Underworld. Mysterious Underworld Underground Reptoid Civilization
Voids in the earth's crust are found all over the world, and an underground civilization may actually exist, given the fairly comfortable living conditions underground. Mention of underground civilization in the myths of different peoples and on different continents occurs quite often. And recent scientific discoveries confirm the possibility of life underground. The mysterious underground world exists not only in legends. In recent decades, the number of visitors to the caves has increased markedly. Adventurers and miners are making their way deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Earth, and more and more often they come across traces of the activities of mysterious underground inhabitants. 
It turned out that beneath us there is a whole network of tunnels, stretching for thousands of kilometers and enveloping the entire Earth in a network. Polish researcher Jan Paenk states that a whole network of tunnels has been laid underground that lead to any country. These tunnels were created using high technology unknown to people, and pass not only under the surface of the land, but also under the bed of seas and oceans. The tunnels are not just punched, but as if burned out in underground rocks, and their walls are a frozen molten rock - smooth, like glass, and have an extraordinary strength. Jan Paenk met with miners who, while digging shreks, came across such tunnels. 
According to the Polish scientist and many other researchers, flying saucers are carried along these underground communications from one end of the world to the other. (Ufologists have a huge amount of evidence that UFOs fly out from underground and from the depths of the seas). Such tunnels have also been discovered in Ecuador, South Australia, the USA, and New Zealand. In addition, in many parts of the world, vertical, absolutely straight (like an arrow) wells with the same melted walls have been discovered. These wells have different depths from tens to several hundred meters. Mexico. Mitla. Mayan underground structures
These structures have a high quality finish and look more like a bunker. The researchers also noticed that from some details it can be judged that the Indians did not build, but only restored one of these structures from blocks lying around in the vicinity. There are especially many stories about the mysterious South American tunnels. Along the rugged roads that stretch across South America from Ecuador to Chile, archaeologists continually dig up tunnels, the length of which testifies to the highest level of civilization of those who built them. 
In 1991, in the area of the Rio Sinju River, a group of Peruvian speleologists discovered a system underground caves, in which traces of human activity were present. Thus, one of them was equipped with a stone slab rotating on balls. This mechanism for blocking the entrance could only be created by enlightened people. Behind the door stretched a multi-kilometer tunnel. And although several expeditions that have visited there have not yet been able to find out where it leads, there is hope that this mystery will also be solved... Another famous English traveler and scientist Percy Fossett, who visited the island many times South America, mentioned in his books about extensive caves located near the Popocatepetl and Inlacuatl volcanoes and in the area of Mount Shasta. Some researchers managed to see fragments of this underground empire. Meanwhile, the most authoritative archaeologists of Peru today have no doubt at all about the existence of an underground empire: not yet explored by anyone, it, in their understanding, extends under the seas and continents. And above the entrances to this grandiose dungeon in various parts of the planet rise ancient buildings: for example, in Peru this is the city of Cusco... Of course, the opinion of Peruvian experts is not shared by all scientists. And yet, many facts speak in favor of the underworld, indirectly proving its existence. Dungeons of Cusco Associated with gold ancient legend, which tells about the secret entrance to the vast labyrinth of underground galleries under the collapsed building of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. As evidenced by the Spanish magazine Mas Alya, which specializes in describing all kinds of historical mysteries, this legend, in particular, tells that there are gigantic tunnels crossing the vast mountainous territory of Peru and reaching Brazil and Ecuador. In the Quechua Indian language they are called "chincana", which literally means "labyrinth". In these tunnels, the Incas, allegedly deceiving the Spanish conquistadors, hid a significant part of the golden wealth of their empire in the form of large-sized artistic objects. Even a specific point in Cusco was indicated where this