Belogorye, Voronezh region. Chalk caves

In search of another chalk cave. Let me remind you that some time ago I was visited by a crazy idea to find all the fifty known and not very chalk caves of the Don and Oskolye, and I slowly, year after year, to the best of my ability and ability, fulfill my plan. Some dungeons are given easily (their coordinates are available on the network), some are searched for a long time and stubbornly according to the information collected from the local population, but one way or another, the "" project is periodically updated with a fresh system.

And today, your attention is invited to a photo report about the trip and casting to the Gorokhovskaya cave. She is also known as Andreevskaya, but, alas, not thanks to me. However, we are starting.

02 . First.
This is a village near Rossosh, where we stopped to stretch the torso, stiff from a long journey.

03 . The hope that 180 km from Voronezh the situation is more reminiscent of winter than ours was melting with every kilometer.
We don't see snowy landscapes today. We drive off the asphalt - in front of about 9 km is a rather picturesque primer.

04 . And here is . So we are somewhere very close.

05 . in_windows he is indifferent to caves - he traveled this way in search of landscapes.

06 . And while he is looking for photos, we will begin preparations for the descent into the cave by studying the plan-scheme drawn up in 1999.

07 . Already at home, after the trip, I found a later scheme dating back to 2004 and made by a certain Berkut group. If you carefully compare both topographic surveys, then the largest and most obvious difference will be noticeable in the entrance part of the cave. On the face of a serious collapse and the loss of part of the underground cavities. At the same time, the “Berkutites” have drawn many additional sections that Stepkin does not have, but at the same time they are marked as littered. I was very puzzled by this fact and I tried to find the contacts of these comrades on the net in order to clarify where the "firewood" came from. Unfortunately, the group's website has gone down, but I managed to pull something out through archive.org . More on this below as well.

08 . Artyom is the first to go down to the entrance to the cave and reports that the climb is so narrow that in order to squeeze through it, you will have to take off your outer clothing.

09 . Well, let's go.
Every time I think that I need to get into the habit of taking a change of clothes on the climbs, but every time I return home as white as a bear.

10 . So, after a three-meter skinner, a rakohod begins, and then you can already straighten up and to your full height. It should be noted that this cave, unlike many others in the area, was described and studied in some detail literally from the time of its creation. Moreover, there is even a literary work that tells about the Gorokhovskaya cave on behalf of one of the witnesses of its creation. This is the story of V.K. Agapova "Terentich" from the book "On the Middle Don", published in 1971. The most interesting moments, with your permission, I will quote. I will also make a reservation that this book is not on the network - I had to look for it in libraries.

11 . So, this cave is called Gorokhovskaya after the village of Gorokhovka, Verkhnemamonsky district, closest to it. True, the village is located on the opposite bank of the Don, keep this in mind if you are suddenly planning to follow in our footsteps. It is more correct to focus on the settlement of Novaya Kalitva, Rossoshansky district. From the quote below, it will become clear why the second name of the cave is "Andreevskaya", when it appeared and who were its first builders. " Over there, behind Bald Mountain, along steep ravines, our Kalitva people always graze sheep, cows, oxen, and further, behind the ravines, - Andrew's wasteland, Kostevka. There, in the steep chalk mountains above the Don, the shepherds saw caves. And it was in the spring, in the difficult year of the Crimean War. ( 1853-1856, but according to other sources, the cave began to be dug in 1859 - approx. auth.) Word of the caves spread throughout the area. There were many talks. The main surprise is that no one could see the cave-diggers. In those days, a wanderer came to the shepherds with a knapsack over his shoulders and said: “We have Holy place where the grace of the Lord constantly abides and acts with an invisible hand, ”and pointed to the caves. This news quickly flew through the settlements. A terrible turmoil ensued the next day. And that day was a holiday. A great number of people gathered in the caves. This is where the cavemen showed up. They explained to people the sanctity of the place and told about miracles and visions. For example, one of them assured: “I had a terrible headache, I took the earth here, put it on the top of my head, and my head immediately stopped hurting, as if something had fallen off it.” People listened to him with emotion, devoutly baptized themselves...

And who dug them? I asked.

