genetic engineering, which may exist in a parallel world to us.

American mathematician and astrophysicist Jacques Vallee published numerous testimonies from people about encounters with small black hairy men, who in France are called lutens. According to him, many of these little men live in the Poitou region, and local residents know well where the dwellings of these gnomes are located. In his book, Vale cites eyewitness accounts of the meeting with the Lutens.

An interesting event happened here in 1850. One day, returning to their village on the Egre River, several women witnessed a curious sight. Shortly before midnight, having crossed the bridge, they heard a loud noise and saw a picture from which “the blood froze in their veins.” An object that looked like a “chariot with squeaky wheels” was rushing up the hillside at amazing speed. Looking closer, the women saw that the “chariot” was being pulled by numerous black men. Soon the strange chariot “jumped over the vineyards and disappeared into the night.” The frightened peasant women abandoned their things and rushed home.

The belief in the existence of black men is not limited to any one region. Researchers from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and even Australia write about this. In Mexico they are known as Ikalov, which means “black creature” in the language of the Tzeltal Indians. Here they are described as small black hairy gnomes that live in caves, which local residents avoid.

There are legends that the Ikals attack Indians and kidnap their children and women. Sometimes gnomes are seen flying through the air, and on their backs “missiles” are clearly visible, which the little men skillfully control. According to Mexican Indians, people met Icals especially often in the mid-twentieth century.

In modern Russia there is also a lot of evidence of meetings of people with dwarf peoples. In August 1945, Voronezh fighter pilot Vasily Egorov was shot down by Japanese artillery over the territory of Inner Mongolia, two hundred kilometers from the front line.

He managed to leave the burning plane and parachuted down to the ground, finding himself in a small grove. Here he quickly found a stream running out from under a low hill and drank fresh cold water.

As a result of a slight injury, Vasily felt dizzy and nauseous. He lay down on the grass in the bushes and fell asleep unnoticed. He woke up with a strange sensation: his arms and legs did not obey him. Raising his head, Vasily saw that his entire body was wrapped in a strong translucent tape the width of a finger. Incomprehensible sounds were heard around him, reminiscent of birds chirping.

Vasily soon determined that this chirping was coming from... tiny people dressed in strange clothes and armed with knives. Later, having met hundreds of such little men from the Hanyangi tribe (as they called themselves), Vasily made sure that their height did not exceed 45 centimeters.

The Soviet pilot spent many years in the underground labyrinth of these amazing dwarfs. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, he came to the surface of the earth and lost consciousness. He was found by Mongolian herders and taken to the camp of Soviet geologists working in Mongolia at that time. Geologists transported Vasily to the USSR, and his identity was established there.

It turned out that in his homeland Vasily was considered dead. Only after a series of examinations did the Air Force command become convinced that this was indeed Vasily Egorov, a Soviet fighter pilot, holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, who had shot down six enemy aircraft. But even Vasily’s relatives could not immediately identify him, since 14 years had passed since the Soviet-Japanese War! Vasily Egorov returned to his homeland in the spring of 1959!

Of course, no one believed his stories about life among the Lilliputians, but here’s what’s strange: during an X-ray of Vasily’s brain, carried out due to severe headaches, doctors discovered an almost overgrown triangular hole on the back of his skull. It became obvious that about 15 years ago the pilot underwent craniotomy and the trepanation was carried out in a way unknown to science.

Until the end of his life, Vasily Egorov lived on Voronezh soil. For a long time he was the best well builder in the south of the region, because he knew how to find water where others failed after failure.

Meetings with the inhabitants of the underworld do not always end so well for people. The library of the Peruvian University in Cusco preserves a report on the death of a French-American expedition, which in 1952 tried to descend into one of the Andean caves and make contact with its inhabitants. Scientists found an entrance to a cave in the vicinity of Cusco and entered it. They planned to stay underground for several days, so they took with them food and water for only five days.

Of the seven members of the expedition, after two weeks only one person was able to reach the surface - the Frenchman Philippe Lamontiere. He reported that the remaining members of the expedition died in a bottomless underground abyss. The Frenchman was terribly exhausted, suffered from memory loss and was infected with the bubonic plague. A few days later he died, and the doctors found a pure gold corncob tightly clamped in his hand!

The authorities, fearing the spread of bubonic plague in the region, blocked all known cave entrances in the area with stone blocks. But scientists did not want to leave this tragedy without consequences. Inca civilization researcher Professor Raul Rios Centeno tried to repeat the route of the missing expedition.

A group of his supporters found an entrance to the dungeon unknown to the authorities and tried to explore it. At first, people walked along a long, gradually narrowing corridor, reminiscent of a ventilation pipe. They soon noticed that the walls no longer reflected the rays of their flashlights.

Using a spectrograph, scientists found that the wall cladding contains a large number of aluminum All attempts to break off at least one piece of this material ended in failure. The casing turned out to be so strong that not a single tool could take it. Meanwhile, the corridor continued to narrow, and when its diameter decreased to 90 centimeters, the expedition had to turn back.

The discovery of a golden ear of corn in the hands of the deceased Philippe Lamontiere excited adventurers around the world. Rumors began to spread among them that the Incan treasures had been discovered, which they hid from Cortez's soldiers somewhere underground. These rumors were fueled by legends among the Peruvians about underground caves inhabited by snake people guarding the treasures of the Incas.

Over the course of several years, dozens of treasure hunters have disappeared in Peru as they recklessly descended underground in search of gold. Only a few managed to get to the surface, and even those, apparently, were damaged in their minds: they unanimously said that underground they met strange creatures that looked like both a man and a snake at the same time!

Part 2.

Facts confirm

The Flemish cartographer and geographer of the Renaissance, Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594), tells us about the existence of dwarf peoples on Earth in ancient times. In the scientific world, he is known as a competent and trustworthy compiler of several geographical maps of the world and its individual regions. So, in 1544 he compiled a map of Europe on 15 sheets, on which the outlines were correctly shown for the first time Mediterranean Sea and all errors that have remained since the times of the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy have been eliminated.

In 1563, Mercator drew a map of Lorraine, and then British Isles. His "Chronology", published after these atlases, became detailed review all astronomical and cartographic works of the 16th century. In 1569, Mercator published a navigational Map of the World on 18 sheets, which is still used to compile maritime navigation and aeronautical atlases.

But the most amazing map was drawn by Mercator in 1538. Today it is called the “Mercator Map”. It depicts the Arctic Ocean, in the center of which, on the site of the modern North Pole, there is a continent unknown to us - Daaria. It is an archipelago of four large islands, grouped around the Inland Sea, in the center of which rises the island of Arctida with the world's highest Mount Meru.

According to ancient legends, on the top of Meru there once stood the City of the Gods - Asgard Daari, in the center of which stood a beautiful white marble temple. The inhabitants of Asgard created a highly developed civilization on the mysterious continent. On their spaceships they visited planets of other star systems in the Galaxy, and from there aliens flew to Daaria with return visits.

Mercator's map was accompanied by detailed notes written on the images of all four islands archipelago. From the records it followed that the rivers flowing from the Inner Sea divided Daaria into four parts - Rai, Tule, Svarga and Kh. Arra. About 14 thousand years ago, an unknown civilization appeared here, which supposedly existed until the 6th millennium BC, when for some reason Daaria began to sink under water.

A severe cold snap forced the people inhabiting the archipelago to move to the Eurasian continent. About 3 thousand years ago, the contours of Daariya disappeared under the waters of the Arctic Ocean, although the peaks individual mountains For a long time they rose above the water in the form of separate islands.

So, from the inscription on one of the islands of the archipelago, closest to the modern Kola Peninsula, it follows that it is inhabited by dwarf people: “pygmies live here, their height is about 4 feet (no higher than 1.2 meters), and the inhabitants of Greenland call their "skerlingers".

Based on the testimony of Mercator, it can be assumed that on the eve of the death of Daariya, part of its population managed to cross the already formed ocean ice cover to the coast of Northern Eurasia. Among the fleeing tribes, the Skerlingers also came here, who became aborigines of the then uninhabited coast of the Northern Ocean.

In the 4th-5th centuries AD, during the Great Migration of Peoples, the north of Eurasia began to be populated by Turkic and Slavic tribes, who encountered Skerlingers here and gave them new names - “Sirtya”, “Chud”, “Wonderful People”. Unable to withstand competition with stronger and more numerous alien detachments, the Sirtya-Skerlingers went underground, where they may still live.

It is likely that the distribution area of ​​this dwarf people extended much further than the Arctic coast of Siberia and the Kola coast. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations in 1850, during which a Neolithic Scurlinger settlement, Skara Brae, was discovered in Northern Scotland.

The settlement of Skara Brae was found after a strong hurricane literally tore the earth from the top of one of the coastal hills. For a long time, scientists did not take seriously the stories of local residents about a dwarf village that appeared on a hill after a hurricane. Excavations at Skara Brae only began in the 1920s. They were led by the English archaeologist Professor Gordon Childe.

At first, Child dated the unknown settlement to the 6th-9th centuries, but it soon became clear that we were talking about a much more ancient culture, which modern science practically cannot identify with any people on Earth.

It has been established that the settlement of Skara Brae was founded long before 3100 BC and existed until approximately 2500 BC. However, this is not the main point. Archaeologists were amazed: everything - from the stone walls and miniature beds to the low ceilings and narrow doorways - was designed for people whose height did not exceed one meter!

In addition, during excavations, scientists came to the conclusion that the settlement was created from the very beginning as an underground structure. First, the builders erected stone walls, then a ceiling made of wood and stones was laid on them, and after that the entire room was covered on top with a thick layer of earth and turf. To exit, a small hole, unnoticeable from the outside, was left in the hillside.

In the middle of each room there was a fireplace, lined with stones for safety. In the corners of the room there were cabinets for dishes and clothes, beds and seats. In one of the corners there was a bin for storing food.

Underground passages were laid between separately located dwellings, the walls of which were also lined with stone blocks. A network of such invisible passages provided reliable communication between individual families of the underground town, as well as the opportunity, in case of danger, to leave the premises and go to the surface of the earth.

