The Marble Canyon of Karelia is a man-made monument of nature. Marble Canyon Ruskeala
One of the most popular sights of Karelia - most beautiful mountain park and marble canyon Ruskeala . Sheer marble cliffs go vertically down and break into emerald green water, and a well-groomed and well-maintained path has been laid around the quarry, which offers wonderful views.
Many years ago, in the 18th century, marble was mined here, which was used to decorate many architectural structures Petersburg, Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo. In particular, marble for the construction of a magnificent St. Isaac's Cathedral, perhaps the most beautiful in St. Petersburg, was mined here. The decoration of the majestic Kazan Cathedral also did not do without Ruskeala marble, here it was used for facing the mosaic floors.
At the beginning of the 20th century, marble mining stopped, the quarries filled with water and turned into beautiful mountain lakes. It turned out to be a kind of fusion of natural sights with a living open-air mining museum.
In fact, there are several quarries here. The largest, main, is called the Great Marble Canyon. Its length is slightly less than 500 meters and its width is up to 100 meters. Near the Italian quarry and two small lakes. Under the quarries - a whole network underground tunnels- adits and drifts - with a total length of several kilometers.
Although Marble Canyon ("Main" quarry) is a monument of industrial culture, included in the list cultural heritage Karelia, the Ruskeala Mountain Park itself, formed in 2005, is a private territory. During this time, work was carried out to improve the territory: paths were laid, fences and stairs were installed, observation platforms were built, lighting was arranged, and a car park was equipped. Now Ruskeala is visited by several thousand tourists a year.
You can not only take a walk around the marble canyon, but in summer you can take a fascinating boat trip here.
Swim in the grottoes. There are several of them, but the accessible grottoes are not very deep.
Seagulls nest on the ledges of rocks.On the mirror-smooth surface of the marble quarry, you can ride not only on a boat, but also on a small ferry.
A rope is stretched through the entire marble canyon, on which you can make a lightning-fast exciting (even slightly extreme) trip to the other end of the quarry :-)
Since 2013 route mountain park Ruskeala was expanded. Now you can easily walk to another interesting place, which is located near the main quarry. This is an Italian Quarry. Here you can get close to the array rock and touch with your hands the place of the marble cut.
Walking through the Ruskeala mountain park, you will also see " underground lake"- Ruskeala failure, you will enter the underground adit.
How else to have fun in Ruskeala?
- Using climbing equipment you can go down into the cave, which was once a mine.
- Not far from the small quarry there is a rope park.
- It must be said that Ruskeala Park is interesting and picturesque not only in the warm season. From November to March, after dark and until the closing of the park, artistic lighting is turned on here.
Ruskeala - is it safe to travel with children?
Of course, visiting the marble canyon with children implies that they will have to be constantly monitored. The path itself, laid around the quarry, is absolutely safe:
There are no critically steep descents and ascents. But a child, left to himself, can easily climb over the railings of the fences and head to the very cliff. Be careful not to leave children unattended. Then your family vacation will remain a wonderful event.
Is one day enough to see Ruskeala?
If you don't have any specific plans, that's definitely enough. It will most likely take a few hours. The "standard" set of activities - calmly and without haste to walk, take pictures, ride a boat - will take about 3 hours. But keep in mind that the road takes a lot of time - whether you go from St. ), and on most Karelian roads it will not be possible to accelerate much;)) Therefore, it is better, of course, to provide for an overnight stay in the vicinity of Sortavala or Lahdenpokhya.
In summer, to visit Ruskeala, if possible, choose a weekday.
Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia amazing place. This is a unique attraction not only in Karelia, but throughout Europe. More than 50 thousand tourists visit the Ruskeala park and quarry every year. The quarries created by human hands, where marble was mined until the 19th century, attract and beckon with their beauty, fresh clean air of the Ladoga region.
Abandoned quarry turned into an interesting one tourist facility mountain park Ruskeala in 2005, thanks to the efforts of several enthusiasts. For 200 rubles you can get around along the tourist routes. Paying more, you can take a boat or try yourself in extreme form sports. I recommend mountain park Ruskeala to visit in Karelia. It is also interesting to know what is popular in the Ruskeala area: hotels, prices and recreation centers.
