Broken Mountain. Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity at the Broken Mountain
Gaeta is one of the most vibrant cities on the Riviera di Ulisse. Imagine a narrow peninsula, with a high rocky cape crashing into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and along its edges, bays spread out like wings. The northern bay has wide sandy beaches adjacent to the resort area of Gaeta. South Bay - port and houses of local residents.
The historic center of Gaeta occupies the southern slope of the cliff and descends towards the port. The rocky part of the Gaetan Peninsula faces the beach part of the city.
Such a remarkable peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, was not ignored by any of the peoples who found themselves in this place. Roman emperors and nobles spent sultry summers here - ruins of Roman villas were found during excavations in Gaeta and the surrounding area. Under the Angevin and Aragonese reigns, a castle (Castello Angioino-Aragonese) appeared on the top of the cliff. In the 9th century, a free republic emerged here, the Duchy of Gaetana, with its own flag and coin. This strong maritime trading state lasted three centuries, from 839 to 1140, and competed at sea with such maritime republics as Amalfi and Pisa. It was then absorbed by the Kingdom of Naples.
The glorious maritime past continues to this day: Gaeta is now home to a NATO naval base. Be prepared that while walking around the city you will occasionally come across walls with “Zona militare” signs.
The main attractions of Gaeta
The entire historical center of Gaeta is one big attraction, with its peculiar churches, a labyrinth of steep streets, houses, in which something Moorish, Norman, or Byzantine can be seen.
The old town of Gaeta has two dominant features: Aragonese castle and gothic Cathedral of San Francesco. The castle looks very powerful from the nearby hill of Monte Orlando, and the Gothic cathedral forms a magnificent profile of the city when viewed from the embankment.
The most unusual and famous sights of Gaeta are “ Broken Mountain" (Montagna Spaccata) and " Turk's Grotto"(La Grotta delTurco) - two huge crevices in the northern part of Mount Orlando. According to legend, the mountain split at the moment of Christ's crucifixion. At that moment, mountains in different parts of the earth shook and rocks cracked. Monte Orlando is one of these places.
Herself Mount Orlando covered with forest (Parco Monte Orlando), along which there are paths and trails. Among the forest there are the remains of military fortifications, and the top of the mountain is crowned Mausoleum of Lucia Planca, an associate of Caesar.
Map of Gaeta with landmarks
Road from Terracina to Gaeta
On one of the days of my stay on the Riviera di Ulisse, I went from to Gaeta.
Buses from Terracina to Gaeta do not go often, the schedule should be checked on the bus website Kotral company- cotralspa.it. I bought a day ticket at a tobacconist next to the bus stop. BIRG for 6 euros (since I was going to see Sperlonga that same day). With this ticket you can ride all day within the 2nd zone of the Lazio region.
The bus didn't take long to arrive. Among the few people who wanted to, I climbed onto the bus and set off along the coast in a southerly direction.
The road was not very beautiful. Mostly along the coast there were campsites and wild sandy beaches. On the left side there were often greenhouses, vineyards and cultivated fields.
We passed Sperlonga and the tunnels began. After the next tunnel, we entered the resort area of Gaeta, passed the beaches and, rounding the mountain, went down to the embankment towards the port. There, near the city park, in Piazzale Caboto, the bus dropped off passengers traveling to Gaeta, stood for a while and went further to Formia.
To the right of the stop there is a city park with a monument to the victims of the war.
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
I decided to go first to the Cathedral of San Francesco - suddenly it was open. Otherwise, siesta is inevitably approaching.
Since the cathedral is visible from afar, it is not difficult to find the way to it, and there are signs along the way. From the stop - up and to the right.
In 1222, Francis of Assisi traveled through southern Italy and spent some time in Gaeta, where he proposed the founding of a Franciscan monastery. A small church and monastic building were built. In 1285, the Neapolitan king Charles II of Anjou allocated funds for the construction of a large Gothic cathedral. In 1850, at the expense of King Ferdinand II, the temple was renovated and strengthened.
On both sides of the entrance there are sculptures of the main sponsors: on the left is Charles II of Anjou, on the right is Ferdinand II.
From the square in front of the cathedral, a staircase in two arms descends down the slope. Between the arms of the staircase stands a sculpture of Religion (1853, sculptor Luigi Persico).
When I approached the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, it was closed. There was a schedule hanging on the grate.
The church is open on weekends and Friday evenings.
Opening hours in summer (May-September): 10.30 – 12.30 and 17.00 – 19.00.
In winter (October-April): 10.30 – 12.30 and 15.30 – 17.30.
After that, I wondered whether to return back to the historical center or go to the “Broken Mountain”. I decided to go to the “Broken Mountain” and, as it turned out, I did the right thing: it turned out that there was a siesta there too, and I barely managed to get into the grotto.
