There are many mysterious and mysterious places in the world, shrouded in many legends and the most incredible stories. They are interested in scientists and lovers of everything unusual. These, undoubtedly, include the island of Vera on Lake Turgoyak. Here legends and myths are so closely intertwined with reality that sometimes it is impossible to distinguish one from the other.
Lake Turgoyak
This unusual natural reservoir is located in the Chelyabinsk region, at the foot of the Ilmensky ridge. Turgoyak is 120 km from Chelyabinsk and 230 km from Yekaterinburg. The area of the mirror is about 27 square kilometers. The bottom of the lake is rocky and the water is crystal clear.
Turgoyak is a unique lake recognized as the most valuable body of water in the world. A huge granite bowl, which reaches a diameter of 6 km, with a depth of 40 meters, is filled with more than half a billion tons of absolutely pure water.
Origin of the name
There are several versions about this. One of them is the most common and is considered morebelievable. Researchers believe that the name comes from Bashkir words. “Tur” means “elevation”, “place of honor”, and “yak” means “side”. The name translates as "a lake located on a hill" or "a high lake". This version is recognized as the most truthful, since it gives an estimate of the altitudinal position of the reservoir in the system of lakes on the eastern slope of the Southern Urals.
Mysterious Island
Today it is scientifically confirmed that in the 19th century there was a male Old Believer skete on this island. Some researchers tend to believe that the name of the island means faith in God, and not a female name. The dilapidated remains of a stone church, monastic cells, and a refectory have been preserved here. The skete was destroyed at the very beginning of the 20th century. Today, a memorial cross, located on the highest point of the island, reminds of him.
In 2004, archaeologists finally recognized the stone buildings, which were previously considered monastic cells, as monuments dating back to the Neolithic era. It is possible that the monks lived in these ancient buildings, but they were created long before they appeared on the island.
Faith Island: Description
The island, located closer to the western shore of the lake, is small - 0.4x0.7 km. Nevertheless, it is the largest on the lake. Descriptions of stone structures located here were published in 1909. They belonged to the architect V. Filyansky from Yekaterinburg.
Vera Island on Lake Turgoyak is clearly divided into two completely independent parts. They aredifferent vegetation, climate, archaeological sites. So, aspens and birches grow in the northeast, pines grow in the southwest. Most of all ancient monuments are concentrated in the southwestern part of the island. There was a Neanderthal camp here, the remains of an Old Believers skete (ruins of a chapel, cells), ancient quarries and menhirs (stones placed vertically) were found.
Studies testify to the existence in these places in the middle of the 19th century of an Old Believer community of no more than twenty people. Archaeologists later came to the conclusion that the island's stone caves are megalithic places of worship dating back to the Stone Age.
Legends of the island
Lovers of secrets and adventures are attracted by the Chelyabinsk region. Faith Island has always been famous for its many legends that are passed down by locals from generation to generation. One of them says that at the beginning of the 19th century, the hermit Vera settled in a stone dugout on the island, who ran away from home, fearing that her parents would marry her to an unloved person. It was she who founded the Old Believer skete on the island.
Faith was famous for its prayerful help to people and its miracles. However, it should be recognized that, apart from the stories of the old residents of the island, there is no evidence of this information, as well as evidence of her stay on the island.
Megaliths
The most striking and valuable monuments that glorified the island of Vera are large religious buildings made of huge stones -megaliths. This is how similar buildings are called all over the world. These are ancient structures of the IV-II millennium BC. e. As of today, the island of Vera has the oldest such architectural buildings in Russia. Their age is more than five thousand years. This is a thousand years more than the age of the famous dolmens. There are analogues of such structures in Southern England, Ireland.
Since 2004, archaeological excavations have been carried out on Vera Island every summer, and researchers make new discoveries every year. Historians have come to an interesting conclusion: since most of the world's megaliths, as a rule, are located in coastal areas, scientists have suggested that the ancient builders of megaliths probably mistook Lake Turgoyak for a sea in the mountains.