The Gorokhov peasant Grigory Vedernikov dug with his brethren ... Wait a minute, and I'll tell you about him. Listen further: people from all over the area poured into the caves, carrying money, flour, lard, linen, icons ... There were also hunters to help dig the caves. The founders of the caves barely had time to accept offerings and dispose of the helpers who worked to save the soul. A special cell was made for Vedernikov. He received visitors through the window and explained that he divided the offering into three equal parts: one part for the poor, the other for the digging brethren, and the third for the caves themselves ... Pious old women, monks, nuns, wanderers, cripples, sellers appeared candles, incense, bubbles with a tear of the Virgin ... "

12 . Let me once again return from the cave to the top - to Vasily and landscapes. An excellent description of these places and similar weather was found in V. Barabashov's novel "The White Blade". Well, why am I not a writer and can't paint like that? " From Staraya Kalitva, which scattered houses along steep chalk mounds, the Don takes a wide loop to the left, to Novaya Kalitva, rolls gloomy cold waves to the south. Kalitvyansky left bank - in dense thickets of oak and hazel; the forest, powdered with the first snow, stands gloomy and silent. Between the settlements, on the right bank, there is a spacious floodplain meadow, indented on one side by a deep river with icy springs, Black Kalitva, and on the other, by a red, cold road. A sludge has already passed along the Don, shallow waters and backwaters have frozen, reeds are frozen in the ice. But the middle of the river is still free of ice; a whitish fog was rising over the Don, and in this fog it is difficult to make out either a punt floating upside down, or a corpse of a horse, or a Red Army cap ... bare branches of the coastal willow, leaning dashing ripples on the sleepy, unhurried waves of the Don."

13 . But back to the cave. "... They began to talk about the caves every day. Only the clergy of the Kalitva church were silent. Anticipating the loss in their income, the priests demanded that the authorities ban the worship of unauthorized holiness and close the caves. But then experienced people were found, they began to ask everyone they met questions: why close? After all, this is God's work? Police measures and exhortations of the clergy proved powerless. They began to talk about the caves at public meetings. But even here there were clever people. They threatened the world with the punishment of the Lord for negligence to save their souls. They gave the example that fifty years ago the caves of the now famous one were just as difficult to conceive, that the founder of these caves, the nun Maria Sherstyukova, was persecuted by the authorities. She was dragged to the Ostrogozhsk district court. When Emperor Alexander the First found out about this, he ordered: in the caves of a little church with an iron iconostasis. mute God's work. For the future monastery, the meeting decided to cut off the picturesque Andreevsky wedge, which is under the Cold Mountain, forty acres. It was supposed to give the forest for the construction of a small temple, to build a refectory and a house for pilgrims on the rights of a house church. And there were services in the caves. Lampadas and candles burned in the prayer room, people sang psalms...

14 . Terentich shook his head.
- The people there crowded apparently-invisibly. Frankly, I also went to dig these caves. It used to happen that during Lent a party of forty or fifty people would gather, with shovels, picks, crowbars, axes, and we would work for three days to save our souls. This went on for three years. And then ... - Terentyich pursed his lips in disgust and was silent for a long time.
Well, what happened next? I asked impatiently. - Grandpa, tell me what happened next.
- And then, the guy, it turned out that one circling of the head. This most important founder of the caves, Vedernikov, began to drink vodka and look at the widows and nuns who lived in the caves. "Sisters in Christ" began to whisper among themselves. One of them, Praskovya Losevskaya, a blueberry from Kalitva, began to appear in Grigory's eyes more often. And one day he said to her with ingenuous slyness:
- I'm so lonely!
The blueberry shook her head and replied:
Our sins...
He took her hand and lowered his voice to a whisper.
- Come to me in the evening, Pasha, we'll get bored together, we'll be sad. I'll be waiting.
At dusk, when the pilgrims had gone to sleep, she came to Gregory and spent the night in his cell. After that, she brought him fried fish and honey gingerbread. And a year later, in those caves, a child was born to the nun Praskovya ... The volost authorities informed the Voronezh governor about this. Soon a police bailiff, police officers, foreman Pavel Reznikov, and sotskys galloped into the caves, arrested Grigory Vedernikov, dispersed all the inhabitants and blocked the entrance to the caves.".

15 . It is worth making a reservation here that Vasily Ksenofontovich Agapov, who so vividly described the history of the Gorokhovskaya cave in his story, changed the name of the first cave digger. As a basis for his story, he took an article authored by a local resident Pavel Kochergin, published in 1863 in the Voronezh Gubernskiye Vedomosti, in which the author describes the cave and outlines the history of its creation. And in the tenth issue of the Voronezh Diocesan Gazette for 1884, another article was published, from which we learn the real names of the founders. They were residents of the village of Gorokhovka: Maxim Kurasov, Filimon Kondratiev and Mitrofan Zimin. The purpose of their work also looks somewhat different: not enrichment, but saving themselves and others during the construction of caves. For this purpose" brought these peasants<...>some kind of Mitrofan from the settlement, an old man of about a hundred years old, who went to the collections and then died as a schemer as if in ".

