Кунгурская ледяная пещера

Kungur ledenica pestera - Kungurskaya Ledyanaya - Kungurskaya Cave - Kungur Ice Cave


Useful Information

Location: S. Filippovka, Kungursky Rayon, Perm Krai, 617472.
In the vicinity of Kungur, 100 km SE of Perm, east of Moscow.
(57.441333, 57.004487)
Open: All year Mon-Thu 10-17, Fri-Sat 10-18, Sun 10-17.
[2023]
Fee: Normal Tour: Adults RUR 1,000, Children (5-14) RUR 700, Children (0-4) free, Students RUR 800, Seniors RUR 800.
Tour with Lasershow: Adults RUR 1,200, Children (5-14) RUR 800, Children (0-4) free, Students RUR 1,000, Seniors RUR 1,000.
On Weekdays: Disabled free, Veterans free, Children from large families free.
On Sat, Sun RUR 200 more, no discount for Students and Seniors.
[2023]
Classification: SpeleologyGypsum cave SpeleologyIce cave Speleologyriver cave.
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System LightSon et Lumière
Dimension: L=5,700 m, VR=32 m, A=120 m asl, T=-32 °C to +5.2 °C.
Guided tours: Normal Tour: D=90 min, L=1,300 m, VR=0 m.
Tour with Lasershow: D=100 min, L=1,300 m, VR=0 m.
V=200,000/a [2000] V=100,000/a [2012]
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography: V. Andrejchuk, E. Dorofeev, V. Lukin (1997): Organ pipes in carbonate-sulphate rocks at the Kungur Ice Cave, near Perm, Russia, Cave and Karst Science, Volume 24, Number 3, December 1997, pp. 101-106
D V Naumkin, O I Osetrova (2018): The Museums of the Cave Territory Complex of Kungur Ice Cave: History and Contemporaneity, IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 204 012033. DOI pdf
Alexander Klimchouk, Vjacheslav Andrejchuk (2003): Karst breakdown mechanisms from observations in the gypsum caves of the Western Ukraine: Implications for subsidence hazard assessment, Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers, The Virtual Scientific Journal, Issue 1, 2003, 20 pages. online pdf
Address: Kungur Ice Cave, S. Filippovka, Kungursky Rayon, Perm Krai, 617472, Tel: +7-34271-62610, Fax: +7-34271-62609. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1703 first survey made by the famous geographer and cartographer S. Remizov on order of Peter the Great.
1733 first measurements of the cave climate by Professor I. G. Gmelin.
1914 opened to the public with two routes with a total length of 2 km.
1937 visited by the participants of the International Geological Congress.
2003 laser show installed.

Description

Кунгурская Ледяная Пещера (Kungur Ice Cave) derived its name from the old Russian town Kungur, founded in 1663, which is located some 3 km away on the other side of the Sylva River. It was a center of the copper-smelting industry in the Ural mountains during the 18th and 19th century.

The cave is water filled as it is directly connected to the nearby Silva river. As a result, twice a year - in spring and in autumn - the cave gets flooded. During this time it is not accessible to tourists. When the water lever falls the subterranean river vanishes and about 60 lakes remain in the cave.

As the name suggests, this cave is famous for its ice formations. The probably strangest ice formations are snowflakes the size of a maple leaf. They change in size during the year and are most spectacular during late winter, so March is the best time to visit the cave. This cave has a strange superlative, as it is the lowest known ice cave, only 120 m asl. Ice caves need a temperature around 0 °C, which results in a continuous forming and melting of ice. At lower temperatures the cave would soon be filled with ice completely, at higher temperatures there would be no ice. In most climate zones this temperature is reached only at a much higher elevation, so ice caves are generally found at certain heights in mountain ranges. The climate of this Ural region, close to the permafrost region, is rather cold. But the situation inside the cave is much more complicated, as temperatures between -32 °C and +5.2 °C are measured. There are areas which are always cold, areas which are always above zero and never contain ice, and areas with the classical situation of meltings and freezing.

Kungur Cave is developed in Permian gypsum rock, which is easily soluble by water. As a result it has huge chambers with almost bare walls as solution forms, rather typical for gypsum caves. The biggest chamber has a size of 50,000 m². The rocks are interbedded layers of gypsum, anhydrite, dolomite, limestone, and breccia consisting of the same rocks. The limestone rocks are responsible for the limited amount of formations in the cave, without them there would be no formations at all.

The cave is known for a very long time. The first survey was made by the well-known geographer S. U. Remezov from Tobolsk, who was sent there by a decree of Peter the Great in 1703. This plan was later published all over Europe, so the cave become known internationally.

As a result of its fame the cave was developed as a show cave by the local Alexander Timofeyevich Khlebnikov (*1877-✝1951), who was inspired by a visit to Mammoth Cave in the U.S.A. After he returned home from his journey, he developed the ice cave and opened it to the public in 1914. At this time the cave had two tour routes with a total length of 2,000 m.

Today about 1,300 m of the almost six kilometer long cave are developed for visits, with two entrances and trails which connect four almost parallel passages. There are four different tours, which navigate the interconnected trails, two return to the entrance, the other two leave the cave at the second entrance. The most popular classic route is 1.5 km long and is one of the original tours from 1914. One of the longer tours includes a laser show, the high-tech-equipment was purchased in Germany for 1.5 Million Rubles some years ago. A wall in the chamber called Grotto of the Geologists is used to display a laser movie featuring the history of the cave and the Yermak campaign. Today this is probably the most widely known cave of Russia, and despite its remote location it is visited by 100,000 people every year.

Above paragraph was written around 2013, ten years later there are some changes. The cave originally had a .com domain which was changed into a .ru domain, the site is only in Russian and as far as we see there are only Russian tours. It seems the country has abandoned the idea of foreign tourists, and concerning the latest political developments it seems likely that there is actually no international tourism. It's a shame as this cave is definitely worth a visit.

The cave has always been a topic of scientific research. This includes the first survey, but also the measuring of the cave climate. Ice caves were the first ones which were scientifically examined for their climate. Here at Kungur measurements by Professor I. G. Gmelin started in 1733, which was the beginning of scientific research on cave climate at all. The cave is still researched for its extraordinary climate.

There is a cave legend, about the passage named the Women's Trail. It was named after a foreign princess, who stumbled and fell on this trail. Soon after she returned from the cave visit she got married. Now the saying is, that if a lady stumbles and falls on this trail, she wil be married soon.

The nearby city of Perm is well known to geologists: the Permian period (286 to 245 million years ago) was named after this city. It is the type locale (locus typicus) for Permian rocks.