Caves of the Ternopil region: the most amazing gypsum caves in the world

Ternopol is an insanely beautiful city. However, if you have repeatedly visited him and the Ternopil region and know all the sights by heart, we suggest looking at the city from the other side – from under the ground. Indeed, in the Ternopil region are the most amazing gypsum caves in the world.

Caves of Ternopil: Crystal Cave

Caves of the Ternopil region: Crystal Cave The Crystal Cave is not only the most beautiful, it is also the oldest, since it was formed about 20 million years ago due to leaching of rocks by underground waters.

The story of her creation, in principle, is no different from such caves. But the Crystal Cave is unique in its beauty. No wonder she has such a melodic name – the walls of the underground beauty are covered with colorful or snow-white gypsum crystals. The Crystal Cave is a complex system of passages with a total length of more than 23 km. However, only 3 km are available for tourist routes.

So, the excursion route begins with a narrow 500-meter corridor, further down the stone steps down, so you can imagine, there is almost darkness around. Then along the route there is a huge hall with beautiful plaster growths on the walls. The delight of visitors is the Zoological Hall. In the stone forever imprinted different animals: owl, fox, eagle. Exotic lovers can walk along the “crocodile ridge” – a path very similar to the spine of a reptile.

Next is the Festive Hall, which will captivate with its natural design: the crystal coating painted the walls with beautiful patterns. The most interesting attraction here is the Crystal Corridor, the sheer walls are covered with a cloth of gypsum crystals of different colors: cream, amber, pink, blue, beige.

How to get there: there is a cave in the village of Krivche, Borschevsky district. You need to drive through the whole village and immediately after it a sharp turn goes to the left.

Caves of Ternopil: Optimistic Cave

Caves of the Ternopil Region: Optimistic Cave Opened by cavers of the Cyclops club in 1966, the cave today shows off on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records as the longest gypsum cave in the whole globe. Although in those days, their colleagues did not believe in the success of cavers exploring the cave and called them optimists, hence the name. Nevertheless, scientists over 45 years of research have managed to discover more than 230 kilometers of passages, caves and galleries.

The optimistic cave consists of 10 areas, very beautiful and diverse, they differ from each other in structure, number of crystals. These areas are interconnected by moves.

During the study of the caves, 15 base camps arose. One of the best known and best is the Oasis underground camp.

You can get into the cave on an excursion thanks to the Cyclops caving club.

Caves of Ternopil: Ozernaya Cave

Caves of the Ternopil region: Ozernaya Cave The first time about the Ozernaya cave was mentioned in 1940. The name of the cave comes from numerous underground lakes, of which there are more than 20. Therefore, the people name the cave sounds even like the Blue Lakes.

It should be noted that the entrances of the Ozernaya and Optimistic caves are several kilometers away. Since they have not yet been fully explored, it is very possible that this is a single cave.

Ozernaya Cave is conditionally divided into several areas. Middle – designed for excursions for tourists, Dalniy – for experienced cavers.

You can get on an excursion to the Ozernaya cave as part of a speleological group.

How to get there: there is a cave near the village of Strelkovtsy. You need to get to Ternopol, and then a bus to the village.

Caves of Ternopil: cave “Verteba”

Caves of the Ternopil Region: Entrance to the Verteba CaveThe Verteba Cave is a real underground museum. In the 19th century, more than 300 objects that belong to the Trypillian culture were found in the cave: ceramic vessels, stone and bone tools, shards.

Nowadays, there is a cave-museum of Trypillian culture, exhibits of sculptures and ceramics in Trypillian style are exhibited here.

Also in one of the halls they found a man’s burial – 25 skeletons and religious dishes. Today it is an archaeological museum. The caves are distinguished by a dense network of passages, wide galleries with narrow corridors, with a total length of more than 8 km.

A visit to the cave is very informative and interesting for lovers of nature and history. Particular attention is paid to the Stone Straw maze, the ceiling in it is covered with thick tubular stalactites 10-12 cm long.