By the time the excavations began, the interior of the living quarters of the village was completely preserved: scraps of canopies hung over the stone beds, neatly arranged pottery stood in the stone cabinets, women’s jewelry lay on top, and in one of the dwellings the scientists found a necklace dropped by someone. Each “apartment” necessarily contained weapons and tools.

Interestingly, mysterious inscriptions in an unknown language were discovered in almost every room of Skara Brae. The assumption put forward by experts that the shape of the inscriptions was similar to ancient runic writing was not confirmed: the signs of the unknown writing had nothing in common either with runes or with any other ancient language.

Archaeologists are of the opinion that the settlement was abandoned by its inhabitants unexpectedly and quickly, although no traces of a military invasion or hasty escape remained. Scientists were unable to explain the reason for the departure of the dungeon inhabitants. In addition, they noticed that there were piles of sand on the floors of the rooms and passages. The local population still has beliefs that anyone who invades the home of the little people without permission will turn into sand.

The Scots also believe that dwarfs, trying to preserve their family, can kidnap human children directly from the cradle. Some of the abducted supposedly return to the human world after many years, but cannot get used to human society and remain outcasts forever. Even today, the Scots put pieces of iron in children's cradles, which supposedly protect babies from the invasion of dwarfs.

The mysterious settlement in Skara Brae is not the only evidence of the existence of dwarf peoples in ancient times. In 1985, in the Don steppes in the area of ​​the Second Vlasov burial ground, archaeologists from Voronezh University excavated a low burial mound from the Bronze Age and, when removing the embankment, discovered a mysterious labyrinth of branching, intersecting passages with smooth floors, straight walls and vertical ventilation wells. The total area of ​​the labyrinth is 254 square meters. The passages intersected in such a way that, as a whole, they formed an intricate figure, approaching a square in shape. The maximum height of passages is 1.3 m, the minimum is less than a meter.

All the holes converged towards the center, towards a large rectangular pit, in the middle of which there was a certain stone or wooden object, possibly an idol. To illuminate the room, the ancient residents used torches, as evidenced by the numerous inclusions of burnt coals on the floor of the passages.

The unusual thing about this dungeon was that underground passages and the openings were too small for even a very short person to move around. Scientists reconstructed the premises of the mound and came to the conclusion that only very small creatures could live in such a dungeon - up to 80 centimeters tall and weighing about 25 kilograms.

The central room of the sanctuary was a large underground hall, in the center of which there was a low building with a domed ceiling. It supposedly contained an idol to which sacrifices were made. And these victims were not always bloodless. Near the domed house, a human skeleton was found covered with earth, whose height was 160 cm. A triangular hole was found on the back of his skull, cut in the same way as that of the Soviet pilot Vasily Egorov, which was described in the first part of the article.

But most often animals were sacrificed here, and above all small horses. Along the perimeter of the sanctuary, many horse heads were found, on which iron bits were even preserved. Dating the metal helped establish that the sanctuary existed in the 8th century AD.

Due to lack of funds, the study of the temple was suspended, and only in 2001 did archaeologists return to the site of the previous excavations. Attempts to hire workers in the nearby village of Bolshie Sopeltsy, despite unemployment, led nowhere. Local residents flatly refused to work in this forest, claiming that it was “unclean.”

The next morning, Prokhorov discovered a severed horse head next to his pillow. The camp duty officer did not see anything suspicious at night. The canopy and walls of the tent remained intact. At the same time, the batteries in the Niva and the UAZ truck, as well as the batteries in the flashlights, transistor radio, cell phone, and also in all electronic watches, were completely discharged.

The alarmed members of the expedition quickly broke camp, started the truck with a “crooked starter”, took the Niva in tow and were in Voronezh in the evening. And at night, five of the seven participants in the failed excavations ended up in the toxicology department of the hospital with signs of severe poisoning. Doctors managed to save only two - Prokhorov and Irina Pisareva, the other three died. Two more died at home, because due to the lack of a telephone in the apartments there was no one to call an ambulance.

Doctors considered the cause of death to be mushroom poisoning, although Prokhorov claimed that neither he nor the other members of the expedition ate mushrooms. What happened to the people in the excavation area and what curse was placed on this place is unknown. We only managed to find out that the village of Vlasovka used to be called Velesovka (named after the Slavic god Veles), and magicians and priests lived here back in the 8th century, whose ritual artifacts have been found and are being studied by scientists.

And another interesting find helped archaeologists finally become convinced that in ancient times our planet was inhabited by numerous tribes of dwarf people. We are talking about hobbits from the Indonesian island of Flores. The discovery of their ancient cave sites, according to English professor Chris Stringer, “rewrites the history of human evolution.”

Excavations in 2003 on Flores brought an unexpected sensation. In the Liang Bua limestone cave, Australian paleontologists under the direction of Professor M. Morewood dug up well-preserved bones of several skeletons belonging to a dwarf upright creature. In honor of J. Tolkien's blackbuster "The Lord of the Rings" they were called hobbits.

Scientists have restored appearance skulls of a female hobbit and received an amazing image: it was a dwarf man!

The next year, the International Anthropological Expedition continued excavations on the island. Flores discovered nine more skeletons of similar humanoid creatures here. Their height did not exceed 90 cm, and their brain volume was only 380 cubic centimeters, which was only one-fourth of the brain of a modern person.

But despite their small brain volume, hobbits were quite smart: they made stone weapons and quite complex tools, and also used fire. The age of these miniature people was quite ancient: they lived between 95 and 12 thousand years ago. At this time, modern humans already existed on Earth.

In a cave where hobbits once lived, bones of Komodo dragons and dwarf stegodons, the ancestors of modern elephants, were found next to their remains. This suggests that the Hobbit tribes were able to tame some wild animals and kept them in caves as a living food supply, and possibly as transport animals.

Information about the existence of dwarf underground peoples comes these days from all continents of the planet. Since the mid-twentieth century, pygmy tribes living in Burma and China have become known, and the short inhabitants of Equatorial Africa are described in ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek sources. The men of these tribes grow only to 120-140 centimeters; women are even lower. But they all look like giants next to the so-called micropygmies found in the Australian forests. Their average height is approximately 40 centimeters. And found on the coast Baltic Sea a piece of amber became a real sensation!

Unable to explain the discovered artifact, scientists simply hid it from the public for a long time. The tiny skeleton of a man is clearly visible in the stone polished by the sea waves! There's a big one ahead research to study all these amazing facts.

But not only dwarf tribes could once inhabit the underground world of our planet. In the mid-twentieth century, the underground Tripoli civilization was discovered on the territory of the Soviet Union. Here's what you can learn about it from reports of Soviet archaeologists.

Back in 1897, archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika conducted excavations near the village of Trypillya near Kiev. His finds turned out to be sensational and very ancient. In the soil layer corresponding to the sixth millennium BC, Khvoyka unearthed amazing things - the remains of stone dwellings and agricultural utensils of a people unknown to science. The boundaries of the appearance of “economic man” moved back at least a millennium into the past, and the found culture was called Trypillian.

But even more amazing fact was made public in 1966, when archaeologists discovered huge cities buried underground in Ukraine. The first of them was cave complex, excavated under Tripoli itself.

The population of many of these cities exceeded 15-20 thousand people - a very large figure by the standards of eight thousand years ago. And the scale was amazing: scientists found underground settlements with an area of ​​up to 250 square kilometers!

The architecture of the cave cities turned out to be surprisingly similar to the layout of the ancient Aryan ground fortresses discovered 20 years later in the Southern Urals. Arkaim, Sintashta and more than 20 large and small fortified settlements were excavated by Soviet archaeologists in the South Ural steppes.

Both the Trypillians underground and the Arkaimites on its surface built their villages according to the same plan: on a round compacted platform, stone houses were built close to each other in concentric rings with a blank wall facing outwards. The result was a powerful defensive structure, into which no enemy could penetrate. In the center of such a city there was a round gravel-covered square on which the temple stood.

A still unexplained fact remains the cyclical functioning of such settlements - both in Ukraine and in the Southern Urals. Circular fortified cities existed in one place for no more than 70 years. The residents then set them on fire and left. For the Arkaim people, it was possible to prove that after the destruction of their houses, they all left towards India, where their traces should be looked for. It turned out to be more difficult to find traces of the ancient Trypillians.

According to some estimates, the Trypillian civilization numbered up to two million people. And then one day all these people burned their cities and disappeared overnight! Among the modern population of Tripoli there are legends that their ancestors once descended underground, where they live and live to this day. Scientists, naturally, rejected this version then, in 1897.

The 1966 excavations became a sensation. Ancient legends about the transition of the two million population of Tripoli to underground caves! To date, about five underground cities have already been found in the area of ​​the city of Trypillia, in the south of the Ternopil region, near the Ukrainian village of Biltse-Zoloto and in other places. Excavations are currently underway there. Perhaps they will soon explain what made the Trypillians go to live underground and what their future fate is.

Another cave civilization on the planet—the underground cities of Cappadocia—has already been studied quite well.

Cappadocia is a region in the east of Asia Minor, in the territory modern Turkey. This is a mostly flat plateau devoid of vegetation, which is located at an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level. Translated from Turkish, the name “Cappadocia” sounds like “The Land of Beautiful Horses.”

Here, among the rocks and steep hills made of volcanic tuff, there is a unique complex of underground cities that were created over several centuries, starting from the 1st millennium BC. He is currently listed World Heritage UNESCO and protected by the state.

For a long time, the routes of the Great Migration of Peoples passed through the territory of Cappadocia and waves of foreign invaders swept through. To survive in such extreme conditions, the population of the plateau was forced to go underground.

In the soft Cappadocian tuff, people carved out residential apartments, warehouses for storing utensils and food, as well as premises for keeping livestock. Coming into contact with fresh air, the tuff hardened after a while and became a reliable defense against the enemy.

Long abandoned by the population, these amazing cities were discovered by Europeans only in the 19th century: a French priest, walking along the plateau, came across a ventilation shaft and, going down it, found himself in a huge underground city.

