For tourists who want to make a wish, find inner harmony or ask for help from the spirits of nature, or just visit unusual “mystical” places, Tutu.ru service experts named the Top 15 places of power in Russia, located throughout the country.
< p> Some of them are quite accessible for ordinary tourists, others will require additional efforts, but in any case they will be interesting for those who love unusual and mysterious routes. So let's list them:
- Vottovaara Plateau, Republic of Karelia. The Vottovaara Plateau is considered to be the place where the spirit world meets the human world. A lot of boulders scattered over it, as local historians are sure, have a cult significance and are associated with the ancient Sami, a small Finno-Ugric people who settled in Northern Europe. Tourists are also warned that “special effects” also affect equipment, on the Vottovaara plateau a phone or camera can suddenly run out of power.
- Big Zayatsky Island, Arkhangelsk region. Bolshoi Zayatsky Island is part of the Solovetsky Archipelago, and it can only be reached by boat. Moreover, you won’t be able to walk freely around the island, only on a special wooden flooring – the territory is considered a protected area. The main mystery of the island is the labyrinths of stones covered with bright green northern vegetation. Perhaps this is an ancient calendar. But there is also a mystical version: labyrinths were built so that the souls of the dead could not find their way back. There are many other pagan monuments on Zayatsky Island: burial mounds and individual boulder stones, which may have been part of a pagan temple.
- Seydozero, Murmansk region. Previously, northern shamans performed ceremonies on the banks of the Seydozero – it is not for nothing that the word “seid” in translation from the Sami means sacred. Mystically inclined tourists look for traces of ancient Hyperborea here, make wishes at stone structures – seids – and listen to legends about the mighty spirit Kuyva.
- Kanozero, Murmansk region. Another mystical lake in the Murmansk region is Kanozero in the southwest of the Kola Peninsula. Three rivers flow into the lake, one of them is Umba. On the islands of Kanozero in the 90s they found petroglyphs, rock paintings, the meaning of which they could not unravel. Most of the petroglyphs are on Kamenny Island, where they were enclosed under a dome for safety: you can come on an excursion.
- Mount Svetelka, Samara region. As the creators of the rating assure, a place of power that fulfills wishes can also be found in the Middle Volga region – on the top of Mount Svetelka in the bend of the Samarskaya Luka. The mountain is low – in fact a green hill, which can be climbed along a dirt road. “There used to be a tower here, which was probably used for patrol. But everything was not so simple with the tower: doors on all sides of the world and windows in the form of crosses clearly indicated its mystical significance, ”experts assure and add that although the tower is no longer there, wishes on the top of Svetelka still come true. “Especially if you collect seven smooth stones along the way, throw four around the world at the top, and take three with you,” they add.
- Alatyr-stone, Ryazan region. The legendary Alatyr is a sacred stone with healing properties, people's rumor “located” in the Ryazan region, in the village of Shatrishche. Someone is sure that he used to be a temple. People believed in the magical properties of the stone so much that they brought him gifts: bread and milk. Now, for the fulfillment of a desire, it is better to pay with money by placing a coin on a stone.
- Arkaim, Chelyabinsk region. The ancient complex of the settlement and burial grounds, discovered in the 80s during an archaeological expedition, sets many mysteries. It is not even clear what Arkaim used to be – a fortress or a sacred place. Local esotericists and shamans who conduct rituals here are sure of the mystical orientation of this place. Tourists are told that you can raise money for prosperity on Mount Shamanka, and for money – on Mount Bank.
- Manpupuner, Komi Republic. Manpupuner, or Pillars of weathering, included in the list of the Seven Wonders of Russia, attract tourists with their stone remnants, similar to idols. Moreover, their origin is natural – bizarre pillars were created by many years of work of wind and snow. However, the Mansi people considered Manpupuner, the Ural Stonehenge, a sacred place, and stone idols – gods. Tourists are assured that they really are a little magical – at least they know how to grant wishes.
- Mount Shalbuzdag, Dagestan. One of the places that is not easy to visit is to climb Mount Shalbuzdag, to a height of 3800 meters, one cannot do without training and without an experienced guide. But along the way, you will meet more than one special place: the source of Zem-Zem, where you need to throw a pebble into a recess, the grave of the righteous Suleiman and stones with passages on Erenlar Peak – for the sake of well-being and happiness, you will have to crawl along the passages. For Muslims, the peak is sacred, many are sure that the sevenfold ascent to Shalbuzdag is equal to the Hajj to Mecca.
- Ancestral towers, Ingushetia. As the compilers of the rating assure, the art of building stone towers has been passed down from generation to generation in Ingushetia. They lived in the towers, they were used for military purposes. Usually residential towers had two or three floors: they were built without a foundation on stones. Today Ingushetia is called the country of towers – there are more than a hundred of them in the republic. In 2021, a holiday was even established in honor of the ancestral towers – it is celebrated on the third Saturday of May. Families guard their towers with great care – many of them are still habitable.
- Mount Ullu-Tau, Kabardino-Balkaria. Locals consider Ullu-Tau a special place where you can ask for family happiness. “Mother Mountain” willingly helps those whose desires and requests are related to children. Moreover, in order to come true, it is not necessary to climb the mountain. It is enough to sit on a wishing stone near the mountain, sprinkled with water for reliability.
- Belukha Mountain, Altai Republic. The highest mountain of Altai also attracts many esotericists. They assure that at the top there is an entrance to the mysterious Shambhala, and mountain caves lead directly to Tibet. Near Belukha there is a turquoise lake, which is considered a haven for mountain spirits, and nearby lives the female deity Umai, the patroness of women and children.
- Shaman stone, Irkutsk region. Shaman-stone, the top of a small rock at the source of the Angara River, on the border with Baikal, rises above the water by only a meter. The legend says: father Baikal wanted to give his daughter Angara for the brave warrior Irkut, but she fell in love with another handsome man – the Yenisei – and decided to run away with him. The father, angry, threw a rock after the fugitives. Previously, the stone served as a judge. People accused of a crime were left on top of a rock in the middle of the water for the night, and if by morning the water did not wash away the poor fellow, then he was considered innocent. Now the stone gathers tourists who make wishes: you can just touch the stone with your hand, but to be sure, it’s better to stand.
- Datsans, Republic of Buryatia. Dozens of datsans – Buddhist monasteries-universities – are scattered across Buryatia. The most important of them is the Ivolginsky datsan, where people from all over Russia and beyond make pilgrimages. It is here that the shrine is kept – the incorruptible body of Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, a Buddhist ascetic who, according to legend, died in 1927 while meditating.
- Krasnoyarsk Pillars, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Stolby reserve is called the lungs of Krasnoyarsk. This is the oldest specially protected area in Russia, which became famous thanks to unusual rocks – “pillars” that resemble people and animals in outline. Particularly loved by tourists is the Red Crest Rock, which offers excellent views of the city and the reserve.
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