16 . Interesting in the article when describing the dungeon is the information that one of the sleeves of the cave went out into the steppe, which is quite consistent with the scheme of the Berkut group. In their report, which I miraculously found in the web archive, there is the following useful information for us, explaining, for example, the presence of a well and cells on the diagram: " During the war in winter, first the Germans hid there from the cold, then a unit of the Italian Alpine riflemen. So, when ours began to advance, they did not have time to jump out of there and went deep into the system. Ours, not bothering with searches, simply left the grenade in the passage going there, causing the collapse of the ceilings, and the Italians did not come out of there. When we arrived at the place, the entrance was collapsed and covered with stones - the chalk mountains are being destroyed. It seems that such a surprise happens every spring, so the hour is not far off when the system itself falls asleep. The same collapse, according to local residents, covered the passage to the internal well of the system - an almost vertical passage down to the river (Don). On the diagram, it is drawn from the words of local residents, like the cells, the path to which has long been littered, but it is definitely there.."

17 . Also, the report of the guys, in my opinion, somewhat clarifies the question that I suffered while in the system: why is there such an uneven floor in the cave, if there are no signs of collapse on the ceiling? " We also found that ill-fated passage into the depths of the mountain, and began to dig it. We dug 3 meters, and realized that with one of our shovels, with a limited time, we won’t open much - we’ll bury ourselves. Therefore, we stopped. In addition, there is a hall further on, also blown up from the inside, which will require great effort.." I think that heaps of rock were not pulled out, but piled between the columns.

18 . "By the way, the places of collapses are visible on the surface, in the form of characteristic failures. But you have to dig, and not alone, I guess."

19. By the way, about the ceiling. Perhaps, these are the highest vaults in the chalk church that I have ever seen. I think 4-5 meters.

20 . But this did not prevent visitors to the cave from leaving their autographs even at the very top.
I have no idea how they could do it! Look to the very top. Really a ladder-ladder dragged?!

21 . In this photo, you should pay attention to the old ocher paint that decorates the vaults, to the fact that Artyom was suddenly split in two, and to Artur and Anya, who suffer from gigantomania.

22 . In general, judging by the number of inscriptions on the walls and ceiling, there were quite a lot of people here.
Something about Serdyukov is illegible ...

23 . The earliest "modern" inscription is from 1932. But two unusual ships are depicted on one column (see plan-scheme 1).

24 . According to V. Stepkin and N. Pisarevsky, these ships in their design, as well as the style of the image, can be attributed to the period no later than XVII - early. XVIII centuries, which may mean that Kurasov and associates discovered the already existing ancient caves and pretended to be the organizers. So, despite all the details of historical information, it may turn out that we know only a little about the fate of the Andreevskaya cave.

25 . Well, we didn’t bother anymore with the light of lanterns sweetly sniffing bats, and finally getting dirty with chalk, got out. And on the way home we visited a couple more interesting objects, which I will talk about next time.

UPDATE from 01/18/2014: Additional information about the Gorokhovskaya cave was received from a person who, according to him, had been there 40 times and was originally supposed to join our weekend expedition, but it did not work out. it

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This time the main goal of our trip to the Voronezh region was the cave monasteries in Divnogorie and Kostomarovo.

But we also managed to visit the Venvetinov estate in the village of Novozhivotinnoye and the beautiful Voronezh Aquarium.

Shark in the Voronezh Oceanarium

We've already been last year.

Cross at the entrance to Voronezh

Then we just got acquainted with the city (I was there before, but a very long time ago, and it has changed a lot since then), went to Ramon and the aquarium. Then there were very long walks around Voronezh. We literally walked all day long.

Voronezh Regional Literary Museum. I.S. Nikitin, st. Plekhanovskaya, 3

This time there were walks and trips. And most importantly - what they went for: cave monasteries.

We saw the chalk hills on the way to Voronezh, behind the Upper Mamon

We went with the usual team (my husband, me and our younger children, 5 and 7 years old) and in the usual way for us - by car.

Road in the Voronezh region. Bridge over the Red River

Route: Rostov-on-Don - Voronezh - Divnogorie, Big Divas - Divnogorie, Small Divas (near Selyavnoye) - Voronezh - Kostomarovo - Novozhivotinnoye - Voronezh - Rostov-on-Don. 4 days, including 12 hours on the road to Voronezh and back (6 hours there and the same amount back). The total mileage is 1,850 kilometers.

Center of Voronezh, Kukolkina street

We lived in Voronezh, in the very center of the city, on Kukolkina Street, in a 2-room apartment with all amenities. The car was parked in the yard under the windows.

The apartment in which we lived on Kukolkina street

On the first day we walked around Voronezh.

A new meeting with an old friend.

We also climbed the tallest building in the city, a 100-meter skyscraper (Muscovites, of course, will say that this is a very small skyscraper, because the height of the Moscow State University building is 240 meters, including the spire).

The tallest building in Voronezh is the Chizhov Galleries business center (100 meters)

Entrance to the Chizhov Galleries business center (100 meters)

But I will talk about this separately. As, however, and about everything else. And now - just a short (although not so short) account of what we saw on this trip.