Soon European archaeologists arrived here, who established that the city has up to 12 floors descending deep into the earth, which are equipped with special ventilation shafts. Temples, water wells, grain storage facilities, stables and cattle pens, wine presses - all this shocked scientists.

Currently, six underground settlements have been discovered and explored - Kaymakli, Derinkuyu, Ozkonak, Adzhigol, Tatlarin and Mazy. It is possible that in the future other cities of Cappadocia will be found, about which the ancient Greek historian Xenophon wrote back in the 5th century BC. For a long time, his messages were considered fiction.

Today, Derinkuyu is considered the largest underground city in Cappadocia and the whole world. It was built in the 1st millennium BC. The city descends 85 meters deep into the earth and has 20 tiers - floors connected by stone stairs.

On each tier there are living quarters - rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, as well as public facilities - schools, chapels, churches. They are connected by convenient dry tunnels and narrow passages. The total area of ​​the underground city is about 2000 square meters. Exact age has not yet been established, but it is known that Derinkuyu existed during the Hittite kingdom.

Incredibly, Derinkuyu was built according to all the rules of modern engineering. Special ventilation shafts are laid from the surface of the earth through which air flows down. Even on the lowest floors it is fresh and cool. These air ducts are lowered into layers of groundwater, so they also serve as wells and reservoirs.

According to researchers' calculations, the underground city could simultaneously accommodate up to 50 thousand inhabitants, including livestock. Special pens with stalls and feeders were built for the animals. Researchers are confident that Derinkuyu is not just an underground city - it is a real underground fortress, and it was needed to defend against enemy attacks.

Derinkuyu has a fairly well thought out defense system. So, there is a whole network of secret passages through which one could go to the surface. In addition, at the entrance to each floor there were huge stone boulders. Special holes were made in them - loopholes, so that soldiers could shoot at the enemy. But if, nevertheless, the enemy managed to break through to the first tier of the underground city, then the residents could block the entrance to the next floor with these stones.

Even in the event of deep enemy penetration into the city “streets,” the residents of Derinkuyu could always leave their shelter. A 9-kilometer long tunnel was built here specifically for this purpose. It connects Derinkuyu with another equally important city of Cappadocia - Kaymakli.

Kaymakli is an underground city slightly smaller than its counterpart. It has about 13 floors. He was created around the same time as Derinkuyu. During the reign of the Romans and Byzantine emperors, Kaymakli was completed. The number of floors in it increased, and eventually it became a full-fledged underground city.

The city was discovered recently, and archaeologists have so far excavated only 4 of its upper floors. On each of them, along with living rooms, barns, churches, wine cellars and pottery workshops, 2-3 storage rooms were discovered that could hold several tons of food.

This can only mean one thing: the city could feed a large number of people. Therefore, researchers assume that Kaymakli had a high population density. About 15 thousand people could live in a small area, just like in a modern small town.

Excavations in this area will continue for many years, but it is already clear that the underground cities of Cappadocia are the most ambitious cave structures in the world.

In 1972, at the invitation of Salvador Allende, a group of Soviet geologists arrived in Chile to examine some long-abandoned or unprofitable mines and mines. The inspection began with a copper mine that was stopped in 1945, located high in the mountains. He was notorious among the local population.

However, a mine survey was necessary for many reasons. Firstly, the bodies of 100 miners who died under the rubble remained underground and had to be found and buried in accordance with the customs of the Chileans. Secondly, the Chilean government was worried about rumors about strange inhabitants of the dungeons, who allegedly constantly caught the eye of the peasants, causing panic. Eyewitnesses described these underground creatures as giant snakes with human heads.

Soviet specialists immediately dismissed any mysticism and began inspecting the dungeons. And almost immediately the surprises began. It turned out that the powerful gates blocking the entrance to the mine were broken, not from the outside, but from the inside. A deep, winding trail led from the gate down to the gorge: as if someone had pulled out a thick and heavy rubber hose from the depths of the mountain and was dragging it along the ground.

Moving along the main roadway of the face, the scientists stopped after a few tens of meters in front of a deep oval failure leading down. Having examined it to a depth of 1.5 meters, they found that the side surface has a corrugated, folded surface.

Having gone down this tunnel, geologists after 100 meters found themselves in an underground mine with veins of native copper. Near some of the mined areas there were piles of copper ingots, shaped like ostrich eggs. After taking a few more steps, people discovered a snake-like mechanism left against the wall, which literally “sucked” copper out of the stone.

Dungeons of the world

This is exactly how the theme of this chapter should be formulated carefully, because everyone knows that no one can embrace the immensity.

"THE CAPITAL OF OUR MOTHERLAND, MOSCOW"

The year the city was founded is considered to be 1147, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky killed the local boyar Stepan Kuchka and seized his estate. Since then, Moscow has been repeatedly destroyed by enemies and rebuilt again. Wooden houses were replaced by stone ones on solid foundations sunk into the ground. The defensive function was performed by monasteries with underground passages. Usually the beginning of the creation of a network of these passages dates back to the 15th century. The underground labyrinths of the Kremlin, Borovitsky Hill and Kitay-Gorod, Simonov, Donskoy, Chudov and other monasteries were discovered, but little explored.

Not far from the Kitay-Gorod metro station, the St. John the Baptist Convent, founded in the 15th century, still stands. This monastery had a sad reputation: women of noble origin were forcibly tonsured there - so selfish relatives seized their shares in the inheritance. In 1610, the former Tsarina Maria Petrovna Shuiskaya was tonsured here, who was forcibly separated from her husband, the deposed Tsar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. In 1620, the nun Paraskeva died - in the world Pelageya Mikhailovna - the second wife of the eldest son of Ivan the Terrible. The mysterious Dosifeya, “the real princess Tarakanova,” and the evil landowner Saltychikha, who sadistically killed serf beauties, were kept here.

Women criminals and political criminals were brought from the Detective Order to this monastery under the guise of madmen. Adherents of the old rite who did not want to renounce their faith were brought here from the Raskolnichy office. Some were kept in “stone bags” under strict supervision, while others skillfully converted even nuns to their faith. Such were the Khlysty people, Akulina Lupkina and Agafya Karpova, who set up a “God’s house” in their cells for the zeal of the Khlysty people. Akulina died a natural death, and Agafya was executed in 1743.

There are also legends about the dungeons of the Novodevichy Convent in Khamovniki. These are mainly crypts, some of which have been discovered and studied by scientists. The imagination is stirred by the terrible legend about the last abbess of the monastery, Leonida Ozerova, who did not want to give the church wealth accumulated over centuries to the Bolsheviks and went underground with the treasures. Some say that Leonida died guarding objects sacred to her, others say that she only hid them, and she herself went out through an underground passage and disappeared. And this is quite likely, since some of those valuables were subsequently discovered in private collections.

It must be admitted that there are many more legends about Moscow dungeons than they have been explored. An interesting question is about the underground passage under the Moscow River. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, master Azancheev made several attempts to dig through it. The unfinished passage was flooded twice; the documents are silent about what happened next, but it is known that Azancheev was granted nobility. On this basis, many conclude that this move was actually built. There are persistent rumors about secret passages under the Tsaritsyno estate (in its very real vast cellars now exhibition halls), about the Masonic dungeons of the Menshikov Tower, about the Dorogomilovsky quarries...

In the Kropotkinskaya area lies the terrible Chertolye, which received its name from the Chertory stream, which flowed where Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane is now. During the flood, the stream overflowed, but when the water subsided, potholes and potholes remained on the banks of the stream, as if the devil was digging.

In this area the Oprichnina courtyard was located: there were torture huts, casemates, scaffolds with execution blocks. Diggers claim that deep underground there are voids, passages and galleries - the remains of the terrible prisons of Ivan the Terrible.

You can come across the statement, they say, from the basement of any house within Garden Ring you can get anywhere, even the Moscow metro. Indeed, the basements of old houses, especially churches and manor houses, often have walled-up passages leading to God knows where. Sometimes the building itself is no longer there, but the dungeons with passages have been preserved, and stubborn diggers manage to get to the bottom of it.

Back in 1912, newspapers wrote about the discovery of underground passages in Bogoslovsky Lane, on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, under the house of the Yusupov princes at the Red Gate, between Novodevichy Convent and the Guebner manufactory, under the Donskoy Monastery, Golitsyn Hospital and Neskuchny Garden...

The man who devoted his life to studying the mysterious underground world of Moscow was named Ignatius Yakovlevich Stelletsky.

He was born in 1878 in the Yekaterinoslav province in the family of a teacher. After graduating from the Kyiv Theological Academy, he went to work as a teacher in Palestine - the land of “a thousand caves”. There Stelletsky became interested in archeology and, returning to Moscow, organized the Commission for the Study of Underground Antiquities and himself became its chairman. He collected traditions, legends, rumors, eyewitness accounts and, relying on them, conducted research. He discovered underground passages from the Round Tower of the Kitaygorod Wall, from the Tainitskaya Tower of the Simonov Monastery and the Taininskaya Tower of the Kremlin, a white stone passage from the corner Arsenal Tower of the Kremlin, voids in the depths of Borovitsky Hill, under the Nikolskaya, Trinity, Spasskaya and terrible Beklemisheva Tower, in the basement prison of which They once tore out the tongue of boyar Beklemishev.

His life's work was the search for the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible - a collection of books brought from Constantinople by the king's grandmother, the Byzantine princess Sophia Palaeologus. The scientist believed that the books were hidden somewhere in one of the many dungeons of the Kremlin or very close to it. Stelletsky died in 1949 without having found his Liberea. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, but the grave has not survived. His library and numerous records were lost. The scientist’s main work, “Dead Books in the Moscow Cache,” was published only in 1993.

Excavations in the Kremlin were carried out later, but their results were not advertised. In 1978, while digging a trench near the Grand Kremlin Palace, an underground room of about nine square meters with brick vaults was excavated, where a human skeleton lay. In the early 1980s, a 40-meter tunnel clogged with earth was excavated, the walls of which were decorated with multi-colored tiles.