Monte Orlando Park and Mausoleum of Lucius Munatius Planca
I turned on Maps.me, got directions from Tempio di S. Francesco d'Assisi before Santuario della Montagna Spaccata and set off.
From each turn of the serpentine, another delightful view of the Aragonese castle and the city lying at its foot opened up, and I mentally licked my lips at this delicious town, looking forward to getting to know its contents.
By the way, pay attention to the muted colors of the houses in Gaeta. Seaside towns in northern Italy often have bright colors (the cheerful facades of houses come to mind). In the south, the predominant color is white (Amalfitana). And here, apparently, there is some kind of transitional type from the bright north to the white south.
Soon I entered the forest.
Remains of fortifications
The trail took me to the top of the mountain, to the Mausoleum of Lucius Plancus Munazio.
This squat cylindrical structure - 29 m in diameter and 13 m in height - is one of the few Roman mausoleums that have survived to this day, which were awarded to people who worked gloriously for the benefit of the Roman Republic.
From the tablet I learned that Lucius Munatius Plancus was a Roman military leader and politician. Born in Tivoli in 90 BC. and died in Gaeta in 22 BC. He lived a very active life: he crossed the Rubicon with Caesar, fought in different parts of the Roman Empire from Gaul to Armenia and Parthia, founded Roman colonies, one of which later became Lyon, and the second - Basel (there is a statue of Planck on the town hall in Basel). He was proconsul of Asia. Under Emperor Augustus he became a censor. In his declining years he built himself a villa in Gaeta and spent the last years of his life there.
The Mausoleum, apparently, was magnificent, its walls were decorated with friezes and bas-reliefs, and from the entrance to the Mausoleum there was a staircase leading down to the sea. Inside it, a corridor in a circle led to rooms from which the descent into the burial chamber began.
Little has remained of its former splendor. We can only appreciate the size of the mausoleum - indeed, the structure is impressive.
From the top of Mount Orlando I began to descend to the north.
Church of Santissima Trinita. Turk's Grotto
Soon the path led me to the Church of Santissima Trinita.
I walked out behind her. And this is what its façade looks like.
The church was built in 930 by the Benedictines and rebuilt by the Franciscans in the 19th century. In the main altar there is a painting depicting the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and Saint Erasmus (the patron saint of Gaeta). In the first chapel on the right is a statue of St. Benedict. In the second chapel on the right is the Pietà by sculptor G. Dupre.
Both outside and inside the church is very simple (as befits an order of mendicants).
The famous Turk's Grotto and the Broken Mountain are located on both sides of the church: on the left is the Turk's Grotto, on the right is the Broken Mountain. And if the entrance to Turk’s Grotto is in plain sight, then the second entrance is very easy to miss, especially if you don’t know that there are two crevices in this place.
So, after church, I headed to the entrance to the Turk’s Grotto and noticed the schedule there:
Grotto opening hours: 9-11.45 and 15-17.45 (perhaps the grotto is open a little longer during the high season; I was there at the end of May). There were 20 minutes left before closing.
Grandpa was on duty at the entrance. I asked: “Quanto costa?” “He replied that the offer was, as much as anyone can.” I had 50 cents of change, so I put it in the box and went down the steps.
The grotto is truly impressive. Unfortunately, it was impossible to go down to the bottom; the passage to the lower staircase was closed.
This grotto was used as a secret harbor by Saracen pirates.
After admiring the natural formation and the unusual color of the water in the cave, I asked the small group who were also contemplating the grotto: “Where is the Turk’s hand?”, because I had read before that there was a palm print on the rock. The name “Grotto del Turco” suggested that the trace of the Turk’s hand should be here. (As it happened: the pirates were going down the crevice, and the Turk was told the story that during the crucifixion of Jesus this rock split. The Turk laughed at such an absurdity, but at that very moment the stone on which he was leaning at that moment became soft and took the form palms of this man. So delicately nature showed the man that he was wrong).
“No,” answered my comrades while admiring the grotto, “Turka’s palm was imprinted in the neighboring grotto, on the Broken Rock.”
Hearing this, I hurried upstairs, afraid that the Broken Mountain would also be closed for siesta.
Broken Mountain (Montagna Spaccata)
To the right of the Santissima Trinita church is an inconspicuous passage, beyond which the “corridor of the Way of the Cross” begins.
On both sides of the corridor there are 14 small chapels with images of individual episodes of the Stations of the Cross, made on ceramic tiles (year of creation - 1849).
The corridor smoothly descends and leads to the beginning of a deep crevice.
Between the walls of the chasm there are steps that lead down to the Chapel of the Crucifixion (La Cappella Crocifisso).