On the first day in Voronezh, during an evening walk, it began to rain heavily, and we didn’t even take umbrellas. So I had to first hide under a canopy, and then return home. But we saw a complete double rainbow over Voronezh.

Double full rainbow in Voronezh on June 12, 2014. Alas, only a piece of the upper rainbow is visible ...

It was very good sign! The trip was truly a success!

The second rainbow (upper) has already faded, but the first one can be seen well

Divnogorye, Big Divas and Small Divas

On the second day in the morning we went to Divnogorye, where I had dreamed of going for many years. This wonderful place is located 140 kilometers from the regional center (this is if it is less directly on the roads, but in a straight line it is possible only by helicopter), in the Liskinsky district of the Voronezh region.

Divnogorye - the name of the area perfectly reflects the essence ...

Unfortunately, we were late for the first tour by 10 am. Therefore, we just walked there until the next excursion, until 12 o'clock.

Such large chalk pillars are called divas.

Why do we need a tour so much? The fact is that without it you can’t get into the Church of the Sicilian Icon Mother of God.

Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God in Bolshie Divy Divnogorye

The temple met all my expectations. I love cave temples in general. This one is just a miracle! This text is stolen from the Road of Peace website (website)!

A chalk staircase leads from the second tier of the temple to the first

We spent the whole day in Divnogorye. After all, this is not only a farm and a museum-reserve, but also a vast area. It consists, as it were, of two parts, historically and spiritually interconnected.

Pointer to the museum-reserve "Divnogorye" and the Divnogorsky monastery

The first one is Divnogorye proper with the farm of the same name and the Divnogorye museum-reserve. Here are the Big Divas - chalk pillars, in one of which the cave temple.

Chalk poles rise above the railroad

There is also the Divnogorsk Compound,

Divnogorsk farmstead with farm life

Mayatskoye settlement of the 9th century,

geological Park,

Fragment of the geological park in Divnogorie

beautiful chalk canyon

Cretaceous canyon in Divnogorye

and reconstructed huts of the Mayatsky settlement in the Archaeological Park.

The reconstructed hut of the Mayatsky settlement in the Archaeological Park

The second part is Divnogorsky Svyato-Uspensky monastery.

It is located near the village of Selyavnoye, and from the Divnogorie farm it is about 12 kilometers to go to it, not very good roads. Here are the Small Divas with the cave church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.

Cave Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Small Divas, Divnogorie

The places are amazingly beautiful. Divnogorie delighted me to the core. And I liked this place the most in this trip around the Voronezh region.

Divnogorye. Cave Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist

I did not want to leave here. And I really hope that we will return there again. Moreover, we saw only the most iconic, the main sights of Divnogorye. And to see everything, you have to go there for a week, at least.

A bizarre Diva near the Baptist Church

We returned to Voronezh that day at about nine o'clock in the evening ...

Kostomarovo: Spassky Monastery and Cave Temples

The next day in the morning we went to Kostomarovo. This is a village in the Pogornensky district of the Voronezh region, 170 kilometers from Voronezh (again, on the roads).

View of the Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery from the road

Kostomarovsky Spassky is located here convent. It is quite large, with a beautiful territory among the picturesque chalk mountains.

The monastery consists of a whole complex of caves and three cave temples, including the magnificent Cathedral of the Savior.

Cave Spassky Cathedral in Kostomarovo

There are also modern temples, chapels, cells and other buildings.

Temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God "Search for the Lost" and the cave on the right

At the top of the chalk hill, above the monastery, rises a cross.

Cross on Calvary in Kostomarovo

And on the way to it, to the left of the path, there is a chapel.

Chapel of the Russian New Martyrs and in memory of the Blessed Elder Peter of Kostomarovo

The place is very beautiful with wonderful surroundings. Here we also stayed for a long time, along with the trip there and back - the whole day.

Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery

On the fourth day we went to the village of Novozhivotinnoye, where the poet Dmitry Venevitinov lived. Incidentally, a relative of the much more famous poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And besides - the prototype of Vladimir Lensky in the immortal poem "Eugene Onegin".

Venevitinov's estate in Novozhivotinnoye

By the way, the Venevitinov estate is also known for the fact that the English writer Ethel Lilian Voynich lived here. Yes, the one who wrote the novel "The Gadfly". And if someone has not read a single poem by Venevitinov and has not heard about this poet at all, then it seems that everyone knows about the novel "The Gadfly". It's even filmed. The English writer was a governess in the Venevitinov family.

Venevitinov's estate in Novozhivotinnoye. XVIII century. Reconstruction. Layout

The village of Novozhivotinnoye is located in the Ramonsky district of the Voronezh region, 30 kilometers from Voronezh. We got there pretty quickly. And it was easy to find the museum. We arrived even before the opening of the museum, so we walked for another half an hour in the park of the noble estate of the Venevitinov family.

