Coordinates: 62 ° 15'00 ″ s. NS. 59 ° 20'00 ″ E etc. / 62.25 ° N NS. 59.333333 ° E etc.(G)62.25 , 59.333333
Discharge pillars(Mansi blockheads) - a unique geological monument in the Troitsko-Pechora region of the Komi Republic of Russia on the Man-Pupu-ner mountain (which in the Mansi language means "Small mountain of idols"), in the interfluve of the river. Ichotlyaga and Pechora. Ostantsev 7, height from 30 to 42 m. Numerous legends are associated with it, before the Weathering Pillars were objects of the Mansi cult.
It is located quite far from inhabited places. Only trained tourists can get to the pillars. From the side of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Perm Territory there are hiking route... The pillars are considered one of the seven wonders of Russia.
About 200 million years ago, in place of stone pillars were high mountains... Millennia passed. Rain, snow, wind, frost and heat gradually destroyed the mountains, and especially the weak rocks. Hard sericite-quartzite schists, of which the remnants are composed, were destroyed less and survived to this day, while soft rocks were destroyed by weathering and carried away by water and wind into lower relief.
The closer you come to them, the more unusual their appearance becomes. One pillar, 34 m high, stands somewhat apart from the others; it resembles a huge bottle turned upside down. Six others were lined up at the edge of the cliff. The pillars have bizarre outlines and, depending on the place of examination, resemble a figure. huge man then the head of a horse or a ram. It is not surprising that in past times, the Mansi deified grandiose stone statues, worshiped them, but climbing Manpupuner was the greatest sin.
The time of the year changes, so does the type of terrain. The terrain is very impressive in winter, when the outliers are completely white, like crystal. In autumn there are fogs, and the Pillars loom through the haze - there is something divine in this sight. They are created by nature, but looking at them, it is hard to believe that something like this could be repeated by a person.
Ancient Mansi legend
“In ancient times, the powerful Mansi tribe lived in dense forests that approached the most Ural mountains. The men of the tribe were so strong that they defeated the bear one-on-one, and so fast that they could catch up with a running deer.
There were many furs and skins of killed animals in the Mansi yurts. Women made beautiful fur clothes from them. Good spirits who lived on sacred grief Yalping-Nyer, the Mansi helped, because the wise leader Kuuschay, who was in great friendship with them, stood at the head of the tribe. The leader had a daughter - a beautiful Aim and a son Pigrychum. Far beyond the ridge, the news of the beauty of young Aim spread. She was slender, like a pine tree that grew in a dense forest, and sang so well that deer from the Ydzhid-Lyagi valley came running to listen to her.
The giant Torev (Bear), whose clan hunted in the Kharaiz mountains, also heard about the beauty of the daughter of the Mansi leader. He demanded that Kuuschay give him his daughter Aim. But Aim refused this offer, laughing. The angry Torev called his giant brothers and moved to the top of Torre-Porre-Iz to seize Aim by force. Suddenly, when Pygrychum was on a hunt with some of the soldiers, giants appeared in front of the gates of the stone city. The whole day there was a heated battle at the fortress walls.
Under clouds of arrows Aim rose to high tower and shouted: - Oh, good spirits, save us from destruction! Send Pygrychum home! At the same moment, lightning flashed in the mountains, thunder struck, and black clouds covered the city with a thick veil. - Insidious, - growled Torev, seeing Aim on the tower. He lunged forward, crushing everything in his path. And only Aim had time to descend from the tower, when it collapsed under the terrible blow of the giant's club. Then Torev raised his huge club again and struck the crystal castle. The castle crumbled into small pieces, which were picked up by the wind and carried throughout the Urals. Since then, transparent fragments of rock crystal have been found in the Ural Mountains.