While descending, look at the right wall of the rock - there will be a handprint there. It is customary to place your palm in the print and make a wish.
The staircase leads to the entrance to the Chapel of the Crucifixion. This tiny chapel was built on a boulder that fell from above at the beginning of the 15th century and got stuck in a crevice 30 m above the sea surface.
The chapel, built in such a unique place, was greatly revered by believers. In 1848, Pope Pius IX visited here, who was so impressed by what he saw that on the following Easter he organized a solemn service here, to which the royal court headed by King Ferdinand II arrived from Naples (in fact, after this visit, the king gave money for restoration of the Franciscan Church).
The inside of the chapel is very modest. A wooden crucifix from the 15th century hangs in the altar. The governor of Gaeta, Enrico Pietro Pamperio (1721), is buried in front of the altar.
The dome of the chapel is crowned with a lantern.
You can climb to the dome via a side staircase along the rock wall.
At the edge of the dome there is a fenced observation deck, from where a crack in the rock can be clearly seen.
In front of the entrance to the chapel, in the rock wall there is a small cavity called “Philip Neri’s Bed” (Letto di S. Filippo Neri).
Philip Neri, a famous church leader of the 16th century, nicknamed “the Apostle of Rome” for his sermons, loved this place very much. In the Chapel of the Crucifixion, he spent long hours in prayer, so that he often stayed overnight to sleep on these stone “floors” at the entrance to the santuary.
At some point, I was left alone in the crevice; the few visitors had dispersed. When you are left alone with such a place, a special feeling of deep dialogue and response arises. I didn't want to leave there.
Finally I went upstairs. Both the church and the Turk's Grotto were already locked.
Church of the Annunziata
From the observation deck there was a view of the resort part of Gaeta, its wide sandy Serapo beach. There was not a soul on the beach, only three people were swimming, despite the fact that at that time resort life in Terracina was already in full swing (the twentieth of May). Water temperature is 21-22 degrees.
A friend told me that after visiting Montagna Spaccata they looked at these beaches and went swimming without looking at the historical center. I suspect that many people do this in the summer - first of all they go to the Broken Mountain - the most powerful attraction of Gaeta, and then go to the beach, neglecting the Old Town.
Fortunately, it was not hot when I was there, the beaches were empty, but the prospect of returning over the mountain to the city again made me despondent. Faithful Maps.me consoled me by plotting a path around the mountain and promising me a 15-minute walk.
Indeed, on a good road, without climbing, I quickly walked around the mountain. A wooded slope rose on the right hand, and the stone wall of the Zona militare stretched on the left.
The road (via della Breccia, then via Angioina) led me to the skeleton of the former small church of San Guida Taddeo.
The upper contour of the church is decorated with battlements.
There was a staircase leading off from the church, along which I went down to Via Annunziata and along it I reached the Church of Annunziata (Santuario della Santissima Annunziata).
There is a square in front of the church that allows you to fully appreciate its discreet but harmonious façade.
The church was founded in 1320 and consecrated in 1354. It preserves carved wooden choirs, beautiful organs and an altar. Under the church there is the so-called Golden Chapel(the second name is the Golden Grotto) is a small chapel, the vault of which is decorated with gilded caissons, and the walls are decorated with paintings.
Unfortunately, the church was closed. There was a schedule of services on the wall:
in winter - on weekdays at 17.30, on holidays and weekends - at 11.30 and 18.00.
in summer - on weekdays at 18.30, on holidays and weekends at 19.00.
It was not indicated whether it opens in addition to services.
Via Annunziata leads to the embankment, where there is a small square with intricately trimmed trees and flower beds.
Here's what you can make from ordinary willow
This is how the olive tree was pruned
Vases made from natural materials
Here the Gothic Cathedral of San Francesco dominates the area.
The square turns into a fenced park, from which I began my walk around Gaeta in the morning.
Walk through the historical center of Gaeta
Behind the park and the bus stop there is a building that unconsciously reminded me of shopping arcades in ancient Russian cities. This was probably the main shopping area of Gaeta - you couldn't imagine a better place: near the port, on a flat area at the foot of the hill.
Behind the “shopping arcades” one could see the tall building of the diocesan museum (Diocesano). The museum is open on Fridays and weekends 9.30 – 12.30 and 17.00 – 20.00. And I had no chance of getting into the museum.
Above the museum a rock wall began, and the next level of houses stood on this rock.
The street passing under the rock wall was called via Duomo, and it actually led me to the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary and Saints Erasmus and Marciano (Basilica Cattedrale di Maria Santissima Assunta in Cielo e dei Santi Erasmo e Marciano).
Saint Erasmus (Elmo) is considered the patron saint of sailors (the phenomenon “St. Elmo’s fire” is named after him), and he was also chosen as the patron saint of Gaeta.
