During the 9th-15th centuries in Russia, according to the preserved historical sources, a system of underground communications was created between the settlements of defense significance. Their length is admirable - hundreds of kilometers. At the nodal points of this system, as a rule, on the surface, there were temples. The entrances to the dungeons were few and only the initiates knew about them. Most likely, the whole system of secret underground passages was created only by monks.
Today the system known as the "Four Crosses" is known:
The first is the Kiev cross; the second is the northwestern system: Ostrov, Porkhov, Pskov, Novgorod, Izborsk, Pechory, Gdov, Ladoga, Tikhvin, Orekhov, Ivangorod, Koporye, Yam; the third is the eastern system: in the Urals; fourth - southern: Central Asia, Krasnodar Territory, Crimea.
The system of "Four Crosses" was the greatest secret of ancient Russia and personified the strength and power of the Russian state.
By the 16th century, stone fortresses operated in Russia, interconnected not only by good roads for fast movement on horseback, but also by underground passages extending beyond the territory of the fortresses for distances of up to 30 km. These underground passages were intended for the supply of food and ammunition in the event of a siege. The moves were designed to move along them on horse-drawn carts.
Today it is known about 49 underground passages of ancient Russia. At the same time, it has not been proven at present that there is a certain global network of underground passages in Russia. So far, it is known that the practice of building tunnels underground was reduced to the creation of separate underground passages that are not connected with each other. Over time, many underground corridors either collapsed or overgrown with calcite crust and disappeared. Therefore, the found underground passages of the ancient Russians, which have survived, are few.
There are a lot of underground passages in Moscow and the region. Most of them arose during mining operations - white stone was mined in the Moscow region. Experts studying underground passages near Moscow claim that there are four-level underground corridors under the capital. There are no maps for these dungeons. They were all built at different times. Their depth is different - it depends on the terrain. At the lowest level there are tunnels belonging to the system of the Four Crosses (9-16th century). On the second and third levels there are passages built in the 16-19 centuries (as a rule, these include objects under palace and park residences). The moves of the first level, most often, performed an economic function: they connected the kitchen with the dining room, or they were so-called amusing moves that were used to entertain wealthy nobles,and they were built in the 18-19 centuries. As a rule, passages of different levels are not interconnected to prevent flooding of the lower levels through the upper ones. There are numerous traps in the underground passages.
In St. Petersburg, all the palaces of the grand dukes, built in the 18-19 centuries, have secret passages. And under the imperial palace itself there are entire catacombs with a large network of branches in the form of wide corridors extending far from the building. The depth of underground tunnels does not exceed 6-10 meters, since at that time the builders of underground corridors did not have the necessary experience and technologies for laying tunnels at great depths.
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In the north of St. Petersburg, there is a favorite resting place for the townspeople - Shuvalovsky Park. Under the park itself there is a large network of underground passages. Legends point to their creator - Mason, Count Shuvalov. In addition to these ancient underground passages, there are also secret passages built by the military in a later period. By the way, defense structures with underground passages, pillboxes and premises were built practically in many parks of St. Petersburg. It is believed that they were erected before the First World War and modified before the Second World War.
An interesting incident happened in 1970. Not far from St. Petersburg, near the village of Sablino, two teenagers went to the well-known catacombs. They stumbled upon an inconspicuous manhole littered with stones. Through it, the boys entered a vaulted corridor about two meters wide, cut through the red sandstone. In this underground passage, traces of a narrow-gauge railway remained, and numerous branches ran from the main corridor. The guys walked 6 km along this corridor, and, although the passage went further, the boys decided to return.
The stories of old-timers have survived, claiming that there is an underground labyrinth that goes under the Volkhov. He can lead to Novgorod. They tried to explore these passages, but there was not enough air in the dungeons and people came back.
According to existing legends, there is an underground passage leading from the Pechersk Fortress to a distance of 50 versts and it reaches the Pskov Fortress. The passage is quite narrow and you can only walk along it bending down, but the underground passage has convenient caves for rest, its own springs and a supply of candles.
It is possible that these finds of underground passages under Russian cities were part of the system of the Four Crosses, its fragments, and quite possibly, were separate autonomous fortified areas. At the same time, the idea of the existence of separate fortified areas is quite plausible, since the length of the corridors could be optimally selected in accordance with the objectives of the defense, and this approach made it possible to build underground passages in accordance with the specific landscape of the area.
The history of underground passages would be harmless if numerous sources in foreign countries did not tell about the presence of a certain inter-content network of underground tunnels. This is what the old man told his son when he took him to the underground under Babia Gora, located between Poland and Slovenia: “Through the tunnels that diverge from here, you can get to different countries and to different continents. Here is the one on the left, to Germany, then to England, and then to the American continent. The right tunnel stretches to Russia, the Caucasus, then to China and Japan, and from there to America, where it connects with the left one. You can get to America through other tunnels laid under the poles of the Earth. On the way of each tunnel there are “junction stations” similar to the one in which we are now. " The old man's story was interrupted by a strange sound, similar to that made by a train. The old man continued the story: “The tunnels that you saw were not built by people, but by powerful beings living underground. These are their roads to travel from one end of the underworld to the other. And they move on flying fire machines. If we were in the path of such a machine, we would be burned alive. Fortunately, the sound in the tunnel can be heard from a great distance, and we have enough time to avoid such a meeting."
To date, the underworld has been little explored and this can be explained by many reasons. But if we can find underground civilizations, then it will become a real sensation of the 21st century!