The month of June turned out to be rich in travel. I visited Bangkok, then Pattaya, then Moscow, then I went to St. Petersburg and visited Karelia. To be honest, going there, I had no idea what the Ruskeala mountain park was and how mesmerizingly beautiful it was. But I saw this place and was completely delighted. After visiting I learned enough interesting materials about in Karelia, and now I can tell you.
Location of Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia
Main landmark marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia it is the city of Sortavala. Sortavala is located about 30 km from career Ruskeala and is known for being the starting point to Valaam for thousands of thousands of travelers from all over the world. Valaam is perhaps the most famous island on Lake Ladoga.
The island is similar to the island city of Sviyazhsk near Kazan with its numerous monasteries and churches. You can get there only by water - a round trip ticket starts from 2000 rubles per person. But Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia also an interesting attraction, even more accessible and not overloaded with crowds of tourists that can overshadow any, even the most interesting trip.
Ruskeala Quarry. Found this cute card:
Unusual discoveries in Ruskeala park, which are not written about anywhere
The first thing that surprised me was that mountain park Ruskeala private, created with the money of investors in 2015. In total, about 600 thousand rubles were spent. By my Moscow standards, they even met the budget. At the same time, paths, viewing platforms, illumination of the marble quarry were equipped in the Ruskeala mountain park, extreme rope descents. The park is being watched and it shows. And it’s not a pity even to give money for the entrance. In the park marble quarry Ruskeala perfect cleanliness, the water is clear, but this is of course more natural feature, but at least nothing floats in the water: no leaves, no bottles.
The park is equipped with all kinds of maps and signs, and in general makes a good impression.
Entrance to the marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia
Entrance to the paid, as I said, and at the same time, the organizers also turned out to be not fools. As I noticed, every day in the Ruskeala mountain park they give out bracelets of different colors. The colors seem to be repeated, but for 2 days in a row you won’t be able to visit one bracelet at a time. And we wanted 🙂 Yesterday we had blue bracelets, the next day they sold yellow ones, and there are also orange ones for sure.
Entrance fee to Ruskeala park in Karelia
Now for the cost of visiting. mountain park Ruskeala in 2017. I read the articles of my blogger friends literally in February 2017, the entrance to the Ruskeala mountain park was 150 rubles. I visited in June 2017, the entrance is already 200 rubles. But it's worth it, of course. Well, a picture with an input cost for clarity. Discounts for schoolchildren, students, residents of the Sortavala region. Children, veterans of the Second World War and residents of besieged Leningrad - free of charge.
The entrance to marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia as follows. Recently they put up a sign for tourists "Visit center".
Lots inside useful information about the mountain park Ruskeala.
You can also take a map of the Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia, all sorts of advertising brochures, read for general development.
A bit of history of the mountain park Ruskeala in Karelia
The territory of the current park and marble quarry Ruskeala in Karelia was Swedish until 1721. The Swedes mined marble in small quantities. After the Great Northern war, when the territory of the Ruskeala marble quarry became Russian, the extraction of industrial marble here began in the 1760s. Marble from Ruskeala was used to decorate St. Isaac's Cathedral, Mikhailovsky Castle, the Small Marble Palace and Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
As I already said, the main attraction of the Ruskeala mountain park is the marble quarry. This is a huge area of marble production, with adits and equipment, flooded with water. The view here is really beautiful, I was completely delighted, although, perhaps, it is already difficult to surprise me with something. Clear water, with visibility up to 15-18 meters, small blue boats on the water, sheer marble cliffs, everything is very beautiful and majestic.
It is also interesting that the entrance to the Ruskeala mountain park is from the side where the view of the marble quarry is the most beautiful. Going to the end of the short tourist route, you can go back to another part of the quarry. And the view there is no longer the same, the rocks are more gentle and overgrown with moss.
Around marble quarry Ruskeala in Karelia paths and viewing platforms are equipped, but I would not advise staying on them for a long time, because there was already a precedent when blocks of marble broke off and fell down. They can even be seen through the crystal clean water. Even at the bottom of the quarry there is equipment, it’s just that everything was flooded suddenly when the Finns left these lands.
Another place in the Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia that I want to talk about is the so-called Ruskeala failure. It was formed as a result of explosions in neighboring adits and fascinates with its scale, depth and eternal people at the bottom, which does not melt even in summer. You can go down there, and in winter even go ice skating.