Manor park of the Venevitinov estate

The park is small, very nice, with a pond and a gazebo. Out to Don.

When the museum opened, we went to see the 18th century mansion itself. Spacious, with many interesting exhibits, among them - the piano on which Voynich played.

Piano played by Ethel Lilian Voynich

A walk around the Venevitinov estate will also be devoted to a separate story.

After visiting the poetic place, we went to the sea element - to the Voronezh Oceanarium.

Entrance to the Voronezh Oceanarium

We were already there in October last year, but I have not yet had time to describe my enthusiasm about this. There are no less of them even now.

Hall with river inhabitants: sturgeons, pikes and others

The oceanarium is really magnificent, large, well-groomed, beautifully decorated, with a rich collection of inhabitants. The territory is four and a half thousand square meters!

Terrarium with crocodiles, turtles and a waterfall

And again we walked along it for two hours, and could have been longer if the children were not tired. Absolutely didn't want to leave!

Large aquarium with sunken ship and sharks

We liked the penguins the most.

penguinarium

Children were simply not to be torn away from them.

Penguins in the Voronezh Oceanarium are very cheerful and active

I also admired the large tunnel aquarium with sharks swimming overhead.

Tunnel in the Voronezh Oceanarium

And small marine aquariums with beautiful and bizarre fish.

Marine Aquarium in the Voronezh Oceanarium

And, of course, as always, they brought souvenirs from the trip - for themselves, relatives and friends.

This time there is so much material memory that there will be a separate post about souvenirs from Voronezh.

Mine also replenished, as much as five copies at once.

My collection of geographical mugs has replenished

I could not resist, I bought an unusual mug from the Mayatsky settlement

Have you been to Voronezh, Divnogorye, Kostomarovo, Novozhivotinnoye and Voronezh Oceanarium? What did you think of it?

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“Sailing to the Silent Pine and seeing the pillars of the stone are white, marvelously and red stand side by side, as if the hundreds are small, white and bright green, over the river over the Pine”- described these Beautiful places a clerk who accompanied Metropolitan Pimen on his trip, who visited the lands that are today called the Voronezh region at the end of the 14th century.

Long before the arrival of Pimen, several million years ago, an endless expanse of water stretched in these places, at the bottom of which chalk deposits slowly but surely formed. The grain of sand folded to the grain of sand, and the water more and more squeezed them together. The receding water was replaced by strong winds and those grains of sand that did not have time to grapple strongly enough were scattered above the ground. And the rest became Divas - this is how the locals called the chalk pillars that rise above the chalk hills and endless steppes along the Don and dazzle their eyes with their whiteness. Divas, from the word "wonderful, wonderful", because except as a miracle of nature, this place cannot be called.

Today, the height of the hills does not exceed 30 meters, but the area is proudly called Divnogorsk. Although the local hills can only dream of the laurels of the Urals and the Elbrus region in their dreams, however, in their many kilometers deep they keep amazing sights for central Russia - cave monasteries. At the beginning of the 18th century, a local resident began to dig them, considering this place to be secluded enough for prayers and repentance. Chalk turned out to be a very malleable material, and soon many residents of the surrounding villages began to build small individual caves for themselves to talk with the Almighty. Some became hermits and remained to live in these caves, which gradually turned into multi-level monastic complexes of quite impressive size. And inside, that same primordial silence still stands, as if the hill still lies at the bottom of the ancient sea.

Holy Dormition Divnogorsk Monastery

The Divnogorsky Assumption Monastery is perhaps the oldest of the three cave monasteries built in the Cretaceous deposits of the Voronezh region. Although scientists are still arguing about the dates of the founding of all three. They say that the first monks came here together with the Don Cossacks, who were sent to protect the local borders from Tatar raids. On the high bank, where the fast waters of the Don merge with the quiet river Pine, the first settlers cut down a church in one of the pillars, and a chapel in the next one. Then several wooden buildings and even several cannons appeared, the monks were so afraid of uninvited visits from not only nomads, but also local wandering thieves. Both those and others periodically burned the buildings, but the monks stubbornly restored them. Gradually, life in the monastery improved, especially after Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself granted the most merciful permission to build a water mill on the territory of the monastery, which was not taxed. Another one was presented to the monks by a local noble widow, and for a hundred years the Divnogorsky Assumption Monastery turned into the richest monastery in these parts. The monastery was in the favor of Peter I and in disgrace of Catherine II, and the Bolsheviks drowned its famous library here, in the waters of the Don. However, this monastery is famous to this day not only for its rich history, but also miraculous icon Sicilian Mother of God, which was miraculously discovered on one of the pillars during construction. The church named after her today is the only surviving cave building of the monastery complex. Now the church resembles rather a dilapidated frame of an old knight's tower, which, at the behest of the master, was repainted white. It protrudes brightly on a hill, and from its base you can climb up to a panoramic platform, to the top of a 180-meter mountain, from where you can see the surrounding steppe expanses and the valley of the Pine River. Being at the top of the mountain, you can hear an unusual echo from your feet when walking on a chalk mountain, inside of which there are voids.