Aim with a handful of warriors hid under cover of darkness in the mountains. In the morning we heard the noise of a chase. And suddenly, when the giants were already ready to seize them, in the rays rising sun Pygrychum appeared with a shining shield and a sharp sword in his hands, which were given to him by good spirits. Pygrychum turned the shield towards the sun, and a fiery sheaf of light struck the giant in the eyes, who threw the tambourine aside. Before the eyes of the astonished brothers, the giant and the tambourine thrown aside began to slowly turn to stone. In horror, the brothers rushed back, but, falling under the beam of Pygrychum's shield, they themselves turned into stones.
Since then, for thousands of years, they have stood on the mountain, which the people called Many-Pupu-Nier(Mountain of stone idols), and not far from it rises the majestic Koyp (Drum) peak. "
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
See what "Pillars of weathering" is in other dictionaries:
A nature reserve in Russia, near Krasnoyarsk, on the right bank of the Yenisei. Founded in 1925. The area is 47154 hectares. Unique granite-syenite outliers "pillars", height up to 100 m. Dark coniferous (fir) taiga predominates; cedars. Brown bear, lynx, roe deer ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Name in Siberia and the Urals, rocks or cliffs formed as a result of weathering and denudation. Geological Dictionary: in 2 volumes. M .: Nedra. Edited by K. N. Paffengolts and others. 1978 ... Geological encyclopedia
pillars- rocky peaks, outliers, ridges of outcrops, often very beautiful and picturesque, pillar-shaped, formed as a result of the weathering of crystalline rocks (Nizhneudinskie Pillars, Lena Pillars, Krasnoyarsk Pillars and others) ... Geographical names of Eastern Siberia
pillars- rocky peaks, outliers, ridges of outcrops, often very beautiful and picturesque, pillar-shaped, formed as a result of the weathering of crystalline rocks (Mikhailovskie pillars in the Blagoveshchensk region) ... Toponymic dictionary of the Amur region
"Krasnoyarsk Pillars"- KRASNOYARSKY PILLARS (or Pillars) state. reserve, organized in 1925. It is located near the city of Krasnoyarsk (the northern border comes close to the upland zone) on the spurs of the Vost. Sayan, so-called. Kuysum mountain range, which leads to the Krasnoyarsk steppe depression. ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
On the Manpupuner plateau in the Troitsko-Pechora region of the Komi Republic, there is one of the natural wonders of Russia - seven huge stone giants ranging in height from 30 to 42 meters, which are also known as weathering pillars or Mansi blockheads. It is believed that these pillars were formed by selective weathering and washout of soft rocks.
Once upon a time, stone sculptures were objects of the Mansi cult. It was believed that spirits lived on the plateau, to which only shamans were allowed to come to the mountain. Manpupuner (Man-pupy-nyer) is translated from the Mansi language as "Small mountain of idols". One of local legends six giants were chasing the Voguls (Voguls is another name for the Mansi people) and were almost overtaking them, when suddenly a shaman with a white face named Yalpingner appeared in front of them. He raised his hand and managed to utter a spell, after which all the giants turned to stone, but Yalpingner himself also turned into stone. Since then, they have stood against each other. Travelers who have visited the plateau say that the place is really unusual in terms of energy, all thoughts subside there and peace sets in.
Photo by Petr Zakharov:
From the plateau opens beautiful view to the virgin nature of the Northern Urals.
Photo by Petr Zakharov:
Photo by Sergey Makurin:
Despite the fact that Manpupuner is located in a remote area, this place is gaining more and more popularity among travelers and is becoming one of the actively visited objects of sports tourism. To get to the plateau, tourists have to walk through the taiga for three days or hire a helicopter.
The growing popularity of the pillars is explained by the fact that in 2008 they took 5th place in the competition for the 7 wonders of Russia and 1st place among the wonders of the Northwestern Federal District.
On the way to Manpupuner:
To preserve the Pechora-Ilych nature reserve (on the territory of which there are pillars) in its original form, only 12 travelers will be allowed to visit Manpupuner at a time, while the total number of visits to the plateau should not exceed 4 per month. If earlier tourists could come freely in winter, now it will be possible to see the wonder of the world only from mid-June to mid-September. To control the number of visitors to the plateau, a wooden house 5x8 meters, where an employee of the reserve will be permanently located, checking the availability of permits for visits. In this house, tourists can stay in case of bad weather. The house is heated with an economical stove, for which firewood will be delivered in winter by snowmobile.