All quarries in Ruskeala are separated by adits, which are almost all filled with water. However, there is one that you can get into. And it looks like gnomes worked there 🙂 Because with my beautiful height of 175 cm, I couldn’t calmly pass. There are "places for headbutting," as the tour guides joke. The hall is cool and the lights are flickering. Looks like one of the bulbs just burned out. However, it was very colorful to walk through the cave in the marble rock with the flashing light of the lanterns.
The adit comes to the surface and if you raise your head up, then people are walking there. And this is the top view.
If you move away from the beaten paths, you can find quite interesting places in the mountain park Ruskeala. One of them - italian quarry. It is not related to the Italians and pasta has never been here. Just marble was mined using Italian technology. But the marble was not of very high quality, crumbled, and soon the quarry was closed. Blocks of marble still stand in this place. And on it you can see the stripes that have remained since the time of its extraction.
If you go beyond the Italian quarry marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia, then you can see another quarry where they don’t lead hiking trails and equipped paths. You need to get to the quarry along a pile of stones.
But the view from it is fantastic. The abyss is behind us. I'm scared. I'm on the left 🙂
Ruskeala hotels prices and recreation centers
I’ll tell you separately where to stay if you go on vacation to Karelia and want to visit Ruskeala itself has a recreation center, but it is quite expensive, due to its good location next to the Ruskeala mountain park. Therefore, the most optimal housing in terms of price and quality is the city of Sortavala. In Sortavala there is a choice of accommodation for different categories of tourists. Not so big, but still there. The direction is developing, the Finns are actively visiting the city, so a certain tourist infrastructure is being created for them.
Prices are quite affordable, and for lovers of economy and nature, there is an opportunity to simply put up a tent. So, Ruskeala - hotels, prices and recreation centers in the Sortavala area, from where you can easily get to Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia. Here, as elsewhere, there are suggestions for budget travelers, as well as for those who are not going to save money. Prices for hotels and recreation centers in Karelia near Ruskeala - from 1500 rubles for two. Below is a selection of several options for recreation in Karelia near the marble canyon. You can view prices, as well as book hotels and recreation centers using widgets.
The nearest hotels and recreation centers to Ruskeala
Inexpensive hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala (in Sortavala)
The best hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala
Most best hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala are located on the island of Riekkalansaari near Sortavala:
For a complete picture, I am also attaching a map of Ruskeala with the nearest hotels.
Shops in the mountain park Ruskeala
Near the park there are cute souvenir shops with all sorts of garbage. A bunch of memorabilia, marble items, amulets, amulets, magnets, bags of herbs and other crap.
If you want to eat after long walks By marble quarry Ruskeala in Karelia, then there is only fast food here. You can buy the famous Karelian wicket (with cheese and cheese or with potatoes and red fish), hot corn is sold on the street, and fish is fried. After several hours of walks in the Ruskeala mountain park, you will be so hungry that you will no longer care what you eat 🙂
So, today I talked about the Ruskeala mountain park, the main attraction of which is the Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia. In addition, there is also an Italian quarry, an abandoned quarry (I’ll tell you about it another time), adits, and Akhvenkoski waterfalls, which is often called the Ruskeala waterfall. This place is known for the fact that the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was filmed there. But more about that in future articles.
Life hacks of visiting Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia
Many seek to get to Karelia and the Ruskeala mountain park, most tourists choose Saturday. Naturally, Saturdays from 13 to 18 are the busiest peak times in Marble Canyon. If you want to truly enjoy privacy with amazing nature Karelia, calmly go boating in the canyon, try everything possible entertainment and attractions and avoid long queues and crowds of tourists - I suggest you go to Karelia b weekdays or Sunday.
So, what can you do in the Ruskeala mountain park on weekdays and Sundays, without queues and rush?
1. Guided tour of the park, visiting abandoned quarries and the ruins of an old marble factory that have survived to this day.
2. Jump from the 24-meter cliff of the Maramor Canyon. Of course, with insurance. Height free fall at the same time it is 8 meters.
3. Passage along the rope bridge: three ropes are stretched across the canyon at a height of 24 meters - you walk one at a time, you hold on to two.
4. Downhill along an obliquely stretched cable straight to the surface of Marble Lake. This is the longest troll in Europe!