In 1989, on the site where one of the churches of the blown-up Chudov Monastery used to stand, an ancient crypt was discovered. In a stone sarcophagus lay a human-sized wax doll, dressed in a military uniform. This was the burial place of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who died in 1905 in the explosion of a bomb thrown by Kalyaev. Since little was left of the body, a doll dressed in the uniform of Sergei Alexandrovich was placed in the sarcophagus, and the remains were collected in a vessel and placed at the head.

« Everywhere and everywhere, time and people have reduced dungeons to a state of, if not complete, then very great destruction. The Kremlin did not escape the common fate, and therefore one cannot delude oneself with the thought that it is enough to open one passage and it is already easy to pass through it under the entire Kremlin, if not under all of Moscow. In reality, a journey through underground Moscow is a race with obstacles, and very significant ones at that, the elimination of which will require great effort, time and money. But all this is nothing in comparison with the possible ideal result: cleaned, restored and illuminated by arc lamps, underground Moscow would reveal itself as an underground museum of scientific and any interest..."(I. Stelletsky)

Now Stelletsky’s dream has come true: there is such a museum! This is the Moscow Museum of Archeology on Manezhnaya Square. It is located underground at a depth of seven meters at the site of archaeological excavations from the nineties. The most remarkable part of the exhibition is the supports of the ancient Resurrection Bridge over the Neglinka from the time of Ivan the Terrible. In addition, the museum displays interesting artifacts discovered by archaeologists: objects of medieval life and weapons of Muscovites, a collection of tiles, valuable items from unclaimed treasures, religious objects from the necropolis of the Moiseevsky Monastery.

Maps and descriptions of underground Moscow began to be drawn up at the end of the 18th century. What is documented is mainly wells, the beds of rivers and streams collected in pipes, sewer collectors, that is, structures for purely utilitarian purposes.

The famous everyday life writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky spoke a lot about underground Moscow. The subject of his research was underground taverns and brothels, as well as the bed of the Neglinka River. These places were dirty in all respects, but Neglinka could generally be considered the Moscow analogue of the Roman sewer.

The first attempts to build a sewer system in Moscow were made back in the 14th century: then a canal was dug from the Kremlin to the ill-fated Neglinka to drain sewage.

The townspeople were supposed to pour sewage into cesspools, from where it was scooped out by sewage goldsmiths and transported in tubs further out of town. But the gold diggers had to be paid, so irresponsible townspeople constantly strove to dump the garbage somewhere out of sight or dig a canal under the house to drain all the dirt into the nearby river. This is how Neglinka and Samotek were completely ruined and the Yauza and Moskva Rivers were pretty much polluted: to avoid the stench, small rivers had to be blocked off with arches and taken underground.

In 1874, “Design drawings for the Moscow sewer system” were presented to the Moscow City Duma, which were discussed for a long time, but were never approved. The construction of the sewer network began only twenty years later, under the mayor Nikolai Alekseev, a man of vigorous activity and great intelligence. Since then, the sewerage system has been constantly being built and expanded, and today its total length is equal to the distance from Moscow to Novosibirsk. Those interested will be told more about the history of Moscow sewerage at the Water Museum in Krutitsy, located in the building of an ancient pumping station.

Museum visitors will not be taken to the sewer, but Gilyarovsky went down there and left us with a vivid description of what is underground. Having found two brave guides, Uncle Gilyay climbed into the fetid Moscow sewer through a hatch not far from Trubnaya Square. The underground channel was clogged with mud, and “something kept slipping under our feet.” What it was, Gilyarovsky was afraid to even think about, because once he himself witnessed how they tried to throw a still living, albeit stunned, person into the dirty and stinking waters of Neglinka. “What I’m saying is true: we go after people,” the guide confirmed his fears. A couple of years later, when clearing the riverbed, bones “similar to human” were actually found.

These unfortunates could have been drugged, robbed and killed in one of the underground taverns located right there, near modern Trubnaya Square. “...Deep in the ground, under the entire house between Grachevka and Tsvetnoy Boulevard, there was a huge basement floor, entirely occupied by one tavern, the most desperate place for bandits, where the criminal world had fun until it felt senseless...” The upper, “front” part of this tavern was called Hell, and the lower one is the Underworld. The police did not look here, there were no rounds, and they would not have led anywhere: under the house there were underground passages left over from the Mytishchi water supply system, built back in Catherine’s times, the above-ground parts of which (the Rostokinsky aqueduct and the Alekseevskaya water pump) are considered famous Moscow attractions.

« The story of the first attempt on the life of Alexander II on April 4, 1866 is connected with the “Hell” tavern. Here meetings took place at which a plan for an attack on the tsar was developed... The organizer and soul of the circle was student Ishutin, who stood at the head of the group, who lived in the house of the bourgeois Ipatova on Bolshoy Spassky Lane, in Karetny Ryad. After the name of the house, this group was called the Ipatovites. Here the idea of ​​regicide arose, unknown to other members of the “Organization”... Among them was Karakozov, who unsuccessfully shot the Tsar" (V. Gilyarovsky)

Moscow diggers love to travel along the Neglinka riverbed and along old sewers. Sometimes there are excursions to the most safe places for extreme sports enthusiasts good health and strong nerves.

Those who want to avoid extreme sports can also come into contact with the ancient Moscow sewer system, and they won’t even have to pay.

At the intersection of Pokrovka and Chistoprudny Boulevard there is an apartment building of the grain merchant F.S. Rakhmanov, built at the very end of the 19th century. On the side, behind the alley, there is a long and very steep staircase leading deep underground to the oldest toilet in Moscow.

This is the only surviving and still operating of the ten “retirads” opened simultaneously with the laying of the first stage of the Moscow sewer system.

Other Moscow dungeons with completely different purposes, previously secret, are also open to visitors. Bunker-42 on Taganka, located 60 meters underground, began construction in the early fifties and operated for 20 years. There were always 300–500 people here, air regeneration and purification systems, sewage systems and other amenities worked. The maximum capacity of the bunker is 3,000 people for three months. In the 80s, the bunker was abandoned, then bought by a commercial organization and turned into an excellent attraction. The tunnels with semicircular ceilings, lined with lead, the offices of the authorities, the desks of ordinary employees, and the conference room have been preserved. All rooms are decorated very simply, without frills. At one of the walls you can hear metro trains passing by - yes, the regular Moscow metro, which was also supposed to serve as a shelter in case of war.

The Izmailovsky bunker is more luxurious. It was intended for Stalin himself and for the country's top leadership. Its area is huge - 93 thousand square meters. m, troops and, as some say, even tanks could hide underground.

Part of this bunker serves as a museum. The round meeting room has excellent acoustics: a person standing in the center of the room can speak in a whisper, and the sound will spread throughout the room. It is said that to achieve this effect, empty clay vessels were built into the ceiling. This was done because the aging Stalin was physically unable to speak loudly. In his office there is a massive desk covered with green cloth, an armchair, and a bookcase. In other rooms there are display cases with exhibits from the forties.

The other part of the bunker, under the former Cherkizovsky market, is abandoned. Not long ago, a scandal broke out: it turned out that the old bomb shelter had been turned into an illegal cheap hotel, or rather a brothel. Soon the Cherkizovsky market was destroyed.

Legends claim that a tunnel led from the Izmailovsky bunker towards the Kremlin, which was last used during the storming of the White House and was blown up at the same time.

There is another bunker, smaller and not so deep, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center. It is located right in the building of the House of Peoples' Friendship. They claim that this building was also created for Stalin, but, according to archival information, no one used the bunker. There seems to be an underground passage leading from the bunker, which ends under the Lenin sculpture in front of the pavilion. That is why the sculpture has not yet been removed.

The capacity of the bunker is 300 people. There are rest rooms, extensive storage, an air filtration room, and an office for the General Secretary. The equipment allowed people to stay underground for two days. Until 1971, the bunker was regularly replenished with provisions and water.

This “museum” is under the protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and it takes 6 hours to bring it to a state of readiness.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief had another bunker, built in 1942 under the “Near Dacha” in Kuntsevo at a depth of 15–17 meters. Journalists were allowed in there several times, despite the fact that the bunker is still secret. The underground premises are in excellent condition, they are reliable and comfortable. The usual inconspicuous door leads there, the kind you can find in any entrance. A spacious office decorated with oak and Karelian birch, in which Joseph Stalin held meetings of the Defense Council, has been preserved. Next to him is his bedroom - a very small room with only a bed and a nightstand. Also underground there was a kitchen, a dining room and even a small diesel power station. According to rumors, one of the Metro-2 lines leads to this bunker.

There are also myths about other underground bunkers: in the Kremlin itself and in the Lubyanka. The most mysterious and “promoted” of them is the Sovetskaya metro station, located under Tverskaya Square. No one has been able to visit there, journalists are not allowed there, but nevertheless no one denies its existence. It is believed that its official name is “civil defense facility on Tverskaya Square.”

They claim that the same “civil defense facility” exists under the station “ Chistye Prudy"(formerly "Kirovskaya"), where the General Staff was located during the war. They prove the existence of an entire underground city under the Ramenskoye district, designed for thousands of people. Allegedly, there is a direct line of the secret metro going there from the station “Biblioteka im. Lenin,” and in the event of a nuclear war, the country’s intellectual elite had to descend from the library halls to the secret station and go to the bomb shelter.

There is also one underground museum in Moscow, completely devoid of any sinister flair. It is located on Lesnaya Street under the sign “Wholesale trade of Caucasian fruits Kalandadze”. The official name of the museum is “Underground Printing House 1905–1906.” In this apartment building, more than a hundred years ago there was a secret revolutionary printing house, and the store served as a cover. This museum is very small - two rooms, a kitchen and a basement, but quite interesting. The interiors of the premises have been completely restored and well illustrate the living conditions of poor Muscovites, and they lived, admittedly, modestly and closely, according to modern standards - huddled.