Someone thought it was an alien landscape or hand-drawn graphics? Not at all ...
We habitually believe that in search of the wonders of the world, you must certainly go somewhere far away from the distant lands. After all, the era of the Great geographical discoveries, we say, is long gone. It is all the more surprising that even in the 21st century, when, it would seem, all paths and paths have been trodden, you can discover incredible things right next to you, which until now few knew about.
Among such wonders of the world is the unique Manpupuner plateau, which is hidden in Komi among the mountainous dark-coniferous forests of the Pechora-Ilychsky reserve. "Small mountain of idols" - this is how "Manpupuner" is translated from the language of the Mansi people. Komi hunters also call this place Ichet Bolvanoiz, or Small Dummies. Idols are seven separate stone pillars at an altitude of 700 meters above sea level. The lowest one is 22 meters high, and the tallest one goes up 50 meters - like a 12-storey building. This territory is inaccessible. Perhaps this explains the fact that very few people have heard of the plateau. Although it bears the title of one of the seven wonders of Russia.
Stepping on the plateau, you find yourself in some other world. And everyone feels it in their own way: someone experiences an incredible sense of freedom, someone, stretching out on soft and slightly crispy white moss, is charged with energy, but some are seized by a strange psychological discomfort, a feeling of anxiety. This is from the fact that it is impossible to get rid of the feeling that the idols are watching the guests. Seven giants, lined up in a row against the background of a transparent blue sky and endless taiga, upon closer examination, suddenly acquire obvious human features. Ahead of all is a real shaman with a raised hand. And here is an old man with a wrinkled face. Next to him is a typical Indian with an aquiline nose. With a certain angle and a certain amount of imagination in the observer, this or that image appears in each of the idols. They stand with their faces turned to one side, as if holding - in the full sense of the word - their noses to the wind. And when you look at these frozen figures, the question involuntarily arises: how did they appear here?
The name Manpupuner migrated to geographic Maps from the Mansi language, and entered the language of this people, in all likelihood, several centuries ago, when people tried to find an explanation for everything unusual, creating legends and myths. The Mansi explained the appearance of stone pillars as follows: they say, seven giants-Samoyeds, who were heading through the mountains to Siberia, to destroy the Vogul people, turned into idols. Samoyeds are the old name of the peoples speaking the Samoyed languages, that is, the Nenets, Nganasans, and Selkups. And the Mansi were called Voguls until the 30s of the XX century. And so supposedly when the Samoyeds climbed the mountain that is today called Manpupuner, their shaman-leader saw in front of him the top of another mountain - Yalpingner, sacred to the Voguls. He threw down his tambourine in horror, and all his companions immediately turned to stone. It is not known for certain exactly when this legend was born, however, it is likely that since then Manpupuner has become an object of cult and was actually revered by local tribes as a mountain protector, protecting their peace, protecting them from the invasion of hostile tribes. And if we consider that only a few could visit the region of the mountain, since the road to it was carefully hidden, then it is not surprising that Manpupuner was known among the people as sacred place.
At the same time, these lands could be known not only to the Mansi hunters and nomads, who drove countless herds of deer. Komi traditionally lived in the vicinity of the Mansi, who, interestingly, have preserved a slightly different mythical interpretation of the origin of stone idols. According to their beliefs, these are seven petrified brothers who did not want to marry their beautiful sister to an evil shaman, for which they paid with their lives. Thus, the Komi people give Manpupuner a slightly different sacred meaning, highlighting both cruelty and the great power of shamanism. The Komi believed that anyone whose foot stepped into the domain of the stone blockheads would be punished. And, apparently, shamans, using these legends in their own interests, turned the tract into a forbidden territory, a kind of "place of power."