5. Rope park for younger children. Trains agility and endurance.
6. Fascinating and romantic boat trip through the marble canyon. You will be able to swim in all corners of the canyon and in underwater grottoes (from the moment the ice melts from the lake).
7. Photographing and communicating with husky dogs.
8. Rental of standard and small (for children) snowmobiles (in winter time).
9. Riding on an inflatable banana behind a snowmobile (in winter).
10. Driving around Ruskeala in jeeps (by appointment).
11. Riding on dog sledding.
13. Workshops on making souvenirs in the souvenir workshop.
14. Rental of sports equipment (cheesecakes, skis, skates, bicycles).
That's all for now. Soon I will tell you more about Karelia, because I have visited and seen a lot of things. She didn’t tell everything about Thailand, and there will be several articles about Crimea soon. In general, subscribe to updates and share the article in in social networks. +100500 to karma guaranteed 🙂
Breaking into the air is useful at any time of the year, and it is not necessary to take a vacation for this. In relative proximity to the city, there are enough places where you can spend a weekend: relax in nature, visit the local arboretum and go down into the adit of an old marble quarry, the stones of which are almost two billion years old. Or commit little trip by water to the island of Valaam, when the weather permits. The Village continues the rubric "Itinerary for the weekend" - we choose one direction, end point on it and curious stops along the way.
Ruskeala Natural Park seemed to have been created for a relaxing holiday and walks along the steep stone slopes, although it appeared as a result of the development of a valuable stone. Isaac's and Kazan's cathedrals, the Hermitage and the Mikhailovsky castle are decorated with local marble. If there is enough time, visit Priozersk and Sortavala, small towns in the bays of Lake Ladoga. Very close is the Russian-Finnish border, from which you can continue the journey to the lake part of Suomi. IN last years many of our compatriots appeared here, who add Ruskeala to the trip to Valaam.
How to get there
By bus from the bus station to Sortavala
(they go twice a day, 500 rubles), by minibus - about a thousand rubles.
By train- With Finland Station. From Sortavala on a ride or taxi to Ruskeala (37 kilometers, about 20–30 minutes).
By car along the Priozersky highway (A129
to Priozersk, then Sortavala and up (A130)
to Ruskeala. The journey will take 4-5 hours.
Ruskeala park and surroundings
1.
Saint Petersburg 2.
Priozersk 3.
Sortavala 4.
Ruskeala
5.
Balaam 6.
Finland
rubles- entrance to the park "Ruskeala"
kilometers- length of Tohmajoki waterfall
rubles- the cost of a set lunch
at the local Lutheran parish
years - approximate age Ruskeala stones
meters- the length of the Ruskeala quarry
kilometers- distance from Ruskeala to the border
with Finland
Priozersk
A small settlement on Vuoksa and Lake Ladoga was first mentioned in chronicles in 1295. The city was called Kexholm for some time, and got its current name after World War II. If you are driving, then look into the ruins of the Korela fortress, see the Lutheran church (it was built by the Finnish architect Armas Lindgren) and walk to the monument to Mowgli - this is the only monument to the character of Rudyard Kipling in Russia.
Sortavala
Immediately after Priozersk, the quality of the coating deteriorates sharply. The track, which runs through the forest, winds, and outwardly looks like a washboard. Motorists, get ready to drive at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour and remember the domestic road services with a kind word. By the way, new track Petersburg - Sortavala is under construction, it will be ready by 2016. The question of what will help her not turn into the same washboard remains open.
The city of Sortavala, like most of the border settlements, has a difficult fate. Built at the beginning of the century by leading Finnish architects (Uno Werner Ulberg, Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Johan Jakob Arenberg), the center of Sortavala has survived to this day, despite the bombings in 1939-1940. At that time, almost all the indigenous Finnish population of the city left these lands, and after the war, the Soviet authorities decided to resettle evacuated people from the Vologda region here.
Clockwise: embankment of Sortavala, Korela fortress, embankment in Priozersk
In addition to northern modern architecture, the city has the Museum of the Northern Ladoga Region, where thousands of household items of the indigenous population of Karelia are collected. Eight kilometers from the city there is a local arboretum and cottage village Winter's Dacha. Renting a six-bed house in the off-season costs from 5,900 to 10,000 rubles.
