Kryshtaleva

Ternopil region is known for its castles and ancient cities. In addition, on its territory you can find no less interesting monuments - real caves. Most of them are formed due to the washing out of gypsum rocks by groundwater. The most interesting dungeon is the Cave «Kryshtaleva». The process of their formation has been going on for more than 20 million years.

According to one of the hypotheses, the Sarmatian Sea was previously located on the place of the cave, which dried up after several centuries. Since calcium sulfate was constantly deposited at its bottom, and the lithospheric plates were constantly in motion, subsequently cracks appeared in the rock, groundwater flows with a high gypsum content. With a decrease in the water level, labyrinths and halls began to "originate", and bizarre crystals appeared inside them.

Description of the Cave «Kryshtaleva» (Crystal)

You won't actually find an ounce of gems in the dungeon. It got its name thanks to gypsum formations inside the dungeon-multicolored crystals that shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. The cave is absolutely dry and relatively easy to pass by tourists. The areas equipped for excursions have lighting along the length of the route.

There are no harmful microorganisms and local residents inside the tunnels. There are picturesque galleries and walls with incredible beauty in front of tourists from the very first minutes of the visit. Individual sections of the cave are adorned with rocks of a specific black color. Looking at them, one gets the impression that these are to a certain extent peculiar paints of the artist, which amaze with incredible shades.

Video from the Crystal Cave

History of discovery

It is considered that the Cave «Kryshtaleva» was discovered by a monk of the Jesuit order Habriel Zhanzhynskyi. He is the one who published the book "Natural History of the Kingdom of Poland" in 1721, where this dungeon is mentioned for the first time. Since then, work on the exploration of the cave has not stopped, until the beginning of the XXI century. A detailed study of the object was carried out by an organized group of speleologists in the period 1961-1971. It was then that the mapping of the cave was performed. In modern history, the dungeon is the center of various competitions in speleoorientation, geological and exploration work.

Morphometric indicators

The total duration of the cave passages explored to date is about 23 kilometers. The tourist route through the labyrinths has a length of only 2500 meters, which will take about 90 minutes to overcome. The average width of the tunnel passages is 2 meters, and the height is just over 3 meters. The air temperature inside the Cave «Kryshtaleva» averages 10.6 degrees above zero.

A feature of the location is its seasonal air circulation (in winter and summer the air movement changes), which allows you to completely refresh the content of air masses inside the dungeon in just one day. The relative humidity in the tunnels is in the limits of 90-97%. Inside there are stalactites and stalagmites. Separately, we should focus on crystals, in which the "growth of the body" by 1 mm can continue for up to 150 years.

Cave Galleries

Visitors will find more than a dozen unusual halls and corridors of natural origin. All of them amaze with unusual drawings, reliefs and shades of the surfaces on which they are applied. Each hall has its own name and history. Among the most popular locations are halls with a characteristic name and "guards", such as an Elephant, a bull's Head, a lizard and others.

Interesting facts

The cave is one of the largest gypsum formations in Europe. The grotto is not a special problem for the "travel" of tourists. It is quite simple to pass it (no special equipment is needed). Most of the halls available for visiting are equipped with electricity and light. The first section of 500 meters in length has an artificial origin, the walls of which are decorated with frescoes of fern leaves.

Mostly the cave consists of amber, pink, white and cream gypsum. Some galleries will delight visitors with the unique ionization of air saturated with a high concentration of ozone. This feature of the cave makes it attractive from the point of view of medicinal properties. Asthmatics and people with bronchial diseases come here for recovery.

Visit conditions

The entrance to the cave is available from 10:00 to 17:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 10:00 to 18:00 from Thursday to Sunday. Keep in mind that Monday is a day off. As most of the passages are equipped for tourists to visit, there is no need to take lanterns, a first aid kit and other special equipment. Considering the air temperature, it would not be superfluous to bring warm clothes, a light jacket and comfortable shoes.

Location

The Cave «Kryshtaleva» is located in the southwestern part of the village of Kryvche, Borshchivskyi district of the Ternopil region. It's easy enough to reach the cave by suburban bus, which goes from Borshchiv to Mlyn-Podilskyi.