“Both the Mansi and the Komi unambiguously deified the grandiose stone idols, worshiped them, but the ascent to Manpupuner was considered undesirable, and for some it was completely forbidden,” says folklorist Oleg Ulyashev. - Women were strictly forbidden to approach the blockheads symbolizing male deities. The ban did not apply only to shamans. Business here hardly came to sacrifices, and if it did, it was extremely rare and irregular. There are places in the North where sacrificial rites were performed, for example, once a year or even once every 50 years. And Manpupuner is a special case, the local tribes did not try to disturb the idols once again. "
The top of the idols was considered sacred until the 1920s and 1930s, when the first explorers came to this territory. In 1930, in order to preserve the unique natural complex it was decided to create a nature reserve. Since then, although it is rare, researchers and travelers have come here, and therefore versions of the origin of idols have increased.
The man-made version of the appearance of boobies has its supporters. They believe that we see figures made long ago by masters, which, under the influence of wind and water, have lost their clear features. But who whipped them and why? If we discard the alien version, it remains to suspect of this the ancient shamans, who needed idols to perform rituals. However, most researchers are sure that there is no need to talk about the man-made idols. The most skillful master - nature - worked on their creation from start to finish. Geologists assure that there is nothing mystical about the origin of the stone giants. They are composed of sericite-quartzite schists, and owe their original shape to the effects of water and wind, as well as to the temperature drop inherent in the continental climate... For millennia, and maybe millions of years, these factors have worked on the mountain, destroying the softer rock, first isolating a wall-like rock from it, which became narrower and narrower, and then cutting it into separate pillars. The process was also facilitated by the melting of glaciers, which in ancient times covered this part of the Ural Mountains with a solid shell. In essence, idols are unique remnants of the mountain, the vertebrae of its skeleton. “In principle, there are a lot of such formations in the Ural Mountains,” says an employee of the Geological Museum. A. A. Chernova of the Institute of Geology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Ievlev. - But these are really striking in their size. It is also surprising that when the surrounding rocks collapsed due to various factors, including tectonic movements, these survived. Their phenomenon is in their resilience. "
If you come very close to the outliers, not being afraid of the overhanging stone mass, then you will see in the rock many deep, almost horizontal and less pronounced vertical small cracks. This is evidence that nature continues its painstaking work today. Fresh collapses of boulders at the foot of the idols are another confirmation of this. Lichens also have a gradual destructive effect on the breed, which, according to the observations of the reserve's workers, every year gain more and more space on the bodies of idols. “All this just means,” and says. O. director of the Pechora-Ilychsky reserve Dominik Kudryavtsev - that, alas, do not belong to the category of eternal idols. However, their age is not at all short - for several millennia they will surely rise to the plateau, amazing travelers with their grandeur ”.
Evgeny Kalinin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
- Similar outliers can be seen in the Stolby reserve in Krasnoyarsk, but there they are made of granite. And the remnants of the Manpupuner plateau are composed of quartzite-sandstones and crystalline schists. But, oddly enough, they are almost harder than granite rocks. I personally approached the blockheads with a hammer in order to beat off part of the breed, and I did it with difficulty. Imagine how strong it is! Well, the age of these idols, respectively, is no less respectable. We estimate it to be 490 million years old. It is no coincidence that this object was probably endowed with some mystical meaning in previous centuries, but my colleagues and I did not find modern beliefs associated with it.
Yuri Piotrovsky, Senior Researcher of the State Hermitage, Deputy Head for Science of the Archeology Department of Eastern Europe and Siberia:
- Megaliths for scientists represent a huge field of activity. For example, there have been attempts to define a single center for the emergence of such monuments. Now we understand that it is very difficult. There is also a theory that all megaliths can be structures of one people. A controversial idea, and it is not yet possible to confirm it. Megaliths are phenomena of human culture, and they are associated with worship. But with the worship not of stones, but of what, as people always believed, is inside the stones. However, there is a condition: megaliths are man-made objects, and the remnants of the Manpupuner plateau are not such, they are geological monuments. Although this did not prevent them from worshiping in the past.