Under the store's warehouse in the basement of the house, a well was dug to drain groundwater, and another small cave was dug in its side wall, where there was a portable American printing press. The store was opened in the name of Mirian Kalandadze, a longshoreman from Batumi who had experience in trade and a “clean” reputation. There was actually no business going on, the store was unprofitable: fruits were brought from the Caucasus irregularly, therefore, if the police decided to look into Kalandadze’s trading affairs, everything would quickly come to light. However, the underground printing house operated very successfully - the police were never able to detect it, despite the fact that the police unit was located literally nearby, on the opposite side of the street, and there was a policeman’s post near the house itself. After working for a year, the printing house was liquidated and the front store was closed. The museum on this site was opened in 1924, and its organizers were the same revolutionary printers who once published a newspaper here.

MOSCOW REGION

Each of the fortified cities surrounding Moscow had underground defensive passages and “hiding places” - underground secret passages to water sources: Yaroslavl, Rostov the Great, Suzdal, Tver, Kaluga, Rzhev, Mozhaisk, Vereya, Volokolamsk, Przemysl, Tarusa, Kashira, Aleksin; Joseph-Volokolamsky, Nikolo-Berlyukovsky and Simonov monasteries in the Moscow region.

The Chernigov monastery is located three kilometers northeast of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in Sergiev Posad, on the northern shore of the eastern bay of the upper Korbushinsky pond. On the contrary, on south coast, there are buildings of the former Gethsemane monastery, which is much worse preserved.

In the past, in official documents, the Chernigov skete was called the “Cave Department of the Gethsemane Skete.” Legend dates its beginning to 1847, when the holy fool Philippushka, accepted by Metropolitan Philaret to live in the Lavra, began digging caves there. In fact, two years earlier, wooden cells were built in a grove on the northern shore of the bay, in one of which Philippushka probably settled.

The description of the Gethsemane monastery for 1899 says: “...Philip and his employees began to dig a small square hole, which he later began to expand, making underground corridors from it and in them separate small caves for cells; The middle large one was intended as a meeting place for cave dwellers for common prayer.” From 1849 to 1851, diggers, carpenters, and masons hired by the laurel already worked in the caves, turning the middle cave into a well-appointed chapel, which was a log structure buried in the ground, with windows cut into its upper part, protruding from the ground. The underground passages extending in different directions were turned into brick-lined vaulted underground corridors with the same vaulted small caves on the sides. In the fall of 1851, the cave chapel was consecrated as a temple in the name of the Ethereal Forces.

By the end of the 19th century, these caves were significantly expanded, and above them were built above-ground churches, first wooden, and at the end of the 19th century - stone. The monastery has turned into a fairly extensive complex in the Old Russian style. At the same time, the former middle cave of Filippushka turned into an altar, to which an extensive underground refectory with a vaulted ceiling was added from the west. The southern part was returned to the monastery; the northern part houses a boarding school for disabled children. Tours are available in the Cave Church.

During the recent restoration of the New Jerusalem Monastery, three underground passages were discovered, which, unfortunately, had already collapsed. They disperse from the monastery in different directions and at different distances. Due to the risk of collapses and mountains of debris inside, it was not possible to fully explore them. The moves are low, clearly intended for emergency situations, and not for everyday life. Only their entrances are accessible for inspection.

Russian landowners sometimes acquired underground passages in their estates. Usually these passages were laid at shallow depths and collapsed long ago or were deliberately filled up.

The Sviblovo estate on the Yauza has changed many owners: from Fyodor Shvibla, the governor of Dmitry Donskoy, to the merchant Ivan Kozhevnikov, who built a cloth factory on the other bank of the river. However, he was not the first industrialist here: a hundred years earlier, an associate of Peter I, Kirill Naryshkin, built a brick house, a church, a malt factory and a cookery here. It is difficult to say which of the owners laid the underground passage from the estate to the very bank of the Yauza, especially since not so long ago it was filled in during the renovation of the estate.

The existence of the passage in Sviblovo is documented, but in many cases we are forced to be content with only rumors.

In the village of Avdotino, Stupinsky district, some buildings of an ancient estate have been preserved, which in the 18th century belonged to the famous educator-mason Nikolai Novikov. He created the first private printing house in Russia and aroused the wrath of Empress Catherine II with his bold satires. The empress can be understood: she was frightened by the terrible events of the French Revolution. By her order, Novikov was arrested and taken to the Shlisselburg fortress without trial. Paul I granted him freedom, but Novikov, who had lost his health and fortune, did not live long.

Legends have been preserved about the secret passages and underground halls for Masonic meetings he dug in Avdotino. One of the passages allegedly led to the neighboring Trinity-Lobanovo, which belonged to the Volkonskys. They searched for these passages for a long time, but never found them.

Many legends about underground passages are also associated with the preserved estate in the village of Voronovo, located on the old Kaluga road. It is believed that the first passage was dug from the main manor house to the stone church built in 1709. At the end of the 18th century, General Artemy Vorontsov built a luxurious palace with a horse yard and laid out a park with picturesque stone gazebos. A new tunnel was made from the palace to the equestrian yard, through which a horse could pass, and secret galleries were built to gazebos and other buildings.

But in 1812, all this was burned: the next owner, Moscow Governor-General Rostopchin, himself set fire to his house so that Napoleon would not get it. Several eyewitnesses testify to this, and the Napoleonic general noted in his diary that he found in Voronovo only ashes and a note pinned to the gate: “I set fire to my palace, which cost me a million...”

However, the count’s act caused not admiration among his compatriots, but horror: too many valuables were destroyed in vain by him. In addition, the owners of estates who suffered from Napoleon could claim some compensation from the Russian government, but Rostopchin, who burned down his palace himself, clearly did not fall into this category. Then the general began to deny it and claim that it was not he himself who burned his house, but the enemy. But they didn’t believe him, and rumors spread that the count had not suffered as much as he was trying to prove, and that he had prudently taken his treasures into the dungeon and hid them there until better times. The Count denied the accusations and pointedly did not return to Voronovo.

A hundred years later, history repeated itself: the last owner of Voronov, Countess Sheremeteva, frightened by the events of the February Revolution, left the estate without luggage. But the Bolsheviks did not find any particularly valuable things in the estate. Where did they go?

During excavations on the territory of the estate, researchers discovered several wide tunnels blocked by rubble. Some valuable objects, mostly metal, were also discovered in these underground passages. Hopes that the paintings would one day be found had long since evaporated: the paintings would not have survived two hundred years in the underground dampness.

120 kilometers from Moscow, in the city of Alexandrov, there was a country palace of Ivan the Terrible. Here tourists will be told about the morals and customs of the king. About how he married eight times, and sent his unloved wives to monasteries or killed them. How he fed the fish in the pond with the corpses of his enemies, and how fatty and tasty the fish served to him was. to the royal table. They will show the underground casemates where the unfortunate prisoners were tortured, and other, more peaceful, but also underground rooms where food supplies were stored. Suffering from persecution mania, Ivan the Terrible loved dungeons, and even the royal bedchambers were built underground for the sake of safety. Tourists are shown these rooms: carved beds, carpets, embroidered bedspreads and no windows.

On the banks of the Pakhra River there is an extensive system of caves, both natural and artificial. Usually the Nikitsky quarries are distinguished and large group Novlensky caves, among which are the Syanovsky quarries, Kiseli, Novo-Syanovsky, Pionersky and others. The length of the underground labyrinth is very large, and it is believed that some of the caves were dug back in the days of Ancient Rus' for the extraction of limestone.

On weekends, the Syans are visited by dozens and even hundreds of people. The entrance to the dungeon is nicknamed the Cat's Eye. The passages and halls of the quarries are also given original names: Mlechnik, Pike, Venus's Laz - a woman with a good figure fits perfectly into it.

At the entrance to the quarries there is a notebook - a log of visits, where you definitely need to make a note when going down, and then again when leaving the caves. It is strictly forbidden to litter underground, let alone light fires. Flashlights should be pointed downwards and not in the faces of oncoming people.

Nikitsky quarries are another cave system of enormous length, discovered in the mid-fifties. Currently, some of the caves are equipped for excursions. The system has many halls and passages with enticing names: Wet Galleries, Ezhovaya, Chicken and Dokhlomyshinaya; the Commander's Hall, the Drunken Drummer Lake, Chagall's Well... Some caves are considered an anomalous zone.

SAINT PETERSBURG

Despite the fact that St. Petersburg is a city in a swamp, its oldest underground passage is almost the same age as the city itself. It was dug in the Sovereign Bastion Peter and Paul Fortress at the beginning of the 18th century during the reconstruction of the original wood-earth fortress into a stone one and was located in the thickness of the sloped outer wall for safe movement the fortress garrison from the left flank of the bastion to the right.

It is a tunnel 97 meters long and about two meters wide. The brick walls and vaults were not painted or plastered. 25 embrasures were made in the outer wall; in the 19th century, during the repair of the wall, they were filled in.

The fortress was never used for defense purposes, so the underground passage served as a storage room, and then it was completely filled up, discovered only in the fifties of the 20th century when laying a heating main.

The restoration of the postern and the casemate with which it is connected was a gift from the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The underground passage is now open to the public.

Another tunnel was built in the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, but it was also filled up and has not yet been dug up.

There are other historical dungeons in St. Petersburg. Under Truda Square (Blagoveshchenskaya Square) there is an underground part of the Kryukov Canal, hidden in a sewer back in the early 1840s. This underground tunnel with granite walls and brick vaults was considered one of the most sinister St. Petersburg slums and was described in the novel of the same name by Vsevolod Krestovsky: bandits took refuge and hid their loot there. The authorities took action, and in the 1870s the entrance to the canal from the Neva was closed with a grate and filled up.

However, in the spring of 1912, the soil in the square began to sag, and then a huge hole appeared - the arches of the Kryukov Canal collapsed. Having dismantled the already rusted lattice, the engineers sailed on a raft through the smelly underground waters and found that the structure was completely dilapidated. Then the canal was completely filled up and forgotten about. Only in the 1990s, when an underground passage was being built on Truda Square, did builders stumble upon the remains of a stone vault. The unique relic was preserved and made part of the design of the modern passage.

