Unusual and beautiful places of Russia
Russia is the country with the largest territory in the world. There are nine climatic zones on this territory, from arctic deserts to subtropics. The nature of Russia is surprisingly diverse and does not cease to amaze travelers with new discoveries, and more than a thousand-year history has left many amazing traces. We are starting to publish descriptions of unusual places in Russia that are of interest to tourists as natural, historical and architectural monuments.
In the language of Mansi, the indigenous inhabitants of the Northern Urals, the name of the geological monument “Man-Pupu-ner” means “small mountain of idols.” The monument is located in the Pechero-Troitsky district of the Komi Republic, in a remote, inaccessible place for tourists. By their nature, these are remnants – rock cliffs from hard rocks left over from the mountains that once towered here. Wind, precipitation gave the cliffs a bizarre shape.
The highest of them is 34 meters, the lowest is 7 meters, and there are seven “weathering posts” in Manpupuner. The pillars have a bizarre shape resembling the silhouettes of various animals. Silhouettes can vary depending on the viewpoint: from different places you can see either the figure of a standing person, the head of a horse or the silhouette of a ram.
The natural monument “Lena Pillars” in the Khangalassky ulus (district) of Yakutia, like the Manpupuner described above, is the result of weathering of rocks. However, the Yakut monument is significantly larger than the North Ural in size. The Lena Pillars stretch along the right bank of the Lena for several kilometers and make a mystical impression on the observers. Places around are wild, sparsely populated. There is incredible silence around, and the purity of the air can cause dizziness in a city dweller.
In this unusual place, the government of Yakutia created a natural park, tourists usually visit the Lena Pillars in summer, on motor ships and boats. The object is listed in the UNESCO register as a unique wildlife monument.
The crypts are striking in their clever masonry and perfect architectural form. There is a version that victims of the plague that raged in Ossetia in the 18th century were buried here.
The deepest lake on the whole planet, the average depth is about 700 meters, and the maximum is 1642 meters. The largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth in Lake Baikal is 19% of the world’s reserves. More than three hundred large and small rivers flow into the lake, and only one flows out – the Angara. The beauty of Lake Baikal amazes everyone who sees it. The water in the lake is so clear that pitfalls and other fragments of the bottom are visible at a depth of 40 meters.
There are so few mineral salts in Baikal water that it is sometimes used as distilled for technical purposes. And the nature of the Baikal shores reflected in these crystal waters is one of the most beautiful in all of Siberia.
A kind of “anti-monument” is a testament to how the unbridled desire of people with its riches can adversely affect nature. The diamond quarry in the Yakut village of Mirny began to be developed in 1957. Currently, its diameter in the upper part is 1200 meters, the maximum depth is 525 meters, and diamond mining has been stopped. At the last stages of the development of the quarry, truck drivers had to overcome about eight kilometers of ascent along the serpentine road of the quarry.
Helicopter flights are prohibited over the quarry – a giant funnel can simply pull them to the bottom along with air currents.
A closed salt lake near the Russian border with Kazakhstan, with an area of about 150 square kilometers. Sometimes it is called the “big salty puddle” – the average depth of Lake Elton in the summer is only 10 centimeters, in the spring – 70-80 centimeters. Lake Elton is famous for its “salt paintings” and “salt landscapes.” They are created by nature itself in the form of crystalline formations of brine (brine) on plants, stones and other objects.
