One of the unique corners of Prikamye - Kungur - is the third oldest
city in the Urals. In 1663 by the decree of tsar Alexey Mikhaylovich
it was ordered to build a fortress “to have great warn out of
Bashkir attacks”. “Kungur” on Tatar language means “swarthy, dark”.
In contrast to other Ural settlements Kungur was
eager to keep that charm of ancient Russian towns which helps
to dip into the past XIX century and even to XVIII century.
A Big Siberian tract which passed through Kungur turned it into a
big trade center. And architects who were invited from the Central
Russia made Kungur one of the most beautiful towns of the country
and combined in its architecture empire, baroque and modern style.
The symbol of merchant Kungur is the Guest Court (1865-1867). Today
it is one of the finest memorials of the trade architecture which remained
unchangeable.
Churches which have survived till our days, several private residences
and remained untouched quarters of merchants’ buildings make the town's
own attraction. Whitestone five-domed Uspenskaya (1755-1761) and Preobrazenskaya
(1763-1773) churches are the unique masterpieces of architecture. St.Nicholas
church with secret building of Ioan Predtechensky convent makes a fine
temple ensemble on the high banc of the Iren river.
85 km from the town, on the picturesque spurs of the Ural mountains,
the White Mountain St.Nicholas monastery with majestic
cathedral in honor of Exaltation of the Cross are situated. The monastery
had been built for 15 years but alas was alive not long. After the
revolution the monastery was given to mental house.
The temple became per se derelict... The rebirth of the Ural Aphon
(this is an honorable name which it received) started in 1990 when
it was decided to give back the monastery to the Orthodox church. It
is a long way till the end of the restoration, but still White mountain attracts
thousands of tourists. The beauty and greatness of the White mountain and the
panorama which can be seen from its pick may thrill you. In clear weather
visibility is about 90 km. And then, as it was written in 1909 in the newspaper
“Perm diocesan news”, “words to characterize the rare beauty of the incomparable
Ural nature can not be found”.
The Kungur area is interesting by its unique karst landscape.
In karst craters beautiful and deep lakes appeared , one of them-
Krotov’s – is situated in Kungur. In this area there are a lot of
caves with ice and stalagmite formations, the most impressive one
is Kungur Ice cave.
By scientists' definition the age of the cave is 10-12 thousand years.
In the researched part of the cave there are about 100 grottoes and
60 lakes. The size of the Kungur cave makes a great impression. The
length of the Velican grotto, for example, is 70m. The grottoes are
covered by stalagmites, icicles of stalactites some of which are about
two meters, ice and snow patterns. One gets impressed by wonderful
ice crystals, columns and wandering ice.