labyrinth began and where the Temple of the Sun once stood. It was gold that glorified Cusco (the only museum in the world dedicated to this noble metal still operates here). But it also destroyed him. The Spanish conquistadors who conquered the city plundered the Temple of the Sun, and all its riches, including the golden statues in the garden, were loaded onto ships and sent to Spain. At the same time, rumors spread about the existence of underground halls and galleries, where the Incas allegedly hid part of the ritual gold items. There are pictures of fragments of global dungeons in North America. Cape Perpetua. Gate to the dungeon. The longest Flint Mammoth Cave in the world, 500 km underground tunnels. Numerous speleological expeditions have established that Mammoth Cave is connected to a number of nearby small caves. And the 1972 expedition discovered that there was a passage from Mammoth Cave to the Flint Ridge cave system. The author of the book about Shambhala, Andrew Thomas, based on a thorough analysis of the stories of American speleologists, claims that in the mountains of California there are direct underground passages that lead to New Mexico. Lost Worlds of Africa There are many kilometers of tunnels under the Sahara Desert: from Sebha in Libya to the Ghat oasis near the Algerian border. These tunnels are a huge underground water supply system. Scientists have calculated that the total length of the tunnels is approximately 1,600 km. These tunnels were carved into the rock more than five thousand years ago, which roughly coincides with the emergence of the unified state of Egypt. Underground tunnels of the island of Malta
Many experts claim that the Maltese Hypogeum was built as a temple, a huge underground temple of death and birth with an intricate system of levels, passages, halls and traps. In addition, skeletons of 30 thousand people from the late Neolithic era and various artifacts were discovered in the Hypogeum. Now historians insist on recognizing it as the eighth wonder of the world - after all, judging by this mysterious room, a developed civilization existed in Malta long before Stonehenge and the era of the Egyptian pyramids. Many underground passages and tunnels, including prehistoric catacombs, were later included by knight builders in the fortification system. As for the network of catacombs near Malta, some ancient sources indicate that it branched not only under the surface of the island: the passages went inland and to the sides, continued under the sea and, according to rumors, stretched all the way to Italy. At least in ancient times, in ancient times, many sources pointed to this. About existence in Russia system of global tunnels was written in his book “The Legend of the LSP” by a speleologist - a researcher involved in the study of artificial structures - Pavel Miroshnichenko. Drawn by him on the map former USSR the lines of global tunnels went from Crimea through the Caucasus to the well-known Medveditskaya ridge. In each of these places, groups of ufologists, speleologists, and researchers of the unknown discovered fragments of tunnels or mysterious bottomless wells. Since 1997, the Kosmopoisk expedition has carefully studied the well-known Medveditskaya ridge in the Volga region. 
Researchers discovered and mapped an extensive network of tunnels stretching for tens of kilometers. The tunnels have a circular cross-section, sometimes oval, with a diameter of 7 to 20 m, maintaining a constant width and direction along the entire length. The tunnels are located at a depth of 6 to 30 meters from the surface of the earth. As you approach the hill on the Medveditskaya ridge, the diameter of the tunnels increases from 20 to 35 meters, and then to 80 m, and already at the hill itself, the diameter of the cavities reaches 120 m, turning under the mountain into a huge hall. Three seven-meter tunnels leave from here at different angles. It seems that the Medveditskaya ridge is a node, a crossroads where tunnels from different regions converge. Researchers suggest that from here you can get not only to the Caucasus and Crimea, but also to the northern regions of Russia, to New Earth and further to the North American continent. A bottomless mine with a diameter of about one and a half meters with amazingly smooth edges was discovered under the Black Sea city of Gelendzhik. Experts unanimously say: it was created using technology unknown to people and has existed for hundreds of years. The dungeons of the Urals also keep many secrets. The first dungeons on the territory of Kievan Rus appeared before the 10th century, but all this was amateurish compared to the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. By official version, many kilometers of underground passages, cells, tombs and churches were created as an underground monastery. 