The current male monastery

Founded: 1653

How to get there

Voronezh region, Liskinsky district, Divnogorye village

GPS coordinates: 50.979775, 39.317331

From the Voronezh station to the Liski station, then the Liski-Ostrogozhsk or Liski-Alekseevka station to the Divnogorye platform

Highway M-4 "Don", 60 km from Voronezh in the direction of Liski. From Liski across the bridge to the village of Pukhova, the second turn across the railway to the village of Selyavnoye and follow the signs to the museum "Divnogorie". Parking is located a few hundred meters from the monastery.

Belogorsky Resurrection Monastery

The Belogorsky Resurrection Monastery was founded by a woman, a local resident, who received a blessing for monastic labors in Belogorye. She and several of her ascetics began to excavate very energetically inside the chalk pillars. It is said that about two kilometers of caves were excavated as a result. However, the activities of the woman did not really like her fellow villagers, only history is silent about why. But it is known for certain that the dispute about the need to create a temple in these places was resolved by Tsar Alexander I himself, endowing the poor woman with a considerable monetary reward for her efforts. In his honor, the mistress of the chalk tunnels dug out a real cave temple, giving it the name of Alexander Nevsky, the patron of the tsar. Soon the woman died, and the built monastery became a man's. Gradually, the architects gave all the buildings a Byzantine look, which emphasized the natural bright white chalk walls as best as possible. During the 19th century, there was a school for boys here, where the rector himself taught. However, with the advent of Soviet power, all historical buildings were completely destroyed. According to local legend, all the Bolsheviks who participated in the destruction of the ancient shrine died suddenly from a rare and terrible disease. The caves served as a reliable shelter for local partisans during the Great Patriotic War, and in our time the monks have returned here and painstakingly restore the lost. Today the caves of Belogorye are considered the largest man-made monastic dungeon in Russia.

The current male monastery

Founded: 1796

How to get there

Voronezh region, Podgorensky district, Belogorye village, Kirpichi farm

GPS coordinates: 50.471008, 40.036454

From the Voronezh railway station to the Podgornoye station, then by any bus to Pavlovsk. You need to get out before reaching Pavlovsk, in the village of Belogorye.

Highway M-4 "Don", from the side of Voronezh, before reaching Pavlovsk about 15 km, turn right to Belogorye, and then to the village of Kirpichi about 3 km.

Spassky cave monastery in Kostomarovo

With the Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery, history did exactly the opposite: the monastery, founded by the Little Russian monks, gradually became a female one. No one knows for sure when the first caves appeared in these places and who the first builders were. There is a version that these places are much more ancient than official sources say. Therefore, until now, the most stubborn historians are looking for the most ancient monastery here, from which Orthodoxy spread throughout Russia. But there is a completely different opinion: since ancient times, these caves were chosen by the Don robbers, led by the famous Kostomar, who drowned in the local lake. The rich settlement of Kostomarovo was named after him. The history of the monastery cannot be called very bright and interesting, compared even with the two neighboring cave monasteries. However, on its territory, both deep inside and on the surface, there are three very unusual objects that are interesting, first of all, as extraordinary construction objects. First, deep underground is a huge cave temple. It is strictly forbidden to take pictures in it, so it is very difficult to estimate its real dimensions. However, there is an opinion that up to two thousand people are accommodated here at large festive services. The temple is somewhat similar to an amphitheater, its vaults rest on 12 pillars, and along the perimeter you can see passages to the cells of hermit monks. Also in the underground part is the Cave of Repentance. In order to get into it, you have to overcome a very narrow corridor, the ceiling of which gradually decreases, and at the entrance to the cave, the posture becomes invariably bowed. And on the surface is the oldest and most beautiful building of the monastery complex - the Spassky Church, the construction of which dates back to the 18th-19th centuries. The temple is a complex of two chalk pillars-divas standing close to each other, its premises are located inside the pillars, and an elegant belfry is thrown between them. Inside the temple keeps another small miracle the size of a human being. This icon called "Blessed Sky" was painted at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries on a single sheet of iron.

The current nunnery

The year of foundation is not exactly known.

How to get there

Voronezh region, Podgorensky district, Kostomarovo

GPS coordinates: 50.681538 39.749896

From the railway station "Voronezh" by train, next to Rossosh, to the station "Podgornoye". From there - by bus to the village of Kostomarovo.

Highway M-4 "Don", from the direction of Voronezh, turn onto Liski from Liski - to Kamenka. Then follow through the villages of Sonchino and Yudino to Kostomarovo.