It is worth staying in Sortavala if there is enough time and there is no hurry. If hot dogs and chocolates at gas stations took too many minutes of the trip, immediately go to Ruskeala.
Ruskeala
The road from Sortavala to Ruskeala takes 15-30 minutes, you can get there by one of the inexpensive taxis (the numbers are pasted on trees and lampposts). Or catch a car for 200-300 rubles. The bus to Ruskeala runs twice a day, its Ending station- the town of Vartsila.
It is worth starting the tour from the waterfalls, which are located four kilometers from Ruskeala. At the Ahvenkoski waterfall, which can be seen from the road even in the cold season, shots from the movie “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” were filmed. It is now impossible to get to the dilapidated Finnish hydroelectric power station, it is being repaired, but walking along the snowy pine forest always nice for a city dweller who opens Facebook and mail 45 times a day.
Moving higher, on the left side of the road you will get to the center of Ruskeala village. Here is the most popular recreation center of the same name (2,500 rubles for two guests, 5,600 for eight). However, in Ruskeala you can rent a house and not at the camp site, as all the surfaces in the city say.
One of the local attractions, the Lutheran parish, looks very deplorable. The building was built in 1834, but it was allegedly burned down in 1940, and is now being restored with donations from the Finns. The latter have long chosen these places for retrotourism, almost all prices are indicated both in euros and in rubles. In Sortavala and Ruskeala there are many inscriptions and signs in Finnish, local population Most of them are fluent in two languages.
Recreation center "Ruskeala"
2 500 rubles for two guests 5 600 rubles for eight
Clockwise: Ruskeala quarry in winter, illumination of the quarry, quarry in autumn, exposition "Marble through time"
Pilgrims stop at the arrival, but the rooms are quite cozy and concise - apart from two beds and a bedside table, there is nothing there. If you're lucky, you'll get a ten-inch three-channel TV. But guests can use the sauna, the room rate (one thousand rubles) includes breakfast. If you feel like cooking yourself, then use the barbecue in the backyard or local cuisine, the entrance to which is also open for guests. One thing - the place is meant for family vacation so making noise after 22:00 is strictly prohibited.
Even if there is no desire to stay in the parish, anyone can have lunch or dinner in the fireplace room. For 100 rubles you get tea and coffee according to the free refill system, assorted buns. And for 300 rubles they offer a real Buffet. Soup, second course, appetizers, fruit drink, kvass and hot drinks are included. You can arrange a stay in the Ruskeala Church in advance by calling (814) 30-33-268 and 8 (921) 467-63-20.
After lunch, go to see the marble quarry. This is an artificial lake surrounded by sheer stone walls. Marble production began here under Catherine II. When the Finns left here for last time, they cunningly connected the quarry with the Tohmajoki River, and its impressive area was flooded.
In winter, right at the entrance to the park, you can ride a husky sled for a thousand rubles, 2.5 kilometers to Lake Svetloe and back. Dogs are very sociable, and no one forbids petting them. In the summer it is allowed to swim in the lake itself and put up a tent on the shore. So it's up to you - go down, rent a boat, look at the quarry from the water and swim into one of several caves. Souvenirs are also sold at the entrance to Ruskeala, where you can find a couple of pretty ones out of hundreds of magnets with brownies, Russian women and birches. The entrance to the park formally costs 150 rubles, but no one checks this. But at the reception they give a map where two routes are indicated: a short one for 1.5 kilometers and a long one for 2.5 kilometers.
Lutheran church parish
1000 rubles from a person. Barbecue in the backyard and the ability to use the kitchen.
100 rubles- tea
and free refill coffee, assorted buns.
300 rubles- a real buffet.
Along the quarry there are about ten viewing platforms with benches is perfect place for a picnic, so stock up on food. By the way, from six o'clock in the evening on Saturdays and Sundays, Ruskeala employees turn on artificial lighting around the perimeter of the quarry, so it makes sense to walk until the evening.
If you are moving along a long route, you will definitely stumble upon a cave-failure, where in winter you can go down and go skating for the same thousand rubles (they are rented on the spot). In the evening, the artificial grotto is illuminated with candles.
Finally, the last point in long route along Ruskeala is an exhibition "Stone through time", where blocks are conveniently located for inspection marble stone under two billion years old.