Despite the fact that the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Holy Dormition Lavra have been studied, they keep many secrets. Some corridors have not been used for a very long time due to collapses. This especially applies to the Far Caves, all of whose exits towards the Dnieper were abandoned long ago, and in the 1930s they were bricked up and tightly cemented... Also in Ukraine, in the Ternopil region there is the second longest cave in the world, “Optimisticheskaya”, which was recently discovered by speleologists. To date, more than 200 kilometers of its passages have been discovered. And it is believed that this is not the limit and perhaps it is connected with other caves, forming a single network. Currently under study are Gobi caves. Due to its inaccessibility - and the caves are located in the so-called “forbidden territory” associated with Shambhala, the habitat of the highest initiates - the Gobi dungeons have practically not been explored. But this is all just a quick superficial overview. It is simply impossible to even list all the mysterious dungeons and tunnels scattered throughout the world, and, most likely, connected together. The same applies to all the numerous catacombs, which are not just quarries. Their origins go back thousands of years. The catacombs have also not been fully explored and may also be part of a single underground network of tunnels. Legends about the inhabitants of the dungeon It is difficult to find a people who do not have legends about creatures living in the darkness of dungeons. They were much older than the human race and descended from representatives of other civilizations that disappeared from the surface of the earth. They had secret knowledge and crafts. The inhabitants of the dungeons, as a rule, were hostile towards people. Therefore, we can assume that fairy tales describe an underworld that really existed, and perhaps still exists today. There are especially many legends about the underground world of Tibet and the Himalayas. Here in the mountains there are tunnels that go deep into the ground. Through them, the “initiate” can travel to the center of the planet and meet with representatives of ancient civilization. Tibetan lamas say that the ruler of the Underground Kingdom is the great King of the World, as he is called in the East. And his kingdom - Agartha, based on the principles of the Golden Age - has existed for at least 60 thousand years. People there know no evil and do not commit crimes. Science reached an unprecedented peak there, so the underground people, who have reached incredible heights of knowledge, know no disease and are not afraid of any cataclysms. The King of the World wisely rules not only millions of his own underground subjects, but also secretly the entire population of the surface part of the Earth. He knows all the hidden springs of the universe, he comprehends the soul of every human being and reads the great book of destinies. The kingdom of Agartha stretches underground throughout the planet. There is also an opinion that the peoples of Agartha were forced to switch to underground living after a universal cataclysm (flood) and the submersion of land - the ancient continents that existed on the site of the present oceans. In the underground workshops, tireless work is in full swing. Any metals are melted there and products from them are forged. In unknown chariots or other perfect devices, underground inhabitants rush through tunnels built deep underground. Level of technical development underground inhabitants beyond your wildest imagination. But not only wise creatures who give advice to the “initiates” live in the underworld of India. Ancient Indian legends tell of the mysterious kingdom of the Nagas, hidden in the depths of the mountains. It is inhabited by snake people who store countless treasures in their caves. Cold-blooded, like snakes, these creatures are incapable of experiencing human feelings. They cannot warm themselves and steal warmth, physical and mental, from other living beings. Hindus have legends about nagas - snake-like creatures living on land, in water or underground. In South America there are amazing caves connected by endless intricate passages - the so-called chincanas. Indian legends say that snake people live in their depths. These caves are practically unexplored. By order of the authorities, all entrances to them are tightly closed with bars. Dozens of adventurers have already disappeared without a trace in the Chinkanas. Some tried to penetrate the dark depths out of curiosity, others - out of thirst for profit: according to legend, the treasures of the Incas were hidden in the chincanas. Only a few managed to escape from the terrible caves. But these “lucky ones” were forever damaged in their minds. From the incoherent stories of the survivors, it can be understood that they met strange creatures in the depths of the earth. These inhabitants of the underworld were both human and snake-like. A sublatitudinal tunnel stretching from Crimea to the east in the region of the Ural Mountains intersects with another one stretching from north to east. It is along this tunnel that you can hear stories about “wonderful people” who came out to local residents at the beginning of the last century. “Wonderful people,” as told in epics common in the Urals, “live in the Ural Mountains and have exits to the world through caves. Their culture is great. “Diva people” are small in stature, very beautiful and with a pleasant voice, but only a select few can hear them... Among a number of researchers of the underground world, there is a strong opinion that entrances to the underground cities of humanoid inhabitants exist in the Pamirs and even at the Arctic poles and Antarctica. Life underground According to geologists, there is more water underground than in the entire World Ocean, and not all of it is in a bound state, i.e. only part of the water is included in the composition of minerals and rocks. To date, underground seas, lakes and rivers have been discovered. 
It has been suggested that the waters of the World Ocean are connected with the underground water system, and accordingly, not only the circulation and exchange of water occurs between them, but also the exchange of biological species. Unfortunately, this area remains completely unexplored to date. 