This concludes the list of explored and studied dungeons of the Northern capital. Most underground rooms are visited only by enthusiastic diggers. Shuvalovsky Park acquired such a gloomy reputation after two teenagers were buried in a dungeon under Mount Parnassus in 1988, and only one of them was saved. According to diggers, there is an extensive dungeon system under the park. Whether these are the secret passages of the former owner of these places, the freemason Count Shuvalov, or fortifications from the times of the First and Second World Wars, it is difficult to say: after the tragic incident they did not begin to examine them, but simply filled the entrances with soil.

They say that under the Alexander Nevsky Lavra there is a whole labyrinth of small rooms connected by narrow passages. They probably originally served as a monastery prison, and were later abandoned. Now they are partially flooded by the waters of the Monastyrka River, and their entrances are walled up for safety. The diggers nevertheless entered the monastery’s dungeon through one of the crypts at the Nikolskoye cemetery and discovered weapons and grenades from the Civil War.

Mikhailovsky Castle was built in less than three years on the site Summer Palace Elizabeth Petrovna by special order of Paul I. For forty days the castle was considered the residence of the emperor. Pavel was very concerned about his safety, so he wanted the castle to be surrounded on all sides by water. For this purpose, artificial canals were specially dug, and drawbridges were thrown across them. According to legend, in case of a sudden escape from the castle, several underground passages were dug, which the emperor could use in case of danger. But he did not have time to do this, but on the contrary: according to one version, it was through the underground passage that the conspirators who killed Paul entered the Mikhailovsky Castle.

In the neighboring Summer Garden there also seem to be underground passages dug on the orders of Peter I. For a long time it was believed that they were destroyed long ago, but during the work to restore the Summer Garden after the flood of 1924, an entrance to a deep underground was discovered near the Coffee House, from which there was a high and rather wide tunnel with brick walls. He led to a small vaulted hall, from which there were passages towards the Campus Martius and to the opposite side of the Fontanka River. It was not possible to pass through them: after ten meters the path was blocked by strong iron bars. The tunnels were examined, described and... backfilled. Since then they have not been found.

After the outbreak of World War I, an angry crowd stormed the German embassy and carried out a pogrom there. However, of the employees, only the gatekeeper who did not leave his post was injured; the rest were simply not in the building: by some unknown means they managed to escape. Then information surfaced about the existence of an underground passage between the German embassy and the neighboring Astoria Hotel, because both buildings were built by the same company. Nicholas II solved the problem wisely by ordering the confiscation of the hotel and the adjacent plot in favor of the treasury.

They say that there is an old bunker near Smolny that can withstand even an atomic bomb. During Patriotic War it served as a command post. A bunker was also built under the park of the Forestry Academy during the war, but now it is flooded, just like most of all the bomb shelters from the war.

Enthusiastic researchers claim that there are underground passages in almost all central districts of St. Petersburg. The entrances to the catacombs were noticed in the 30s on the street. Zodchego Rossi, on the square. Ostrovsky, on the Fontanka embankment. It is possible that in the Sennaya Square area there are several tiers of underground structures. These connecting and intersecting basements stretch from Nevsky Prospect to Lermontovsky. According to rumors, there is an underground passage in one of the houses on the Fontanka, which once belonged to Platon Zubov. This house is famous for its “rotunda” - an entrance with six columns and a spiral staircase. Legends say that there are underground passages and hiding places under Menshikov’s palace; it is believed that the disgraced favorite hid his untold wealth there.

Litovsky Prospekt has long been a hub of thieves' dens and dens. There was a whole complex of underground structures: basements, cellars, underground taverns and brothels, connected by secret passages. Unfortunately, these places are mainly explored by diggers, not scientists. There are many interesting finds - gramophones, porcelain figurines, thieves' tools... Some hope to find the legendary treasures of Lenka Panteleev there.

There is a legend that the FSB building on Liteiny Prospekt has multi-story basements with terrible torture chambers, boxes for medical experiments, and even a brothel for employees. But this is unlikely: the Neva is too close.

The atmosphere of these semi-mythical and unexplored dungeons is recreated by the “Horrors of St. Petersburg” museum, which is actually located on the surface. But another museum - “The World of Water of St. Petersburg” - is partially located underground. It talks about the history of water supply and sewerage in St. Petersburg and arouses delight among children and great interest among adults.

SURROUNDINGS OF ST. PETERSBURG

Catherine II built the Gatchina Palace as a gift to her favorite Grigory Orlov, but then their relationship underwent changes, and Orlov was forbidden to approach St. Petersburg, and Catherine bought Gatchina and gave it to her son, the future Emperor Paul I. Tradition associates his name with the creation of the Gatchina underground passage palace, although the documents say otherwise: the underground passage was built simultaneously with the palace itself.

There is a version that it was this underground passage that Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky used when escaping from sailors in 1917.

He actually mentioned in his memoirs that a palace employee came to him and indicated that he knew a secret, unknown underground passage that opened into the park outside the walls of this palace-fortress. But judging by his further words, he himself hastily fled some other way, and several of his people came out through an underground passage.

You can go down into the 130-meter-long underground passage directly from the state rooms on the second floor. In the wall of the front bedroom there is a secret door to a dark, narrow spiral staircase leading to the lower floor to the emperor's dressing room, and then to the palace cellars.

This passage was not secret; on the contrary, the passage and basements of the palace were used to entertain guests. Thanks to good acoustics, the echo here repeats up to four syllables, and visitors to the Gatchina Palace were entertained by special “chants”. Because of this, the exit from the tunnel to the shore of Silver Lake was called the Echo Grotto. The most famous of the ancient “chants” are “What flower is not afraid of frost?! - Rose!”, “What was the name of the first maiden?! - Eva!”, “Who stole the clamps?! - You!". The guides say that once upon a time a horse harness was hung along the walls of the tunnel, and then for some reason it was removed. For some reason, the little Grand Duchess ran there and, seeing the emptiness on the walls, exclaimed in bewilderment: “Who stole the clamps?” “You!.. You!.. You!..” echoed the echo.

A popular question among tourists is: “Who ruled us?!” - Paul!" They say that the echo repeats the name of the ill-fated emperor up to 30 times!

However, you should not abuse the patience of the underground echo - you can inadvertently awaken the ghost of Paul I himself. Thus, in the memoirs of the daughter of the chief keeper of the palace, a case is described when, in the mid-twenties, while walking with a friend, she wandered into the grotto and loudly shouted the name Paul. In response, from the darkness came: “He’s dead!” The girls ran in horror; it never occurred to them that someone could be playing a joke on them.

According to unverified information, there is another underground passage that connected the Gatchina Palace with the Priory Palace. While strengthening the foundation of the palace, the restorers actually came across an underground passage leading towards the reservoirs, but were only able to walk along it for about a hundred meters.

On the Oredezh River, near the village of Rozhdestveno, Gatchina Region, not far from the Siversky Canyon there are the Holy Cave and the Holy Spring. The area there is very beautiful: steep banks, hills, huge boulders, clear springs, beautiful forests, flowering meadows... Fossils of the Paleozoic era are often found in these places. The cave, nicknamed the Saint, apparently served as a place of worship since ancient times. In the 15th century there was a temple above it. It has long disappeared, but still, underground waters sometimes bring crosses, chains, and coins to the surface. There are many legends associated with this cave: they say that a whole network of underground tunnels radiates from it. Many people notice a strange glow or human figures in it. Such caves in Leningrad region Not unusual. In the Slantsevsky district, near the village of Zaruchye, on the banks of the Dolgaya River, at the foot of the mountain there is a Monashka cave. Once upon a time a church was built over the cave, but it was blown up. The cave itself is half-filled and you can only walk about fifteen meters.

But the dungeons of Peterhof are not at all mysterious, although very interesting. There is an excursion “Secrets of the Peterhof Fountains” - tourists are led through dark, ominous-looking underground aqueduct passages, where the intricate mechanics of the famous fountains and their unique gravity water supply system are located. Tourists are shown the working adits under the grottoes of the Grand Cascade, the chambers under the “Favoritny” and “Basket” fountains, and turn on the “Water Road” for them. And visitors are allowed to turn the joke fountain “Sofa” on and off themselves, pouring water on those walking above. Special engines regulate the height of the fountain jets.

There is also a legendary unexplored dungeon in Peterhof - this is an underground passage under Olga's pond. They say that one of its exits is on the island where there is a cottage for the friends of Nicholas I, and the other is in the basements of the Great Peterhof Cathedral.

40 kilometers from St. Petersburg is the town of Sablino, in the vicinity of which there are a lot of attractions: two waterfalls, ancient mounds, the site of Alexander Nevsky before the battle with the Swedes, the former estate of Count A.K. Tolstoy, as well as more than ten caves. The largest of them - “Levoberezhnaya” - is open only to organized groups of visitors: the total length of its passages is five and a half kilometers, and a “wild” tourist can easily get lost. The entrance to it is located near the bridge over the Tosna River. The cave has three underground lakes, quite deep and extensive, several large beautiful halls with unusual names - Two-Eyed, Cosmic, Columned, Jubilee, Little Red Riding Hood and others. The walls of the caves are made of white and red sandstone, and the vaults are partly made of greenish limestone. Stalactites hang from the ceiling, and the floor is covered with spherical formations - “cave pearls”. Those who want to tickle their nerves can squeeze through the Cat's Hole. This can only be done while lying down, pressing your hands to your body. Even in summer, you need to dress warmly for this excursion: it is always +8 degrees in the cave.

Hundreds of bats hibernate in the Sablinsky caves. This is the largest population in the region. You cannot touch them or even illuminate them with bright light, since a mouse awakened in winter dies of hunger.

In 2005, on the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a chapel was consecrated in the Left Bank Cave. It serves to perpetuate the memory of fallen travelers - geographers, geologists, polar explorers, speleologists, climbers, who gave their lives in the name of serving science.