Island buildings
Island of Faith (you can see the photo in the article) has characteristic building features. All buildings are oriented to the cardinal points. In the view of ancient people, north and west were associated with sunset, cold, the side of the dead, south and east, respectively, were the embodiment of sunrise and the beginning of life. Each structure was built taking into account knowledge about the days of the solstice and equinox.
It should be noted that it is quite difficult to accurately determine the equinox in mountainous areas. However, the ancient builders managed to calculate everything. Therefore, on the days of the equinox and solstice, the sun's rays pass through the crevices of megaliths and windows in a special way.
In the center of the island is the largestmegalith. Its length is nineteen meters, and the height of the walls is more than two meters. It consists of several side chambers as well as a main hall with five windows.
How were the caves built?
Scientists were able to understand how these stone caves were built. At first, a pit was dug, walls were erected from stone blocks, then wooden ceilings were installed inside and, at the end of the work, the roof was rolled up. On the very outskirts of the island, a quarry and a kind of copper-smelting furnace were discovered. This find confirmed the assumption of scientists that the ancient builders already developed metallurgical production and had the necessary tools. For this reason, in construction, they used not only natural blocks of granite, but also individual blocks carved from them.
Megalith 2
Next to the main one is a megalith, which received number two. It is very small - it seems that it was built for gnomes. However, if you crawl inside this stone box, a short person can easily stand up to his full height.
Cave of the Holy Faith
This megalith (or dolmen) is an underground room covered with a stone slab. According to the legends, this is where Vera lived. The megalith consists of three small chambers and a corridor, the size of which is quite impressive. Under its arches, a person of average height can easily stand up to his full height. It is oriented strictly to the west.
Scientists have noted an interesting feature: at sunset, on the day of the equinox, a sunbeam looks into the cave, passes through the entire room and stops atopposite wall. All tourists who come to the island of Vera are surprised how the semicircular vault is kept from collapsing. The slabs of the structure are laid with an overlap, in connection with this, the load is redistributed at an angle of 45 degrees.
Another amazing fact: ancient builders knew geology. The cave was built exactly between the cracks that appeared in granodiorites (deep rocks) during natural movements. The embankment, which equates the structure with the ground, was built from sedimentary rocks. At the same time, the builders took into account the direction of the discharge, apparently, they knew very well the nature of the materials and the terrain.
Traces of civilization
Researchers of the Russian Academy of Sciences at the site of archaeological excavations found traces of different cultures of many millennia: masonry and ceramics of the Bronze Age are adjacent to jasper plates, which were used by ancient people to make staples, knives, arrowheads. The technique of splitting the material testifies to its belonging to the Stone Age. Found on the island and fragments of ceramics from the Gamayun culture.
Tours
Today there are many who want to visit the island of Faith. Excursions to this mysterious piece of land are held in the summer from Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk every weekend. The tour costs about 2000 rubles. This amount includes a trip to the lake, accommodation in a hotel (recreation center).
Children also love to come to Lake Turgoyak. Tours with interesting excursions and entertainments have been created for them. The cost of such a trip is quite affordable - about 900 rubles.
Hotels and hostels
Many modern recreation centers, children's camps and sanatoriums have been built on the coastal strip of Lake Turgoyak. The most comfortable travelers consider the recreation center "Silver Sands", "Golden Beach", boarding house "Turgoyak", hotel "Krutiki". Here guests are offered a variety of entertainment: excursions on the lake, yacht and boat trips, diving, surfing, bicycle and ATV rental.
In addition, you can spend the night in a tent on the lake. Some camp sites provide special places for this. Local residents rent out rooms.
Faith Island: how to get there?
The easiest way to get to the lake is as part of an excursion group, but if you are planning an independent trip, then you need to go along the Ufimsky tract (through Miass). Destination - the village of Turgoyak. The length of the road is 120 km.
The lake can also be reached by rail. From Ufa and other cities that are located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, you can take any long-distance train to the Miass station. Here you need to transfer to a fixed-route taxi number 38, which will take you to the place.
In summer, a tourist boat goes from Mias to the island of Vera. Its capacity is 30 people. In the dry and hot season, you can go on foot through the isthmus.