He lived near Gaeta, in Formia. There, in 303, he suffered martyrdom from the Saracens: his entrails were wound on a winch and pulled out of his body. Subsequently, the Saracens ravaged Formia, and the Christians transferred the relics of Saint Erasmus to Gaeta.
The church was built in the 11th century, but was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. The facade looks rather modest. I didn’t get inside - it was a siesta. According to reviews, inside the church there are beautiful mosaic floors, a pulpit decorated with mosaics, a high, marble with “Easter candle” bas-reliefs, the chapels are decorated with polychrome marble inlays. Under the cathedral there is a large crypt painted with frescoes.
On the other side of the Duomo stands a 12th century bell tower. Its pommel with small turrets at the corners is magnificent.
On the sides, lionesses “hung” over the entrance. It feels like the pedestals have been removed from underneath them
A staircase leads to the entrance to the bell tower.
On both sides of the entrance are Roman sarcophagi (and the bell tower itself was built on the remains of an ancient temple - the columns of that temple also stand at the entrance).
Above the sarcophagi on the walls are bas-reliefs with monsters devouring people.
Another notable church is located on the waterfront - the Church of St. John the Baptist on the Sea (San Giovanni Evangelista a Mare). It was built at the end of the 11th – beginning of the 12th centuries. Its walls were covered with frescoes. In the Baroque era it was “embellished” according to fashion, but at the beginning of the last century it was decided to return it to its original design. The Baroque “layers” were removed, and now the church appears before us in a form close to the original.
The main façade of the church is very simple.
The side surfaces have elevations in the transept area,
and above the middle cross rises a brick drum decorated with geometric patterns made of marble. It is believed that the dome of the drum was covered with colored tiles.
Shortly after the church, the embankment ends with the buildings of the Maritime Financial Police School.
I turned back and walked along the sea, admiring the open spaces of the sea and the ships on one side, and the view of Gaeta on the other.
It must be said that the view of the city from the sea is wonderful - mainly thanks to the Franciscan temple hovering above the city, with which the Church of the Annunziata, located below, perfectly rhymes.
The houses along the promenade show Neapolitan influence. Such a house would look quite natural on the streets of Naples.
Picturesque ruins
City levels
I went to one of the coastal fish cafes to have a snack. A mixed seafood and small fried fish and a glass of wine cost 9 euros. Everything is very tasty and fresh.
Around 2 o'clock in the afternoon my bus arrived and I went to the next city - Sperlonga.
The bus route ran through the center of the resort of Gaeta, through the 19 May Square, where the Gaeta City Hall is located - a modern brick building with a high tower.
Then we went to the sea and drove along the beaches. In addition to the long sandy beach of Serapo, Gaeta also has beaches in narrow rocky coves and the fairly long and well-maintained Ariana beach, two capes north of Serano beach. Between the beaches of Serapo and Ariana - about 2.5 km.
How to get to Gaeta
The nearest train station to Gaeta is Formia-Gaeta. The train takes an hour and a half from Rome, the ticket costs 8.20 euros. From Naples the train takes an hour and fifteen, the ticket costs 5.20 euros.
At the station you need to take a free bus that will take you to the port. Buses run frequently, the ride takes 5 minutes. Then you need to wait for the bus to Gaeta. Drive 20 minutes. A bus ticket for 1.1 euros must be purchased in advance at the railway station in a bar.
Rental of bicycles, scooters, ATVs and motorcycles -
When I travel I use the card Tinkoff Black
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The beaches are separated from each other by rocky capes with watchtowers; here and there there are secluded coves and creeks. For many years now, local beaches have been awarded the highest category “Blue Flag” by the Italian League for Environmental Protection.
Historically, the city was formed from the houses of fishermen and farmers. Its main street, Via Indipendenza, is full of old handicraft shops. The new houses are located between the Sant'Erasmo quarter and the old town.
According to the layout, Gaeta is a typical medieval city, built around the Angevin-Aragonese castle (“Castello Angioino-Aragonese”), consisting of two buildings surrounded by cylindrical and conical towers. The San Erasmo quarter is an alternation of narrow streets, tunnels, a Norman bell tower and fortified walls.
Churches and holy places
The city has many churches of great cultural and historical value: the Cathedral of San Erasmo, which houses a collection of paintings from the 17th century; the Norman bell tower, the churches of Santissima Annunziata with the adjacent “golden cave”, San Giovanni a mare, Sorresca, San Francesco, San Domenico.
Church of Santissima Annunziata and Cathedral of San Francesco
In the immediate vicinity of the quarter is the sanctuary (church) of Santissima Trinita, erected on the top of Monte Orlando, part of the Riviera Ulissa regional park. Once you get here, be sure to check out the “Turkish Cave” and the “Broken Mountain,” which attract numerous Christian pilgrims.