The Taitsky water pipeline is a gravity water supply system for Tsarskoe Selo, built in 1773–1787 under the leadership of the military engineer Baur, the same one who built the first Mytishchi water supply system in Moscow.

The Taitsky water conduit consisted of open (about five kilometers) and underground (slightly less than four kilometers) canals with storage ponds and grottoes. The water came from the Hannibal or Soninsky springs. It was originally made of wood, but twenty years later it was rebuilt in stone. This water supply system supplied water to the entire population of Tsarskoe Selo, Sofia and Pavlovsk, the palace itself and all the park fountains until 1905, when the new Oryol water supply system was launched. By that time, the condition of the water pipeline was already critical, and soon it completely failed. Currently, only fragments of it can be seen.

In the city of Vsevolozhsk at the fork in the road Ladoga lake and Koltushi the Rumbolovskaya Mountain rises. A monument-stele, decorated with oak and laurel leaves, was erected in front of it: the “Road of Life” began from Rumbolovskaya Mountain.

Fans of underground travel claim that the entire Rumbolovskaya Mountain is dug with passages created in time immemorial. They lead quite far, connecting with the Koltush quarries, located a good ten kilometers from Vsevolozhsk. Their center is a deep and wide well in the so-called Red Castle on the top of the mountain - a medieval building that became the basis for the Vsevolozhsky estate. The estate burned down long ago, but the ancient walls still stand. According to local legends, the Red Castle with extensive basements was erected by order of the outstanding Swedish commander Pontus Delagardie, who participated in the Livonian War.

The Demidov estate is located in the village of Nikolskoye, Gatchina district, on the banks of the Sivorka River. At the beginning of the 20th century, the estate was bought by the St. Petersburg Zemstvo to establish a psychoneurological hospital there. The founder of the hospital was the outstanding psychiatrist Pyotr Petrovich Kashchenko. The hospital still operates in the estate. During recent renovations, a network of underground passages between the outbuildings of the estate was discovered. They were laid at a shallow depth and therefore fell into complete disrepair.

Vyborg is located 130 kilometers northwest of St. Petersburg. Vyborg Castle was founded by the Swedes in 1293. In the 13th century, its watchtower was considered the highest dungeon in Scandinavia at that time. The thickness of the fortress walls was one and a half to two meters, and the thickness of the tower walls was four meters. The Novgorodians made more than once attempts to take the castle by storm, but were unsuccessful.

In the 15th century, the viceroy of the Swedish king spent a lot of time and effort decorating the fortress so that it would become a source of pride for him. In the middle of the next century, the famous Queen Christina and King Gustav Vasa visited here. In those days, Vyborg Castle was considered impregnable and majestic. He served the Swedes for another fifteen years, and in 1710, after a long siege, he finally surrendered to the Russians. From the second half of the 18th century, the castle began to be used as a prison and garrison premises. Here, in particular, some Decembrists were kept. At the end of the 19th century, the castle was repaired and significantly reconstructed, preserving only the external medieval façade. This is how the castle has survived to this day.

The castle has an underground passage to the river, Matveeva Yama, built in the early 1560s. At the beginning of the 20th century, attempts were made to explore it, but in the thirties the passage was walled up. Part of it was used for the pipeline.

Ivangorod and the fortress of the same name are located 147 kilometers from St. Petersburg. In 1492, in a bend of the Narva River on a hill opposite the Livonian castle, on the instructions of Ivan III, a small fortress was founded to protect against the Livonians and Swedes, but just four years later it was captured by the Swedes. Having recaptured the fortress, the Russians repaired it, expanded it, and by the beginning of the 16th century, Ivangorod had already become a powerful fortification. On the contrary, on the other bank of the Narva River, the Livonians built their fortress - Narva, or otherwise Herman's Castle (in this case Herman is not a person, but the most high tower fortresses).

Ivangorod took part in hostilities many times, changed hands, was blown up, and then rebuilt again. Even now, as in ancient times, the border with Estonia runs along the Narva River, and a border regime operates in the fortress. Opposite Ivangorodskaya, Herman's Castle still stands.

Azure-fire from the underground Nature often preserves for us amazing echoes of the past. For entire centuries, and sometimes for thousands of years, it preserves the traces of an ancient man, until his descendants, deliberately or accidentally, find them and read from them about their deeds

From book Historical secrets Russian Empire author Mozheiko Igor

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From the book The State of the Incas. Glory and death of the sons of the sun author Stingle Miloslav

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Incredible facts

Many people have heard that people sometimes go to live in caves, abandoned mines or underground tunnels. In the literature you can often find stories about dungeon people. However, underground cities do not only exist in novels and films. They are very real.

Underground cities were built primarily for protection from enemies, wild animals, weather conditions, and even for conducting illegal activities. find out about the most interesting underground cities in the world And interesting facts associated with them.

1) Secret underground city in Beijing, China

Since 1969 and over the next decade by order Mao Tse-tung In Beijing, they began to build an underground emergency shelter for the government. This shelter stretches for a distance near Beijing 30 kilometers. The gigantic city was built during the Sino-Soviet split, and its sole purpose was protect yourself in case of war.

Entrance to Beijing Underground City

This underground city contained shops, restaurants, schools, theaters, hairdressers and even a roller skating rink. In the city one could also find about thousands of bomb shelters, and it could simultaneously accommodate up to 40 percent residents of Beijing in case of war.

Tourists roam Beijing's underground streets today

There were rumors that houses in Beijing had secret hatches, which allowed residents to quickly descend into this underground complex in case of danger. In 2000, the giant underground city was officially opened to tourists, and some of its shelters are used as youth camps.

2) Putin's underground city Yamantau, Russia

Close to the ski resort "Abzakovo", 60 kilometers from Magnitogorsk, which is in the south of the Urals, according to some sources, is located secret underground city for members of the Russian government. The secret base is covered in many rumors and assumptions, including saying that this facility began to be built during the Cold War.

Ski resort "Abzakovo" Southern Urals, Russia

President Putin visits ski resort "Abzakovo" quite often, but he never answered questions about why this particular place attracts the president so much. Rumors spread that it was not skiing that was the main reason for coming, but construction of a secret underground city on Mount Yamantau.

Mount Yamantau in Bashkortostan

They started talking about the city again in the 1990s in the American and other foreign press. Foreign journalists tried to find out at least some details from the officials, but their attempts were unsuccessful. It is very likely that the articles themselves were based more on rumors than on real facts.

3) Underground city near Moscow, Russia

Everyone knows that Moscow is all cut up underground tunnels, passages and subway buildings, which in Soviet times was considered the most beautiful, fastest and largest metro in the world. Today a lot has changed, but people still talk about mysteries of the underground city near Moscow- a series of underground bunkers built back in Soviet times, and maybe even earlier.

"Secret Subway" Moscow does exist and is intended primarily for military and government members in case of nuclear war or other dangerous situations. Secret lines connect major government facilities, including the Kremlin, the building of the Ministry of Defense and so on.

The secret metro lines, according to some very curious researchers of this issue, no different from the main lines. Why not connect some of these lines to the main lines, given how busy the Moscow metro is today? Apparently, there are reasons for this, and the underground city is waiting in the wings.

4) Rock town Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain

Unlike many other underground cities, this city in Spain lives a full life and accommodates about 3 thousand inhabitants. Some houses in this city are not completely underground, but carved into the rock, which makes the city landscapes especially unusual. The houses seem to be sunk in stones.

Thanks to such unusual buildings, the town attracts many tourists who come here to see unique cave houses. In ancient times, the city served as a fortress.

5) Cave city Chufut-Kale, Crimea

This cave city, located in Crimea, was built back in the early Middle Ages, and although most of it turned into ruins, some ancient buildings still remained: caves, the mausoleum of the daughter of Khan Tokhtamysh, gates and others.

Entrances to the underground dwellings of the ghost town of Chufut-Kale

Initially they lived in the city Alans- Iranian-speaking tribes, later moved here Cumans, A in the 14th century they started flocking here Karaites, and by the time the Crimean Khanate was formed, most likely, they were the main inhabitants. At one time, the Khan of independent Crimea even lived permanently in Chufut-Kale. At the end of the 19th century the city was completely abandoned by its inhabitants.

6) Secret cellars of Moose Jaw gangsters, Canada

Underground cities were sometimes built not at all for protection during military conflicts, but for protection during harsh weather conditions. For example, the city of Moose Jaw in central Canada has a series of tunnels and underground passages, which were built to keep workers warm. However, these underground premises very soon after construction began to be used for illegal purposes.

The Moose Jaw Tunnels are a favorite criminals, smugglers and bandits during Prohibition in the USA. The underground city turned into a mini Las Vegas and sheltered illegal establishments where casinos and prostitution flourished. They say that Chicago gangster Al Capone had a connection with these basements, so they began to be called "Chicago Connection".

Today, the Chicago Connection is a museum with an armory, a wine cellar and many interesting things from the times of the gangsters.

7) Mysterious City of the Gods in Egypt

Great Pyramids of Giza- the only miracle ancient world, which has come down to us. Many researchers believe that under the Giza plateau there is something incredible, namely a series of underground tunnels and chambers.

Beginning since 1978, researchers have begun to map the outline of a massive underground complex that could potentially be a massive underground city.

Known as "City of the Gods", this city still hides many secrets. Since it is located directly under one of the most important historical monuments in a world whose integrity no one will disturb, It is unlikely that these secrets will be easily revealed in the near future.

Opponents of the theory about the City of the Gods are convinced that there is no underground city under the pyramids, and the story about it was invented, to attract more tourists.

8) Underground Gem City Coober Pedy, Australia

Coober Pedy- a city that is still inhabited. It is located in the desert part of central Australia and is home to about 1600 inhabitants. The city is considered "the capital of disgrace", since more of this semi-precious stone is mined here than anywhere else on the planet.

Entrance to the Coober Pedy Dungeon: It's Hard to Imagine What's Hidden Underground

The city is located underground houses - dugouts, which were dug in order to protect themselves from scorching sun desert, as well as protect children from wild dingoes and local aborigines.