The Voguls - local population Urals - there are other points of view. There are at least three legends explaining the origin of the Little Doodles (this is how it sounds in translation Manpupuner from the Mansi language).
According to one of the versions, after the Younger Brothers, i.e. The Voguls were chasing six giants of the Samoyed, while they were trying to go beyond the Stone Belt. The giants had almost caught up with the Vogul, when suddenly a shaman with a white face, Jalpingner, appeared in front of them. He raised his hand and managed to utter one spell, after which all the giants turned to stone. Unfortunately, Jalpingner himself was also petrified. Since then, they have stood against each other.
Another legend says that seven giant shamans followed Riphea to destroy the Voguls and Mansi. When they climbed the Koyp, they saw the sacred mountain of the Voguls Yalpingner (the holiest place for the Voguls) and understood the greatness and power of the Vogul gods. They were petrified with horror, only the leader of the giants, the chief shaman, managed to raise his hand to cover his eyes from Yalpingner. But this did not save him either - he also turned to stone.
Finally, we left the most romantic legend about the origin Manpupuner... As the myth says, there lived one tribe of Ugras (Voguls, Mansi and other tribes related to them were called by a common name - Ugra). It was so rich and happy that it was legendary far beyond the Stone Belt. The tribe lived under the auspices of Yalpingner, and their leader was the mighty and wise Kuuschai. The leader had a daughter, the beautiful Ayum. There was no one more beautiful than her in the world. Torev (bear) found out about her beauty, that he lived on the other side of the Ural Mountains. And then, one day, Torev came to
Kuuschay and demanded Ayum from him as his wife, to which Ayum himself refused. Torev was very angry, called his giant brothers and decided to destroy the Ugras and take Ayum as his wife by force. Approaching stone city where Ayum was, the giant brothers began to besiege him. A great battle ensued and the power was on the side of the giants. Then Ayum asked the good spirits of Yalpingner to convey the news of the attack on the city to her brother Pygrychum, who was on a hunt at that time. But Pygrychum was far away. The giants burst into the city, destroyed the crystal palace, the fragments of which scattered over the Riphean mountains (since then, rock crystal has been found here). The tribe of Ugra-Voguls was forced to flee. And so, when the giants had almost caught up with Ayum and her fellow tribesmen, Pygrychum suddenly appeared with a golden shield and a shining sword, which were given to him by the spirits of Yalpingner. Pigrychum sent a beam of light reflected from his shield into Torev's eyes and he turned to stone. Likewise, his brothers were petrified. And so it arose Manpupuner.
As you can see, in all legends one constant motive remains - the presence of giants who wanted to destroy the Vogul tribe and the magical help of Yalpingner. I must say that Man-Pupu-Ner has always been sacred place for the Voguls, but his strength was somewhat negative. Climb the plateau Manpupuner an ordinary person was strictly forbidden, only shamans had access there to recharge their magical powers. Not far from the plateau Manpupuner there are several more Vogul sanctuaries - Tore-Porre-Iz, Solat-Chakhl (Dead Mountain), where, according to legend, nine Mansi hunters perished, and where the legendary group of Igor Dyatlov (already in our times) perished. By the way, Dyatlov's group also consisted of nine people. Also nearby is Yalpingner itself, relatively nearby is the Prayer Stone (on the territory of the Vishersky Reserve), where there was also a temple and the sacred cave of the Voguls and Mansi. As you can see, not only Manpupuner deserves the epithet magical and magical, but undoubtedly he is the most beautiful and impressive.
Well, more about legends ...
Legend of the Golden Woman.
Since ancient times there has been the legend of the Golden Woman guarded by the Mansi shamans. People used to think that it was some kind of material figure or sculpture, and they tried to find it. This is actually a treasure, but not a precious metal, but a spiritual treasure, says the artist Alexander Kaminsky. More than once during the month he saw a glowing golden female figure against the background of a dark peak. "I believe that this is one of the images of the Mother of the World." (Or maybe this is Pavel Bazhov, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain?)