The Gulf of Gaeta is surrounded from above by the slopes of the Monti Aurunci mountains, gradually turning into hills. The coast is interspersed with rocky peninsulas, and near Gaeta itself it is literally dotted with bays, coves and picturesque cliffs.
Gaeta is an excellent place for yachting. For mooring and parking, you can use the Baze Nautica Flavio Joya marina.
Broken Mountain
The Broken Mountain in Gaeta is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena on the west coast of Italy. Legend has it that it split when Jesus Christ died. Inside the long crack is a staircase of 270 steps leading to the Crucifixion Chapel, built in the 16th century.
Kitchen
Olives from Gaeta
© duepuntozeronews.it/
Local olives are known far beyond the borders of the province and are considered its gastronomic heritage. They are grown in small communities: Formia, Itri, Minturno, Fondi and Spigno Saturnia. The local subspecies “itrana” is excellent for both table olives and the production of olive oil. This variety of olive is distributed throughout Lazio and Latina, where it is grown mainly in the highlands. They ripen late and are harvested no earlier than March-April, when they acquire a red-black color. The shape of the fruit is slightly oblong, the taste is wine-like.
Tiella
© ilforno.typepad.com
Tiella is a dish from the cuisine of fishermen; it probably owes its name to the vessel in which it was prepared. This pie was perfect for taking with you to sea, as it does not spoil for several days.
This is a closed pizza stuffed with olives, fish (anchovies, sardines, octopus, squid), and vegetables. Another filling option is cheese (ricotta or marzolina) and vegetables, as well as tomatoes and onions.
How to get there
By plane
Gaeta is located approximately 120 kilometers from Rome. The closest airports are Fiumicino and Ciampino airports.
By train
Trains from Rome and Naples, as well as some express trains from Milan, Bologna, Florence or Trieste and Venice stop at Gaeta Station. The schedule can be checked on the Italian Railways website www.trenitalia.it
By car
From Rome, take the Grand Raccordo Anulare towards the south (Naples) and then take the SS 148 Pontina.
I have already stopped being surprised by the high-tech megalithic buildings of antiquity. It is not clear how the stones were sawed there, but at least it is clear why - in order to build something out of them. But recently I accidentally came across another phenomenon - wild stone boulders are scattered all over the world in wild places, sawn without any meaning and far from any structures. It would be nice if a piece was sawed off and taken somewhere. But the boulders were simply cut into pieces and thrown.
I'll start with what is not surprising. In civilized places there may be huge boulders split into pieces with traces of wedges on the edges of the crack - this is the simplest known way in which stones were previously and are cracked.
Here, for example, is what such an uninteresting boulder looks like, which is considered the remaining unnecessary part of the “Thunder-Stone” from under the Bronze Horseman:
Wedge marks are visible at the edges of the crack. It should be added that, despite the fact that, according to the official version of historians, this is how the stones for the Alexander Column and St. Isaac's Cathedral were cut with wedges, I did not find a single trace of the wedges in any of Montferrand's drawings, although he is a fan of drawing small parts. More details here http://levhudoi.blogspot.com/2015/05/blog-post.html.
Now let’s look at the “interesting” stones for the study of the unusual, sawn in an incomprehensible way and for an incomprehensible purpose in wild places.
Here are photos from Vottovaaaaara:
This boulder is not solid, but consists of several parts separated by cracks of arbitrary shape. And there is nothing unusual in the fact that two large parts diverged along a fault line of a very arbitrary shape.
But here are solid boulders, divided into two parts along an almost even line:
It is impossible to say for sure about its artificial origin, but it is very possible.
And finally, a completely artificial cut - the surface is so smooth that it looks polished:
In addition, this part of the boulder is placed on top of other stones, which is also difficult to explain by natural causes. There are parts there that are sawn but not moved away from each other:
Photos taken from Alexander Ryzhy’s album on VK http://vk.com/album54899810_177554860.
A suspicious white line is visible on some boulders:
Some of them have a cutting line like this white line:
From Wikipedia:
Vottovaara is a rock massif in the central part of the Republic of Karelia, the highest point of the Western Karelian Upland - 417.3 m above sea level. The area of the mountain is 6 square meters. km.
One of the seids: a large boulder lies on 3 small stones, which, in turn, lie on another large boulder. You can see a person at the bottom left for size comparison.
In August 2011, by decree of the government of the Republic of Karelia, the Vottovaara mountain complex was declared a landscape natural monument. The protected area covers an area of more than one and a half thousand hectares: it includes the mountain itself and the surrounding area.
The name of Mount Vottovaara can be translated as “Mountain of Victory.”
