Looking at these huge boulders, one involuntarily recalls Russian folk tales, legends of other peoples. In almost every culture, there are stories about how some kind of power turned heroes, people or titans into statues. There are many such statues, or, in other words, iconic megalithic formations in the world.
In Belarus, central Russia, Karelia, stones were found, on which human footprints were imprinted. For more than one century people have been worshiping them, believing that these signs are of divine origin. Perhaps they were left either by Christ himself or by his saints.
The stone forest located in the Shirinsky region near the village of Berenzhak and the small village of Ust-Tunguzhul is also covered with many legends. And this is not surprising - more than a hundred natural stone sculptures of various shapes and sizes, stone sculptures resembling figures of people, fish, animals are concentrated here. Among the multi-ton megaliths there are mushroom stones, many bowls, surprisingly skillfully created by nature from granite boulders. There are stones that are universally considered sacred - the so-called seids, which seem to hang above the ground, touching it only at a few points.
Save from "Kitty and Axis"
The local people did not particularly like this place before. Today, given the tourist demand of the republic, as well as the desire for various wonders of unorganized traveling hordes, the Stone Forest is exposed to anthropogenic interference, that is, trampling, destruction or deliberate barbaric damage
(and how else to call the inscriptions "Kisa and Osya were here" on the sacred seids, the remnants of fireplaces and rubbish at the foot of the statues?).
Of course, a natural monument, given its historical, geological and cultural value, must be protected. And it's not just the rational value - here, as in every natural inexplicable phenomenon, it is difficult to overestimate the degree of impact on the human soul. And the Stone Forest not far from Berenzhak must also be preserved as a place of worship, sacred, equating it, perhaps, with Stonehenge.
Promotional video:
This is likely to happen. At least, work has already begun to give the collection of megaliths in the Shirinsky region the status of a natural monument.
This is our conversation with Tatyana Bragina, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for the Protection of Wildlife and the Environment of Khakassia. At the end of last year, the experts of the state committee visited the Shirinsky region on a working trip. On the spot, they assessed the cultural and natural potential of the Stone Forest, known in wide tourist circles, which, by analogy with the Krasnoyarsk Pillars, has already begun to be called "Shirinsky Pillars", talked with local residents, surveyed the territory and entered the coordinates of the proposed monument into the navigator.
“I think that drawing analogies between Krasnoyarsk Pillars and the garden of stone statues will not be correct,” says Tatyana Bragina. - These are completely different monuments in terms of the method of education and structure. In Berenzhak we see not rocky outcrops - a natural collection of megalithic formations is collected here, and they themselves, perhaps, also differ in the type of origin. We find stones here, whose surface resembles the surface of the moon, dotted with craters. And they themselves are so similar to meteorites that they seem to come down to us from the heavenly spheres. There are many stone figures that have their own names - Knight, Sphinx, Warrior, Dragon, Lizard, Chair.
There are many stone formations resembling mushrooms - one, the largest, has been of cult significance since ancient times. According to our guide Alexey Matnik, all structures of the Stone Forest are repeaters of the earth's energy. No less interesting are stone bowls, which are quite numerous among the megalithic structures of the Stone Forest.
Stone giant toys?
The most amazing thing is that the exhibits of this unusual open-air museum have never been seriously studied. There is not even a single version of their formation, although many variants of origin have been expressed - among them volcanic activity, glacier actions, wind erosion. In pursuit of this, a person with at least the slightest imagination can assume that before Khakassia was inhabited, for example, by huge trolls. They created a playground for baby trolls in this place and brought all the interesting toys here.
But jokes aside - giving a new status will serve to deeper study of this place.
“To date, we have included this object in a long-term plan for the development of specially protected natural areas in Khakassia called“Stone Forest”,” says Tatyana Bragina. - In terms of area, it is planned to create a new specially protected natural area (SPNA) within 700 hectares, the boundaries will be negotiated. Scientists - geologists, biologists, ecologists will be involved in drawing up an ecological and economic feasibility study for the creation of a protected area of regional significance. Research will shed light on a sufficient number of mysterious phenomena with which the locals are familiar. For example, many of them predict the weather using these stones. The Stone Forest has its own guardians. It is believed that the Warrior on Mount Svyatag and the Kro (a stone with the face of a sphinx) located on the other side of the border guard the garden of stone sculptures. These statues, according to our guide, "sing". Locals confirm that the Warrior on Svyatag begins to hum towards warming, and the hum from the Sphinx-Kro portends cold.
In general, these places are of great interest to researchers. They will be provided with all the conditions for a deep study of the phenomena occurring in the Stone Forest, as well as the territory itself, and a large number of various megalithic formations.
Specialists of the State Committee for the Protection of Wildlife and the Environment of Khakassia, in turn, are confident that the process of creating a new protected area will not take long, because in addition to studying this object needs to be protected, and this is the most urgent aspect of giving the territory the status of a natural monument.
After the Stone Forest is approved in the status, its position will change dramatically. Places for halts and parking lots will be equipped on the territory of the monument. The Directorate for Specially Protected Areas will develop tourist routes that will more fully present to travelers interested in natural mysteries a real picture of the most interesting collection of stone sculptures of Khakassia that keeps many secrets.
Rock Knight
Photo: gazeta19.ru
Elena ABUMOVA, Abakan - Shirinsky district - Abakan