Temples in the chalk caves of Pridonya

The Cretaceous Mountains are amazing natural monuments that a traveler will surely encounter, following the land route from Central Russia towards the Kuban, the Caucasus, the Caspian coast.

Temples in the chalk caves of Pridonya

On the territory of the Voronezh, Volgograd, Belgorod, Rostov regions of Russia, Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, the Cretaceous Mountains belt is located in the Don basin and its largest tributary – the Seversky Donets. Departing into the earth’s thickness to a depth of 50 meters, the upper layers of the Cretaceous deposits are mixed with the earth, so grass, shrubs and trees grow on the Cretaceous mountains.

Soft chalk is great for creating caves, so ancient hermit monks settled in the chalk mountains. Later, Orthodox churches began to be built in the thickness of the chalk mountains. We will talk about the most interesting of them in this article.

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