Mansi legends.
However, the most interesting are the Mansi legends. ManPupuNer in Mansi it means "Small mountain of idols", and the boobies themselves - ern pupygyt - "Nenets idols". According to the legend, reflecting the ancient clashes between the Mansi and the Nenets, the giants-Samoyeds decided to go to war with the Mansi. They climbed the mountain and saw not far away Tagt-Talakh-Yalping-Ner-Oyka, terrible in his anger. This is the "Holy old man Ural in the summit of Northern Sosva", and the giants turned into stone pillars. And that's how they stand. And their shaman-leader dropped his tambourine. The tambourine rolled and turned into a huge mountain Koyp.
Nearby is the Pecherya-Talakh-Chakhl mountain - a mountain at the top of the Pechora. These mountains are sacred among the Mansi people.
Old-time Russian population and epics.
Blockhead - here means an idol, an idol. It is interesting that the old-time Russian population in the villages along the upper reaches of the Pechora calls the stone idols heroes, transferring epic images to the Northern Urals. However, there is another name - the Man's Stone with an interesting commentary recorded in the middle of the 19th century: “Observing from a distance the pillars that crowned the peaks of the Man's Stone, one might think that this mountain is inhabited by giant people. In the stories of superstitious peasants, there is a legend that the Ostyaks, making a sacrifice on its peaks, were turned to stone by the power of the Almighty as punishment for idolatry. " Komi, however, say that these are 7 robbers, petrified by the word of God until the day of the Last Judgment.
Ural - the birthplace of civilization?
According to one of the theories, the Ural was the epicenter of the emergence of modern civilization. The country of Hyperborea was here - the foremother of world civilization, from which sacred cities The lights in which the Hyperboreans lived are the Aryans. Only in Chelyabinsk region archaeologists have found 23 such cities, the most famous of which is Arkaim. And recently in Bashkiria, another city was found, called Bakshay, which is 1000 years older than Arkaim. All these cities are linked by energy canals.
Someone thought it was an alien landscape or hand-drawn graphics? Not at all. When I see these real natural objects, I understand - how much I still do not know, and even more so I have not seen on our planet Earth. I have long dreamed of being there and touching them with my hand.
After all, we habitually believe that in search of the wonders of the world, we must certainly go somewhere far away in distant lands to distant countries.
And this is right here, next to it.
The era of the great geographical discoveries, we say, is long gone. It is all the more surprising that even in the 21st century, when, it would seem, all paths and paths have been trodden, you can discover incredible things right next to you, which until now few knew about.
Among such wonders of the world is the unique Manpupuner plateau, which is hidden in Komi among the mountainous dark-coniferous forests of the Pechora-Ilychsky reserve. "Small mountain of idols" - this is how "Manpupuner" is translated from the language of the Mansi people.
Komi hunters also call this place Ichet Bolvanoiz, or Small Dummies. Idols are seven separate stone pillars at an altitude of 700 meters above sea level. The lowest one is 22 meters high, and the tallest one goes up 50 meters - like a 12-storey building. This territory is inaccessible. Perhaps this explains the fact that very few people have heard of the plateau. Although it bears the title of one of the seven wonders of Russia.
Stepping on the plateau, you find yourself in some other world. And everyone feels it in their own way: someone experiences an incredible sense of freedom, someone, stretching out on soft and slightly crispy white moss, is charged with energy, but some are seized by a strange psychological discomfort, a feeling of anxiety. This is from the fact that it is impossible to get rid of the feeling that the idols are watching the guests.
Seven giants, lined up in a row against the background of a transparent blue sky and endless taiga, upon closer examination, suddenly acquire obvious human features. Ahead of all is a real shaman with a raised hand. And here is an old man with a wrinkled face. Next to him is a typical Indian with an aquiline nose. With a certain angle and a certain amount of imagination in the observer, this or that image appears in each of the idols. They stand with their faces turned to one side, as if holding - in the full sense of the word - their noses to the wind. And when you look at these frozen figures, the question involuntarily arises: how did they appear here?
