Kungur ice cave - the realm of the Snow Queen.

City Kungur typical Russian merchant town, conveniently located near Perm, like measurement of time and of the world. This is not Asia, but not Europe. It is located on the edge of an icy mountain, which is the elevation of about ten square miles. It is dotted with numerous craters, some of which reach 50 meters in diameter and 10.5 meters deep. In some places, these depressions are filled with water to form a karst lake. Next to them - karst depressions, dips.

Ice Mountain anciently attracted people. During excavations Kungurian settlement found the remains of fires, iron and bone arrowheads, fragments of pottery.

In the eastern part of the hill is icy Kungur ice cave. This is one of the largest karst formations Urals.

Gypsum is easily dissolved by water. For thousands of years the river groundwater combined oral Ice Mountain in a single intricate maze. It extends inland for 700 meters, and the total length of his moves is about 6 miles.

The surface of the ice mountains and Kungur ice cave is closely related to each other, so they were combined into a single Historic Park.

The first studies of this amazing place began in the XVIII century. Founder of Perm, Vasily Tatishchev personally visited the cave and correctly defined the first appearance of the cave as a result of water, not the earthly fire, as was once thought. The fact that people are no longer afraid of hell fire and showed to Kungur ice cave scientific interest - the merit of the Russian scientists XIX century. Then commenced a geological study of these amazing places.

In July 1913 the cave visited Vatenbergskaya Princess Victoria and her daughter Louise, sister and niece of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one of the arches of the cave majestic lady wrote an inscription. But let's not focus on the act of the representatives shkolyarskom monarchical dynasty ...

The very nature has taken care of him here, at the entrance to her, you can place the tourist base. Here are the tour complex "Stalagmite" with hotel rooms of different categories, as well as laboratory-clinic open to the public museum.

The cave tourists enter through built in the last century, forty meter tunnel, allowing also carry locking necessary to maintain temperature and retain its ice decoration of this amazing place.

What is it, Kungur ice cave

Ice ... He greets visitors right at the entrance. First in the form of frost on the walls, and then the dense layers of the thickness of which varies in different years.

If we consider that the rocks from which a cave, having the dry arid climate 250 million years ago, the current state of the cave safely be called a paradox. Truly here converged ice and fire.

In the near-side of the cave, where the average annual temperature is kept negative, formed permafrost zone. Year-round ice formations preserved presented layered ice, stalagmites, stalactites and crystals. This is another unique Kungur cave. Only here there are all forms of ice, known to science. Let's watch some of them.

Sinter ice. From the name itself implies that they arise from the formation of water. Ice is manifested primarily in the canopy, where the colder air is moving. Here the image covers, and arising out of them air freezes into ice cascades.

In places the water dripping from the vaults is not leaking, and freezes, growing up in the stalagmites, which grow sometimes up to 2-3 meters in height. And make the most bizarre forms.

When the temperature in the vaults also drops below zero, they start to grow out of the stalactites.

That's it, "moving" towards each other, stalactites and stalagmites form when meeting stalagnates sometimes, even in the column. In one of the caves preserved stalagnates described back in 1848! Now it has reached a height of over 2.5 meters and about the same in diameter.

Weather changes on the ground, alternating thaws and cooling, of course, affects the temperature of the cave. Therefore, the form of stalagmites menyaetsya.V too cold they erect a sharp tip, and were thawing tops these spread out into different forms nodules.

Stalactites are smaller variety of forms.

Sublimation of ice.

Here freeze ice crystals with high diversity. Here you can meet and leaf-shaped, and pyramidal, and needle. There is a feeling, he found himself in the realm of the Snow Queen. The largest in extent of gypsum caves Russia. And the largest by volume.

Real wonder of nature , amazing land - Kungur ice cave - the realm of the Snow Queen.