The Spassky Monastery near the village of Kostomarovo is located about forty kilometers southeast of the Divnogorie Museum-Reserve, again near the Don River. However, the monastery itself is not located on the banks of the Don, but in a deep Kostomarovskaya gully. There are legends about the time of the formation of the monastery. They say that the apostle Andrew himself chose the place for it. This area seemed to him very similar to Golgotha. Historians are not very confident in considering the date of foundation of the monastery to the VIII-IX centuries AD. At this time, in the Orthodox Byzantium, a theomachic campaign was taking place against heretics, who fled to these places and founded a monastery. It seems, even approximately, no one knows the date of foundation. This question is apparently waiting for its researchers. For example, not very far from these places on the banks of the Seversky Donets (Ukraine) is Svyatogorsky cave monastery. Recently, excavations and research have been carried out in some of its caves. It was concluded that the first people who began to dig caves there were not Christians at all, and this happened a very long time ago. So the Spassky Monastery is probably very ancient. Now there are two active cave churches in the monastery, not counting the chapel, but the two-altar Spassky is considered by some researchers as two churches. Another temple of Seraphim of Sarov was built in 1903. In addition to churches, there are several more caves of the Kostomarov elders.
According to my observations, the chalk rock in Kostomarovo is extremely soft and snow-white. Therefore, it is more susceptible to moisture penetration and the formation of green algae. In the temples themselves, this is almost imperceptible, everything is very neat and well-groomed there - beautiful bas-relief icons are carved on the chalk walls. Services are constantly going on, so it was impossible to film anything. What you will see was filmed in the caves of the Kostomarov elders. These dungeons suffer greatly from humidity, although even in winter the temperature in them does not fall below +13, +14 degrees. They say that these elders had such an appearance that they tried not to show themselves to the eyes of the parishioners, so as not to frighten them. In one of the caves lived a "stylite", who was constantly chained to the chalk wall and slept, hanging on chains. It was not possible to film the longest of these caves - the Cave of Repentance. Small but very skillfully made ceramic icons are embedded in its walls, which do not care about moisture. On the walls of the Church of the Savior there are mosaics that are also not afraid of moisture. The researchers also seem to have very vague ideas about the length of the underground passages. They say that the ring passage around the temple has a length of 2 km. During the years of German occupation, Soviet soldiers hid in these dungeons. After the release, Stalin allowed the believers to restore the Spassky Church, but under Khrushchev it was again closed. It was restored quite recently. Now here is a nunnery. Getting to Kostomarovo without a car is not very convenient, however, organized bus tours, there is parking, hotels for pilgrims are being built.
Further, our plans were to visit the cave monastery in Belogorye, but this did not succeed, partly due to heavy rain and general fatigue, although already in pitch darkness the GPS nevertheless brought us to the outskirts of Belogorye...
Okay, let's leave Belogorye for the future.
And in conclusion, it should be said that these are only the most famous cave churches. Before the revolution of 1917, there were about four dozen cave temples in the Voronezh region, many of which were subsequently destroyed or blown up.

It has long been known that success in any business depends on two components: diligence and good rest. Sometimes in a person's life there comes a moment when, in order to escape from problems and fuss outside world, the beach and the warm sun are no longer enough. I want something more, to relax not only in the body, but also to feel peace in the soul. In search of peace, many come to the picturesque village of Kostomarovo. The Voronezh region, the map of which is presented in the article, is replete with beautiful landscapes. But some of the areas deserve special attention. It is one of these places that will be discussed further.

Location

The village of Kostomarovo is spread among the chalk cliffs of the Don Belogorye. It passes through the Central Russian Upland. The settlement is located on (a map of the Voronezh region will help you navigate this issue). Here are the chalk pillars, remnants, colloquially called Divas, which were formed as a result of erosion. And along the beam and river slopes, the entrances to the famous complex of Kostomarovsky caves gape. The most picturesque place of the Central Russian Upland is the high sections of the right bank, known as the Don Belogorye. The height of the chalk cliffs on the right bank of the Don reaches 242 m. There are 8 caves on the slopes of the Kostomarovskaya beam at a small distance from each other. Most of them are cut in chalk-marl rocks. At the bases of the divas are the entrances to the cave church in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the Church of the Savior, to the nearby cell and the collapsed cave next to the diva.

worldly abode

To find peace and feel the serenity of silence, it is not necessary to go to the mountains of Tibet. Seven hundred kilometers from the capital of our country, not far from Divnogorye, there is an Orthodox Russian pearl - the Spassky Monastery in Kostomarovo, Voronezh Region. According to legend, the first ancient Christians came here in the 8th century. The unique beauties of the Don region inspired them to create a abode of self-improvement and peace of mind. It was here that hermits found peace in ancient times, hiding from persecution. Later, during the period of church union in Ukraine, refugee monks settled in the chalk caves. At the same time, they founded the Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery, which was originally used as a cell in the Belogorodsky male monastery. The architecture of the caves is closely intertwined with the motives of the local nature. Chalk pillars, caves and lands dried up by the rays of the scorching sun - all this, combined into a single landscape, resembles the holy places of Christianity - Palestine, Tabor, Golgotha, Gethsemane ...

