WHATYOU WON'T EXPECT TO FIND IN CAVES

A Church

Photo credit: Artem Achkasov

Although we don’t know its date of origin, the spacious Spassky Cave Church is located in Kostomarovo, a Russian village in the Voronezh region of the country. It’s the larger of two churches in the ancient cave monastery called the Svyato–Spassky Convent. Although the Spassky Church is carved into a chalky cliff, it’s big enough to accommodate 2,000 people. There’s even a large “Cave of Repentance” for sinners to make their confessions. Much of the surrounding area is named after the Holy Land, including a Calvary, a Gethsemane Garden, a hill of Golgotha, and a Mount Tabor.
Before the rise of Christianity in Russia, monks hid in ascetic cave cells in the region to avoid religious persecution until the first monastery was constructed in the 12th century. One of the purposes of the monastery was to shield parishioners from enemy attack, even if the siege continued for a long time. Monks and hermits lived in small cells cut into the shrine walls. They were completely isolated from the outside world except for a tiny window carved out of the rock.
As the communists swept into power, the monks were executed, and the Svyato-Spassky Convent was closed like so many other places of worship in the country. However, the caves once again provided refuge, this time for the country’s soldiers, when the Soviets fought the Nazis in World War II (also called the “Great Patriotic War” in the Soviet Union). Although the churches were officially reopened in 1943, Nikita Khrushchev directed local officials to close them again in the early 1960s. They flooded the cave and burned the exterior of the buildings.
In 1993, after the fall of communism, the church, convent, and caves were rebuilt. Even today, s

Modern Cavemen And Cavewomen

Photo credit: Meier & Poehlmann

Over 30 million people in China still live in caves, including an entire community in Shaanxi province. There, the porous soil of the loess plateau makes it easy to dig a cave home, called a yaodong, out of the mountainside. These no-frill, one-room dwellings substitute rice paper or a quilt for a front door. If you have the money, it’s possible to buy more rooms, as well as electricity, running water, and a yard. These caves conserve energy and provide residents with more land to farm.
Some of the caves are in high demand from people looking to buy or rent. But apparently, nobody wants to leave. Most cave dwellers have lived there all their lives. Even some of the residents who’ve moved on for various reasons dream of returning to their caves. “It’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” says forty-something Ren Shouhua. “It’s quiet and safe. When I get old, I’d like to go back to my roots.”
Historically, that wasn’t always safe, though. On January 23, 1556, the Shaanxi magnitude 8 earthquake struck, and it was the deadliest one ever recorded. The quake killed 830,000 people, and many lost their lives when their yaodong collapsed on them.
Nevertheless, the caves have provided refuge for the Chinese during important moments in history. Mao Zedong once retreated to caves in the north of Shaanxi province when the Long March ended in the 1930s. American journalist Edgar Snow wrote about a Red Army university located in bombproof caves. During the Cultural Revolution, even Chinese President Xi Jinping spent seven years living in exile in a Shaanxi province cave.
However, not all modern caves are inexpensive or spartan. The deluxe Cave House in Bisbee, Arizona, was listed for sale for over $1 million dollars in 2012 when one of the owners died. It’s even possible to find a cave home on eBay as Curt Sleeper did in 2003 in Festus, Missouri. But he soon learned it’s difficult to get a bank to finance the purchase of a cave. The Sleepers moved in, but they fell on hard times and had to put the house up for auction.
ome Russians make a pilgrimage to the church every year.

A Controversial Movie Set

Photo credit: Utar Sigmal

Devetashka Cave is a huge cave close to the village of Devetaki in Bulgaria. In the 1950s, the cave was used as a military warehouse for oil tank storage. Devetashka was also inhabited by humans in ancient times, but the landmark is only home to a protected bat population, including some endangered species.
In 2011, the cave became most well known for a controversy over a movie set. The producers for The Expendables 2 (starring Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis) shot an action scene where Stallone crash-landed a plane into the cave to take out Jean Claude Van Damme’s hideout. Environmentalists complained that the movie shoot reduced the bat population by about 75 percent. “The shooting harms the bat habitat—with the placement of props, the cutting down of vegetation, as well as disturbance by the presence of large numbers of people and the noise they make,” said Bulgarian zoologist Nikolay Simov from the Center for Bat Studies and Protection. Supposedly, all the noise caused the bats to come out of hibernation too early, to the detriment of their health.
Simov also stated that local authorities had no legal right to issue a permit for filming at the cave because regulations allow only scientific research and tourism there. After an investigation, however, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters found that most of the bats were hibernating at the proper time and the number of dead bats wasn’t excessive.

Astronomical Knowledge & A Fertility Light Show

Photo credit: Luc Viatour

A cave on Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, has revealed that its aboriginal inhabitants had an impressive knowledge of astronomy. It appears that the cave was originally used as a temple. But the way that equinoxes and solstices are marked inside the cave suggests an advanced knowledge of astronomy.
The temple also creates a unique fertility light show throughout the year. “It’s like a projector of images from a vanished culture,” says archaeologist Julio Cuenca. That culture is the aboriginal Guanches, who are believed to have come to the Canary Islands about 3,000 years ago. After Spain conquered them in the 1400s, their culture disappeared.
But apparently, their fertility myths are illuminated in the cave, revealing images that change according to the season. For the six months from March to September, sunlight shining onto the cave walls produces phallic images on top of engravings of female pubic areas. Over time, as fall approaches, these images transform into a pregnant woman and ultimately a seed.

An Amusement Park

Photo credit: Rocker1984/Wikimedia

While technically not a cave, the Wieliczka Salt Mine outside of Krakow, Poland, doesn’t qualify as a mine anymore, either. No salt has been mined there for over a decade. Approximately 300 kilometers (186 mi) long, it’s a huge complex nine levels deep with chapels and important sculptures of religious and historical figures. From the 13th century on, generations of mostly Catholic miners built incredible structures beneath the ground, including a huge cathedral. Wieliczka even has an underground lake and chandeliers made of salt. Like the salt caves already mentioned, Wieliczka has a spa for people with respiratory difficulties. The complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.
Thrill seekers congregate in its depths 300 meters (1,000 ft) underground to bungee jump, ride hot-air balloons, and even windsurf across the salty underground lake (although they need a giant fan to provide the wind). Wieliczka also has its own underground brass band to provide music during the festivities.