Opal deposits were first discovered in Coober Pedy in 1915, since then these places have been inhabited by gem hunters. If you have opal jewelry, there is every chance that this the stone was brought from Australia, or rather, from the mines of Coober Pedy. Underground you can find not only the homes of local residents, but also restaurants, shops and even a church and a cemetery!

9) Island city with underground restaurants Kish, Iran

In the dungeon Kish city in Iran hides a mysterious city that is so shrouded in mystery that it doesn't even have official name. Some people call this city Kariz, however, tourists more often call it the Underground City of Kish. The underground premises have total area about 10 thousand square meters.

This dungeon is more than 2.5 thousand years old and was originally used as reservoir and water supply system. Like many other ancient cities, this city has been renovated and turned into a tourist attraction. Today you can find cozy underground restaurants, shops and other establishments here.

10) Burlington Underground Bunker, England

There is also a secret underground city in England, it is called Burlington. This city was built in the 1950s for the British government to provide shelter in the event of nuclear war. The dungeon is not very large - only a thousand square meters, but it could easily accommodate about 4 thousand people.

The city had underground highways, railway stations, hospitals and even an underground lake for storing drinking water. There was also a BBC station in the city so the Prime Minister could address those left at the top. Burlington is on standby right up to before 1991, after which the Cold War was over.

Which city has an underground tram?

Underground cities and tunnels can be run by underground transport, in particular trams and trolleybuses, and not just metro trains. There are underground trams in many cities, for example:

Krivoy Rog, Ukraine

High-speed underground tram in Volgograd, Russia

It is known that many Russian rich people build entire underground bunkers in addition to above-ground dwellings, mainly for personal safety

Plan of underground Moscow. Soon the main Russian city will grow not up, but down

In Yakutia (Eastern Siberia), on the site of a man-made mine crater, they want to build an underground city Eco-City 2020 with a capacity of 100 thousand people

You can read about other amazing underground cities and caves.

ANCIENT UNDERGROUND CITIES OF THE EARTH.

There have been no white spots left on the map of the Earth for a long time. However, it turns out that there is also an underground world.

Each of the underground cities discovered today is capable of shocking in its scale. Therefore, you can start describing them with any example.

Sahara Desert. Deep below it, much lower than the sands, there are tunnels about 5,000 years old. They are carved out of rock and represent a complex communications system, total length which is 1600 kilometers. The unknown people who created this miracle extracted 20 million cubic meters of stone to the surface of the earth! The task is hardly feasible even for modern technology.

Paris. The network of tunnels and galleries underneath reaches 300 kilometers. Their construction was completed much earlier than the Nativity of Christ, and only in the Middle Ages did Parisians begin to descend into the catacombs to bury their dead in them.

Rome. Here the dungeons were also used for burials. However, their construction was completed before the beginning of our era. Tunnels and galleries are carved into volcanic tuff and they stretch for 500 kilometers. In total there are more than 40 catacombs independent from each other.

Naples. Over 700 catacombs! Many of them are equipped with special rooms for storing water and food. During World War II, these catacombs were ideal as bomb shelters. Their age is unthinkable - 6500 years.

Maltese Hypogeum. It was carved into solid granite between 3200 and 2900 AD. BC. Its length is difficult to establish, because it goes into the depths of the rock for several floors, as if it were a modern high-rise building in reverse.

Entire cities are hidden under Turkey. They stretch for many kilometers and go deep into several tiers. For example, below the village of Derinkuyu, the city occupies five floors. The lower floor can accommodate 10 thousand people, and in total the premises can accommodate 300 thousand people. Every corner of the dungeons is equipped with ventilation. Archaeologists know about 52 ventilation shafts (the deepest of them is 85 meters) and 15 thousand entrances to the city.

And so we can go on and on. India, Jordan, Sicily, England, Belgium, Korea, Czech Republic, Germany, Syria, Palestine... Only in the territory of the former USSR there are more than 2,500 ancient catacombs. This includes Crimea, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The catacombs of Zaporozhye occupy a special place. Thus, in the Kamennaya Mogila tract, the first dungeons were built in the 14th millennium BC!

It would be wrong to think that the catacombs are primitive caves. In no case! The complexity of underground architecture is illustrated by the following example. In 1960, the Abkhazian museum undertook work to transport one underground dolmen from Esheri to Sukhumi. First, they removed the “roof” - the covering stone slab. The crane's cables failed. I had to use two taps. They finally pulled the stone monolith to the surface, and all that was left was to lift it onto a truck. No matter how hard the loaders tried, the slab did not budge. Only a year later the domain moved entirely to the museum courtyard, but this time too there was a misfortune. It was not possible to fit the plates into the grooves, although initially they were in contact with each other with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter.

Or take the catacombs in the Peruvian Andes. They were discovered in the 16th century by Francisco Pizarro, and serious research was carried out in 1971. It turned out that the underground passages are lined with massive blocks, the surface of which is covered with a corrugated pattern. The fact is that these tunnels are carved into the rocks at an altitude of 6770 meters and they lead to the ocean at an angle of 14°. In other words, the ancient builders even took care to prevent slipping when passing through the tunnels. Little of! Huge stone doors were discovered in these catacombs. For all their weight and apparent clumsiness, they closed absolutely hermetically and were moved almost effortlessly by one person.

Finally, it's time to talk about Ecuador. The discovery made there is currently classified, and no foreigners have the right to access it. However, in the second half of the twentieth century, the Anglo-Ecuadorian expedition managed to make known to the whole world such facts that are difficult to comprehend.

So, in 1965, in the province of Morona-Santiaga, the Argentinean Juan Morich discovered an underground city consisting of tunnels and galleries that stretch several hundred kilometers. The entrance to the city is carved into the rock and is large enough for a truck to enter. The stone walls of the dungeons are covered with a strange glaze, as if they were once exposed to extremely high temperatures.

Already at the very entrance there are scatterings of metal and stone figurines depicting various animals. If you move into the very depths, you will see a gallery of large figures cast in gold. The further you go, the more often you will encounter huge halls. There is a library in one of the halls. It contains thousands of metal plates covered with writing in an unknown language.

The heart of the underground city is a hall larger than a football field. In the center of the hall there is a bulky table and seven high thrones. The material from which they are made cannot be found on earth. In appearance, it looks like a cross between stone and plastic. The most important statement of that expedition were the following words: the dungeons are inhabited...

We must admit that we know very little about our planet and life on it. Humanity must not become arrogant. Underground cities so far only lead to assumptions and speculation. Scientists are cautiously putting forward versions that the catacombs were built to save human civilization from a threat from the air. Either humanity was expecting the coming of an all-destroying comet, or... One way or another, the history of great underground construction projects cannot but excite minds

Remnant: From the Ashes is a co-op 3rd person shooter with a procedurally generated world that encourages players to play through it multiple times. Each new playthrough of the campaign results in a new set of dungeons that players can explore in different worlds. To help you find and complete these locations, we decided to publish this small guide.

Helpful Notes:

• The land is divided into four main levels: the area of ​​the city before the church (city area #1), the Church, the area of ​​​​the city after the church (city area #2) and the Guardian Tower. Both the Church and the Guardian Tower are fixed locations, as they are connected to the storyline.
• City District #1 will always have the following layout: one dungeon with a mini-boss (Shadow/Ripper), one dungeon without a boss and a Subway.
• City District #2 will always have the following layout: one mini-boss dungeon, one non-boss dungeon, and a world boss.
• You can determine the type of dungeon you are entering by examining its passage. Each dungeon has a unique environment, which directly affects its passage.

Earth Dungeons with Bosses

A total of six bosses can be encountered on Earth. Of these six, four are encountered in dungeons, and two are world enemies. In one playthrough, you may well encounter two dungeon bosses and one world boss.

• Sunken Passage (Sewer Entrance): Go through this to reach another area called the Grinder. Here you will face a boss called the Ripper.
• Hidden Sanctuary (Sewer Passage): Go through this area to reach an area called the Infested Well. A boss called Shadow lives here.
• Thug Canal (Sewer Passage): This is the bandit area. Go through it to reach the Depot. Here you will encounter a boss named Brabus. You can exchange his pocket watch for bandit armor.
• Tangled Passage (crack-shaped passage): Go through this to reach an area called "Artery". The Shredder lives here.
• Choking Hollow (Tunnel Passage): This area contains the World Boss, Ent.
• Ash Yard (tunnel passage): This area contains the world boss, Scorcher.

Dungeons of Earth without bosses

In these locations you will have to complete various tasks to unlock useful items. These dungeons typically include stages where the heroes are required to fend off multiple waves of enemies.

• Hidden Grotto (Sewer Passage): Receive the Hunter's Key from the appropriate character at the checkpoint at the beginning of the dungeon. Then enter the dungeon and go through it to reach a locked door. Open it with the key you received earlier and take all the valuables, including the Huntress Pistol.
• Garbage (Sewer Passage): This location is home to an NPC called the Mad Merchant. You can trade with him without mentioning his mask. If you keep talking about the object on his face, he will attack you. Kill him to get the Wicker Mask. Then talk to Weeping Tree to unlock the Woodskin talent.
• Subway: This is a story-driven dungeon that you will definitely have to go down into. You must go through it in order to get to the Root Mother in the Church.
• Field of Sorrow (Crack Passage): There are no quest items in this dungeon, and it ends at a dead-end checkpoint.
• Warren (Crack Passage): Go through new area to get to "Earth's End". Help the two Lisas defend themselves from the upcoming attack by the Roots.
• Gallows (tunnel passage): You will need to survive waves of enemies while waiting for the metamorphosis to occur. Once you complete the quest, you will be able to interact with the Root Temple to create a set of Chain Armor.
• Bone Pass (Sewer Passage): Find and talk to the cultist to receive the Crown Root. Once this is done, destroy the two Root Nodes and then kill the cultist to receive the Ring of Braided Thorns.
• Monkey Key: A dungeon with a locked door that can be opened with a monkey key.

This is the entire list of dungeons you can visit on Earth while playing through Remnant: From the Ashes. Let us note once again that you will not be able to visit them all at once.