Archaeological monuments of central Karelia are 5-6 thousand years old.
400 meters from the sanatorium “Kisegach” (Southern Urals) there is a broken stone “Broken Heart”:
It is sawn off from the top but not all the way to the bottom. At the bottom, the remaining unfinished part is simply broken.
The following photo shows that the cut surface is very smooth, which is not natural for a natural fault:
Pictures taken from here http://paranormal-news.ru/news/kto_idealno_rovno_raspilil_na_chasti_ogromnyj_valun/2014-01-20-8393
Here is an interesting stepped 2-meter stone cut in Khakassia on Lake Itkul:
Taken from the album of Sergei Izofatov http://vk.com/album115384929_125356639
There are also cross-shaped cut(s):
Since I mentioned researcher Sergei Izofatov, it’s worth keeping in mind that he is crazy because he believes that Zhukov cleared minefields “with live bait” only because, supposedly, “one American general said so,” and which general did that said and why should one believe in such nonsense of the general, Izofatov refused to answer, instead of answering he called me a Jew and began to talk utter nonsense. Antisemitism of the brain. Details here http://levhudoi.blogspot.ru/2015/10/zhukovmines.html - this is more interesting than sawn boulders.
And here is an example of a sawn boulder in Saudi Arabia:
You can take a closer look at it in detail here http://saudi-archaeology.com/gigapan/al-naslaa-tayma/
Same thing in northern Australia:
Taken from here http://tainoe.info/dyavolskie-kamni-karlu-karlu.html
In Egypt, on the island of Sehel, there is an interesting boulder “Stella of Hunger”, cut horizontally. This boulder is famous for the fact that there is a lot of priceless text written on it in Egyptian hieroglyphs; the cut line runs right along the text:
Geology professor Igor Davidenko attributes this barbarity to Soviet engineers, despite the fact that the first photographs of this boulder with this cut have been known since the beginning of the 20th century. That is, in terms of the level of barbarity, Igor Davidenko puts Soviet people on the level of ISIS savages.
There is also another interestingly cracked or sawn stone:
Details here http://levhudoi.blogspot.ru/2015/06/blog-post_1.html
There is also a separate category of not sawn but sawn stones. I only have one of these in mind so far. The same Southern Stone in Baalbek. In 2014, for the first time in history, scientists decided to find out what was underneath it and began excavations. It turned out that under this 1000-ton stone there are even larger megaliths up to 2000 tons, and the Southern Stone itself turned out to be sawed off from the rocky base:
More details here http://levhudoi.blogspot.com/2016/02/kakotpilen.html
This topic arose from the topic of the Thunder Stone, which, as it turned out, was sawn into 3 parts, but science is silent about this. And also in different colors.
And this grip is ignored by the officials. Moreover, almost none of the St. Petersburg residents notice this. I'm not talking about tourists. I wanted to find similar stones that would change color on different sides of the cut. But so far everything is the same color. More details here
I wanted to find similar stones that would change color on different sides of the cut. More details here http://levhudoi.blogspot.ru/2015/06/blog-post_30.html
Source http://levhudoi.blogspot.com/2016/02/raspilvaluni.html
As new sawn wild stones are discovered, the article will be updated. Stay tuned.
In the view of the Old Believers, Belovodye is a paradise on earth, which only those who are pure in soul can enter. Belovodye was called the Land of Justice and Prosperity, but people still argue about where it is located.
Belovodye – the land of freedom
The Old Believer legend about the Russian paradise - Belovodye - first arose in the 18th century; its roots go back to the mystical topoi of the Slavs - paradise-irium and the invisible Kitezh-grad. In folklore, Belovodye is characterized as a wonderful country of freedom, without poor and rich, without serfdom and criminals, a stronghold of the Orthodox faith, in which only the righteous live.
The Land of White Waters was open only to virtuous people, and according to various versions it was located in the Far North, “in Pomerania, from the great Ob River to the mouth of the Belovodnaya River,” in Siberia, in the Urals, and also in Altai, where they settled in the 18th century Old Believers runners.
Kitezh-grad
The invisible city of Kitezh has become an object of cult and the reason for the creation of numerous legends, also thanks to runners. In their book “The Kitezh Chronicler,” written around the 90s of the 18th century, the first mentions of him were found.
Kitezh-grad was described as follows: “The city is intact, but invisible. Sinful people will not see the glorious Kitezh. He disappeared miraculously, by God’s command, when the godless Tsar Batu, having ruined Suzdal Rus', went to fight Kitezh Rus'.”
There are still rumors that only those who are brave in heart and pure in soul can get into Kitezh, and other people can sometimes hear the quiet ringing of bells and singing, seemingly coming from nowhere, or from under Lake Svetloyar: “And hitherto that the city stands invisible - it will be revealed before the terrible judgment seat of Christ.”