To believe or not to believe? To believe or not to believe all these stories? Any sane person will answer: “Don’t believe it!” But not everything is so simple. Let's try to think logically. Let's think about how real a person's full life underground is? Could an unknown culture or even civilization exist next to us - or rather, below us - while managing to limit contact with terrestrial humanity to a minimum? Going unnoticed? Is this possible? Does such “living” contradict common sense? In principle, a person can exist underground, and it would be quite nice - if there was money. Suffice it to recall the bunker house, the construction of which is currently being carried out by Tom Cruise: the megastar plans to hide in his underground home from aliens, who, in his opinion, should soon attack our Earth. 
In less exposed, but no less solid bunker cities, the “chosen ones” are preparing to wait out the nuclear winter and the post-radiation period in the event of a nuclear war - and this is a period during which more than one generation will get back on their feet! 
Moreover, in China and Spain today many thousands of people live not in houses, but in well-equipped caves with all amenities. True, these cave dwellers continue to actively contact the outside world and take part in terrestrial life. 
But, perhaps, the most striking example of the adaptation of a huge number of people (what is it - an entire civilization!) to the “lower” world is the underground city of Derinkuyu. Derinkuyu I have already made a post about the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu, which is located in the picturesque Turkish area of Cappadocia. http://www.site/blogs/vokrug_sveta/55502_podzemnyj_gorod_derinkuyu Of course, I don’t want to repeat myself, but I also can’t help but remember him here. 
Derinkuyu, which means "deep wells", takes its name from the small Turkish town currently located above it. For a long time no one thought about the purpose of these strange wells, until in 1963 one of local residents, who discovered a strange crevice in his basement from which fresh air was drawn, did not show healthy curiosity. As a result, a multi-tiered underground city was found, numerous rooms and galleries of which, connected to each other by passages tens of kilometers long, were hollowed out in rock... Already during the excavation of the upper tiers of Derinkuyu it became clear: this is the discovery of the century. In the underground city, scientists discovered objects of material culture of the Hittites, the great Indo-European people who competed with the Egyptians for dominance in Western Asia. The Hittite kingdom, founded in the 18th century BC. e., in the 12th century BC. e. disappeared into obscurity. Therefore, the discovery of an entire Hittite city became a real sensation. In addition, it turned out that the giant underground city is only part of a colossal labyrinth under the Anatolian Plateau. Scientists have come to the conclusion that underground construction was carried out for at least nine (!) centuries. Moreover, this was not just earthwork, albeit of a colossal volume. Ancient architects equipped the underground empire with a life support system, the perfection of which is still amazing today. Everything here was thought out to the smallest detail: rooms for animals, food warehouses, rooms for preparing and eating food, for sleeping, for meetings... At the same time, religious temples and schools were not forgotten. A precisely calculated blocking device made it possible to easily block the entrances to the dungeon with granite doors. And the ventilation system that supplied the city with fresh air continues to operate flawlessly to this day! Derinkuyu is not the only underground city found in Turkey. 300 kilometers southeast of Ankara, Turkish archaeologists excavated another one, the creation of which dates back to the 7th century BC. e. Now it is called by the name of the nearby village - Kaymakli. On its seven floors, going deep into the earth, there are two-room “apartments” with compartments for food and food storage. The baths - smooth depressions in the stone - were designed to be filled with water from underground springs. And at any time of the year, thanks to a precisely calculated system of ventilation shafts, a constant temperature of +27 C was maintained in the rooms
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. Secret base covered with 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 really exists and is intended, first of all, for the 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 distant times Ancient Rome 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 underpasses that 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 one of the wonders of the ancient world that 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 to protect themselves from the scorching desert sun, as well as to 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 hunters for precious stones. 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 an official name. Some people call this city Kariz, however, tourists more often call it the Underground City of Kish. The underground premises have a total area of 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 was renovated and turned into tourist site. 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 routes, 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. Coming Soon 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.
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 basements there are 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 in 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 with 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 along 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, Stupino 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 the royal table was. 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 and a large group of Novlensky caves are distinguished, 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 is located in the thickness of the sloped outer wall for the safe movement of 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. Is it this secret passages 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 examine them, but simply blocked 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 World War II, 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 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 in her strange glow or human figures. Such caves are not uncommon in the Leningrad region. 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, Space, Column, 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 highest tower of the fortress).