The history of development

It existed for 7 centuries. During the revolution in 1917 it was closed. But despite this, some of the clergy remained to live in the caves. Their last inhabitant was the elder Peter (Eremeenko), now glorified as a holy martyr among the saints. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was sent to prison, within the walls of which the monk died. In wartime, the caves were used as bomb shelters. Then, after the Victory, the Spassky Monastery was opened for the inhabitants of the local environs as a temple. However, soon, due to Khrushchev's persecution of the church, it was closed again. The reason for this was an unsatisfactory assessment of the conditions that existed in the monastery. The commission considered them not meeting sanitary and hygienic standards. The local population also treated the monastery with open hostility: church buildings were burned, some chalk pillars were destroyed, vintage icons used by children instead of ice cubes. Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery was officially returned to the Russian Orthodox Church 80 years after the end of the October Revolution. The restoration of the holy monastery was carried out by three nuns - Joasapha, Seraphim, Dionisia. With their own efforts, they revived the old ones, built a new one, and also took care of the road and the hotel for pilgrims.

Features of the visit

You can get to the village of Kostomarovo (Voronezh) from Moscow through the town of Liski, where the open-air museum-reserve "Divnogorie" is located. Several trains run to the city from Kursk and Kazan stations. From Liski - by bus, train or taxi (approximate cost - 400 rubles). To visit the monastery, women are supposed to wear a long skirt, which you can get right at the entrance to the monastery. There is also a water tower with a small belfry.

Church of the Savior of the Holy Image

The sights of the arriving pilgrims and tourists from afar are attracted by the prominent silhouette of the majestic cathedral. The entrance to it is formed by two limestone mountains crowned with golden and crimson domes and a belfry between them. In the summer, when church crosses shine in the rays of the bright sun against the azure sky, the chalky divas look especially impressive. The entire Cathedral of the Savior of the Holy Image is located under a sheer chalk cliff and invariably impresses with its size - it can simultaneously accommodate about 2 thousand parishioners. The ceiling of the temple is supported by several columns 12 meters high. Behind the cathedral is the chapel of the martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia. You can get there through an open passage. Next, there is a fraternal tomb, a reclusive cell and a chapel. Tours of the cathedral are conducted by the nuns themselves. Here you can see Even today there are traces of shots that were received by the shrine during the years of persecution of the church.

Voronezh region caves

Scattered along the slope of the mountain are the entrances to small grottoes, where monks once lived. During the revival of the monastery, they were strengthened and restored. Today, however, mold is already appearing on the surface of walls covered with putty. Of particular interest are the Stylite Caves, which are tiny vertical nooks in which it is impossible to lie or sit. To humble their flesh, the monks could stay in them for several years. At the time of sleep, they strengthened their body with hooks driven into the wall.

Temple in the name of Seraphim of Sarov

This cathedral in Kostomarovo (Voronezh region) was founded relatively recently - at the beginning of the 20th century. As a rule, there is no one here during the day. At this time, you can come and pray alone. The rocky roof of the temple was chosen by swallows...

cave of repentance

Another attraction on the territory of the monastery in the village of Kostomarovo (Voronezh region) is the Cave of Repentance. It is located at the end of the Pilgrimage Path and is a narrow long tunnel, on the walls of which there are icons and candles illuminating the path. As we move forward, the ceiling gradually lowers so that the walker on it can once again bow his head before the Lord. The exit of the tunnel is located in the cell, where the monks used to take the confession of parishioners. Before the revolution, people with a particularly serious sin came here with repentance, and after confession, the monks prescribed penance for them.

Other shrines

The Spassky Monastery is located on the slope of a mountain called Golgotha. At its very top is a large cross, which is associated with a long tradition. It was believed that if a note with a cherished desire is placed in its slot, then it will certainly come true. But today, at the request of the nuns, notes are left on the windowsills of the nearby chapel of the Crucifixion of the Lord.

The youngest church on the territory of the monastery is the Seeking of the Lost, consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God. It was built under the auspices of the local bishop at the very foot of Mount Golgotha. It is here that the Kostomarovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, painted by Shokorev at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is kept. Worship services are held in the church in winter. The monastery is far from the only attraction of Kostomarovo. The Voronezh region can boast of other, no less interesting corners. Two kilometers from this amazing, spiritually rich place, on the very bank of the Don, beats which was dedicated to the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. In the town of Liski there is a huge nature reserve "Divnogorye" with cave divas and a monastery.