Description
On the left bank of the Oka, seven kilometers from the village of Koltsova, Ferzikovsky district, there is an interesting large, deep, wooded ravine Lyubovets, which starts near the village of Mikhailovka and ends at the Oka. The banks of the Lyubovets are very steep, there are outcrops of red, blue and dark red clays, and on the steep right slope of the ravine, near its mouth, one can clearly see the protruding thick layers of limestone and the entrances to the adits. The adits are located 30 meters above the river on natural terraces. These are the so-called Koltsovsky caves - the remains of limestone workings preserved from the 19th century.
Legends
Among speleologists there are numerous legends and legends that there were in this area and the dungeons of Count Vorontsov, who allegedly lived here. The count was engaged in witchcraft and witchcraft, created, for his needs, a whole underground labyrinth, consisting of three or, as some say, of six underground tiers, in which he conducted his secret experiments. Despite all the efforts of speleologists, it was not possible to find the underground county laboratories, but the near part of the Koltsovsky caves, which has a fairly decent length of passages - over 800 meters, was well studied. Penetrating into the "Central entrance" and passing through the corridor, the caver finds himself in a small but cozy hall of "Khata Khan". In the center of it there are three stone pillars, traces of stonecutters' tools are visible on the walls, and crystalline gypsum nodules glisten in horizontal layers of black clay. Today these crystals serve as souvenirs, and once their thin plates, the so-called "Maryiny glass", were inserted into window frames instead of ordinary glass, which was expensive in those days.
Find
The Koltsov catacombs are known not only for the legend about the mysterious laboratory, but also for the original loading of the stone quarried here, which was used to build white-stone Moscow and other cities. Local residents still remember the stories they heard from their ancestors, how limestone blocks cut down in the depths of the earth were brought to the surface on horses passing through the once high corridors. The stone was then leveled and transferred from the work site to a wooden trough that ran all the way to the river. After that, from a pond specially arranged on the shore, water was let into the trough, and on such a "hydraulic lubricant" the stones easily slid to the barges standing at the pier.
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Contacts
Address: Kaluga region, Ferzikovsky district, next to the village. Koltsovo.