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 centuries, and sometimes for thousands of years, it keeps traces ancient man until his descendants deliberately or accidentally find them and read from them about their deeds
From the book Historical Secrets Russian Empire author Mozheiko IgorNEVIANSK DUNGEONS. EMPIRE OF THE DEMIDOVS Today from Yekaterinburg to Nevyansk is two hours by train. And once upon a time it took a day to get there along a good road. Nevyansk was the capital of the industrial kingdom of the Demidovs. Its founder, Akinfiy Demidov, fell in love with Peter the Great, who
author Burlak Vadim Nikolaevich“WHEN THE DUNGEONS CLOSE, THE PEOPLE WILL GO MADNESS...” The missing map The Bolshevik government paid special attention to the Moscow dungeons in the spring of 1918. The leaders of the Extraordinary Commission and the police reported to the Soviet government about the danger emanating from the depths
From the book Moscow underground author Burlak Vadim NikolaevichGreen-eyed avenger from the dungeon As green as two stars flare up in a row, Lock the gates and let out the fierce dogs. And in the hut many candles were lit, Don’t look outside the gate, fear creeps in, And that fear comes to torment Ivan Vasilyevich, And that fear is the black cat
From the book 1953. Deadly games author Prudnikova Elena Anatolyevna From the book History of Russia in the biographies of its main figures. Second department author From the book 100 Great Treasures author Ionina NadezhdaTreasures of an Ancient Dungeon In 871, Yi Zong, the eighteenth emperor of the Tang dynasty that ruled China, ordered the holy relics of Buddha Sakyamuni to be transferred from Famen Temple to Changan, the then capital of the country, located about 100 kilometers from the temple. Chinese
From the book The State of the Incas. Glory and death of the sons of the sun author Stingle MiloslavIII. “The Navel of the World” Guaman Poma de Ayala’s illustrated narrative of the Inca Empire and its culture, so to speak, the oldest “comic” in the world, includes an extensive text part. From it you can find out what the Incas told about the first inhabitants of the country who lived here before
From the book Continent of Eurasia author Savitsky Petr NikolaevichTWO WORLDS IEurasianism contains the seed of the desire for general philosophical truth. But in relation to Eurasianism, another question is also legitimate and understandable: the question of the relationship of the developed circle of thoughts to the rapidly flowing, boiling stream of modernity. At this turn
From the book The Fifth Angel Sounded author Vorobyovsky Yuri YurievichAvdotya dungeons And now several years have passed. Together with Vladimir Ivanovich Novikov, we go to the former estate of Novikov - Nikolai Ivanovich. My companion, a historian of noble estates, culture, and everyday life of the 18th century, knows his way around Avdotino perfectly.
From the book Occult Roots of Nazism. Secret Aryan cults and their influence on Nazi ideology author Goodrick-Clark NicholasDescent into the “dungeons of history” (announcement of the series) With the book “The Occult Roots of Nazism” by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, the publishing house “Eurasia” opens a series under the general title “Dungeons of History”. What is behind this? Another attempt at commercial exploitation of secrets,
From the book Treasures and Relics of the Romanov Era author Nikolaev Nikolay Nikolaevich8. Amber light from the dungeon People who study the mystery of the disappearance of the Amber Room probably know the name of Arseny Vladimirovich Maximov. He was one of the first officers of the Red Army who came into close contact with this history in 1945 when our troops entered
From the book Strategies for Happy Couples author Badrak Valentin VladimirovichComing from the Soviet underground Rebellion of spirit and passion for original, independent and purely individual creativity were equally inherent in both Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya. Each of them went through their own thorny path of becoming a person, and in general their success
From the book Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. Second department author Kostomarov Nikolay IvanovichIII. From the Peace of Altranstadt to the Treaty of Prut between Russia and Turkey, a popular uprising worried Peter in the east of the state, and a Swedish invasion was being prepared from the west. After the reconciliation of Augustus with Charles and the refusal of the Polish king from the crown, Poland remained in an uncertain
From the book How America Became a World Leader author Galin Vasily VasilievichRemnant: 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 for players to 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 the new area to reach "Land'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.
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 system of communications, the total length of which is 1,600 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