Slavic mythology
Another parallel with the legend of Belovodye is the ancient belief about paradise, the keys to which are held by migratory birds. The mysterious Slavic paradise - Iria - first appears on the pages of the “Teachings” of Vladimir Monomakh: “And we marvel at this, how the birds of the sky come from Iria, and first into our hands, and do not settle on one land, but both the strong and the thin go throughout God’s command to the lands that the forests and fields be filled.”
Iriy meant a country where birds fly away for the winter - this is a magical land without cold weather, where all nature hides during frosts. This country was considered either underground, and snakes lived in it, or very remote from Rus', located behind mountains and forests - birds flew into it. Iriy, according to legend, was opened with keys kept by one of the birds - according to different versions, a cuckoo, a crow or a lark.
It was possible to get into the iriya through a pool or whirlpool, and in addition to migratory birds and snakes, which have long been considered animal symbols of the other world in Indo-European beliefs, the souls of the dead also lived in the iriya. The magical ritual of burying a bird’s wing at the beginning of autumn was also associated with ideas about iriya.
Runners
After numerous schisms in the Orthodox Church, dozens of Old Believer movements emerge. One of them is founded by Euthymius, a native of Pereslavl-Zalessky, and his main goal is to escape from the kingdom of the Antichrist, which is declared to be Peter I.
Since, according to him, runners “have to hide and run,” hundreds of Old Believers decided to move inland and go into voluntary exile in Siberia.
The runners despised state symbols, and therefore did not even take money with them, which could be used to find the Russian coat of arms, and also made homemade passports. Not all of the runners traveled - some only received others like themselves, which was also considered to them as a journey.
In the book “The Traveler,” written by the Old Believer Mark, there is a mention of the location of Belovodye. His journey begins in Moscow, passes through Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Barnaul, then the monk finds himself in Altai villages, goes through China to the “Okiyan”, in which Belovodye is located on the “Oponsky” island, inhabited by Orthodox “Assyrians” and Russians. This land is also mentioned in connection with the fact that it will never come to it.
Fenugreek
Since runners often went thousands of kilometers from home in search of a better place to live, it was these Old Believers who created and popularized the image of the fabulous land of Belovodye - in 1893, a legend even appeared about the search for Belovodye in the 10th century by Father Sergius, the envoy of Prince Vladimir for 56 years: “One of the sages who came from the East said that at one time his teacher, the old sage, told him that far in the east there was somewhere the country of Belovodye, a fabulous abode of eternal beauty and truth, and that there, by his understanding, and you need to seek advice, but that one of the features of that country is that not everyone can find it, get there and penetrate into it, but only the chosen one - who is called.”
The spread of possible locations of the mysterious country, from the Urals to the Far North, may be due to the fact that as the Russians moved east, capturing more and more lands, Belovodye, an otherworldly and distant country, moved further and further away in legends.
Roerich wrote down a legend that Belovodye is located not far from Altai, behind the high mountains: you need to go through Bogogorshi, Kokushi and Ergor, and then beyond the sacred valley there was a country in which “the Highest knowledge and the Highest wisdom live for the salvation of the entire future of humanity.” . Roerich connected this promised land with Shambhala and made an expedition to Altai, during which he was able to touch the great secret: “When we recently drove through the Altai heights, we were shown paths and hidden, distant paths known only to a select few to the Sacred Places, called Belovodye."
Roerich believed that the legend about Belovodye came to the Altai population from Buddhists living nearby: this is how the legend about Shambhala acquired a Russian analogue. Today in Upper Uimon in Altai, in memory of Roerich’s expedition, in a former Old Believer house there is a museum named after him.
Belovodye did not become part of the Russian Empire until 1791. It is possible that it was precisely this kind of life, an island of freedom and purity, both material and spiritual, that became the prototype for the creation of hundreds of legends about the magical Belovodye. And milk rivers and jelly banks became only a symbolic embodiment of the image of the purity of the Orthodox faith and the white waters of frozen lakes.
If you look at the map, you can easily notice the amazing similarity of the coastlines of Africa and South America, Australia and Africa, Australia and the Indian subcontinent - as if fragments of a single whole were pulled away by an unknown force and separated by ocean expanses...
Probably the first person to notice the similarity of the outlines of the western coast of Africa and the eastern coast of South America was the English philosopher Francis Bacon. In 1620, he published his observations in the book “New Organon”, without, however, giving them any explanation. And in 1658, Abbot F. Place hypothesized that the Old and New Worlds were once one continent, but separated after the Flood. This point of view was accepted by the scientific world of Europe. And two hundred years later, in 1858, the Italian Antonio Sin der Pellegrini tried to reconstruct the original position of the continents and drew a map where African-America was united into one continent.
The idea of “continental drift” was finally formulated by the German scientist Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist by profession. In 1915, after five years of research, he published a work entitled “The Origin of Continents and Oceans,” in which, on the basis of geological, geographical and paleontological data, he proved that there once existed only one continent on Earth, composed of granite rocks, to which Wegener gave the name Pangea (from the Greek words “pan” - universal and “Gaia” - Earth), and only one ocean - Panthalassa (“thalassa” in Greek - sea). According to A. Wegener, about 250-200 million years ago, Pangea, under the influence of the force of the Earth’s rotation, split into separate blocks, and the further action of the Earth’s rotational forces “pushed” them, as a result of which these blocks made of granite “drifted” along denser layers the earth's mantle - basalts.
"Wild Fantasy"! This was the verdict of the majority of scientists in the world on Wegener's hypothesis. According to opponents, the movement of continental masses has not been recorded by science; Wegener was unable to explain the causes of continental drift and the nature of the moving forces. Hoping to find new evidence for his hypothesis, Wegener went to Greenland in 1930 and died there...
... Forty years later, at the Tokyo United Oceanographic Assembly, the hypothesis of continental drift was officially recognized by the overwhelming majority of geologists and geophysicists of the world.
As later studies showed, Wegener was absolutely right. He even managed to accurately name the date of the collapse of Pangea - 225 million years ago. Initially, Pangea broke up into two supercontinents - Laurasia (northern) and Gondwana (southern), which divided the single Panthallassa ocean into the Pacific Ocean and the Tethys Ocean. If the first one still exists, then Tethys died about 6-7 million years ago, and its remains today are the Mediterranean, Black, Azov, Caspian and Aral seas. Further fragmentation of the continents, caused by violent tectonic processes, led to the emergence of modern continents and oceans.
Were there other continents besides the existing ones?
...“The young man Tea Waka said:
– Our land used to be a big country, a very big country.
Kuukuu asked him:
– Why did the country become small? Tea Waka replied:
“Uwoke lowered his staff on her. He lowered his staff onto Ohiro's terrain. The waves rose and the country became small..."
This is the story of the natives of Easter Island; given in A. Kondratov’s book “Riddles of the Great Ocean”, some consider it an indirect confirmation of the fact that the Pacific continent existed on the site of the present Pacific Ocean and died millions of years ago. Its remains today can be found in America, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.
But why do the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands still remember legends about the land that went under water? Why do the same legends exist about two other hypothetical continents - Atlantis and the Arctic?
It is possible that the process of the destruction of the ancient continents ended relatively recently and was preserved in the historical memory of mankind...
“The chief noticed that his land was slowly sinking into the sea. He gathered his servants, men and women, children and old people, and put them on two large boats. When they reached the horizon, the chief saw that the whole land, with the exception of a small part called Maori, had gone under water.
There are many such stories, and they were written down not only on Easter Island. By the way, the opinion has been repeatedly expressed that the colossal buildings of Easter Island are the remains of a civilization that once existed on the Pacific. The famous Soviet geologist Academician V. A. Obruchev wrote in 1956: “It can be argued that in the warm equatorial belt of the Earth, humanity, already at a time when both circumpolar regions were still covered with snow and glaciers, achieved high cultural development, beautiful temples were built for deities; pyramids served as tombs for kings, and on Easter Island stone statues were erected to protect them from some enemies. And an interesting question arises: was the death of other cultures and their structures caused by some kind of catastrophe? We have to remember that the Ice Age, which created huge masses of snow and ice on Earth in both polar zones, gradually weakened under the influence of the Sun and could not help but cause some disasters.”
In 1997, American geologists discovered new traces of the Pacific. It has long been noticed that some geological fragments of Alaska, California, and the Rocky Mountains do not correspond in their composition to the structure of the American continent. The same atypical forms are found in Australia, Antarctica and other continents and islands adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.
These geological anomalies are associated with the breakup of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which once included Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, as well as Hindustan and Madagascar. Another part of this continent was the Pacific, which broke up into small fragments. Parts of the Pacifida “nailed” to other continents in a wide fan. Geological studies have shown that about a hundred million years ago, quite large fragments of the Pacific were attached to the western coast of North and South America - in the areas of Alaska, California and Peru. Other fragments of the Pacific Islands were submerged, and some of them merged with Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand.
Geologists believe that the Pacifida was the first to “break away” from ancient Gondwana, and the disintegration of the Pacifida was facilitated by active geological processes that occurred on the globe in the area of the present Pacific Ocean about 150-100 million years ago.
Studies of the dead Pacifida shed light on the problems of evolution and the “drift” of continents, as well as on the mechanism of the formation of oceans.