The name Manpupuner migrated to geographical maps from the Mansi language, and the language of this people entered, in all likelihood, several centuries ago, when people tried to find an explanation for everything unusual, creating legends and myths. The Mansi explained the appearance of stone pillars as follows: they say, seven giants-Samoyeds, who were heading through the mountains to Siberia, to destroy the Vogul people, turned into idols. Samoyeds are the old name of the peoples speaking the Samoyed languages, that is, the Nenets, Nganasans, and Selkups.
And the Mansi were called Voguls until the 30s of the XX century. And so supposedly when the Samoyeds climbed the mountain that is today called Manpupuner, their shaman-leader saw in front of him the top of another mountain - Yalpingner, sacred to the Voguls. He threw down his tambourine in horror, and all his companions immediately turned to stone. It is not known for certain exactly when this legend was born, however, it is likely that since then Manpupuner has become an object of cult and was actually revered by local tribes as a mountain protector, protecting their peace, protecting them from the invasion of hostile tribes. And if we consider that only a few could visit the region of the mountain, since the road to it was carefully hidden, it is not surprising that Manpupuner was known among the people as a sacred place.
At the same time, these lands could be known not only to the Mansi hunters and nomads, who drove countless herds of deer. Komi traditionally lived in the vicinity of the Mansi, who, interestingly, have preserved a slightly different mythical interpretation of the origin of stone idols. According to their beliefs, these are seven petrified brothers who did not want to marry their beautiful sister to an evil shaman, for which they paid with their lives. Thus, the Komi people give Manpupuner a slightly different sacred meaning, highlighting both cruelty and the great power of shamanism. The Komi believed that anyone whose foot stepped into the domain of the stone blockheads would be punished. And, apparently, shamans, using these legends in their own interests, turned the tract into a forbidden territory, a kind of "place of power."
“Both the Mansi and the Komi unambiguously deified the grandiose stone idols, worshiped them, but the ascent to Manpupuner was considered undesirable, and for some it was completely forbidden,” says folklorist Oleg Ulyashev. - Women were strictly forbidden to approach the blockheads symbolizing male deities. The ban did not apply only to shamans. Business here hardly came to sacrifices, and if it did, it was extremely rare and irregular. There are places in the North where sacrificial rites were performed, for example, once a year or even once every 50 years. And Manpupuner is a special case, the local tribes did not try to disturb the idols once again. "
The top of the idols was considered sacred until the 1920s and 1930s, when the first explorers came to this territory. In 1930, in order to preserve the unique natural complex, it was decided to create a nature reserve. Since then, although it is rare, researchers and travelers have come here, and therefore versions of the origin of idols have increased.
The man-made version of the appearance of boobies has its supporters. They believe that we see figures made long ago by masters, which, under the influence of wind and water, have lost their clear features. But who whipped them and why? If we discard the alien version, it remains to suspect of this the ancient shamans, who needed idols to perform rituals. However, most researchers are sure that there is no need to talk about the man-made idols. The most skillful master - nature - worked on their creation from start to finish. Geologists assure that there is nothing mystical about the origin of the stone giants.
They are composed of sericite-quartzite schists, and owe their original shape to the effects of water and wind, as well as to the temperature difference inherent in a sharply continental climate. For millennia, and maybe millions of years, these factors have worked on the mountain, destroying the softer rock, first isolating a wall-like rock from it, which became narrower and narrower, and then cutting it into separate pillars. The process was also facilitated by the melting of glaciers, which in ancient times covered this part of the Ural Mountains with a solid shell. In essence, idols are unique remnants of the mountain, the vertebrae of its skeleton. “In principle, there are a lot of such formations in the Ural Mountains,” says an employee of the Geological Museum. A. A. Chernova of the Institute of Geology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Ievlev. - But these are really striking in their size. It is also surprising that when the surrounding rocks collapsed due to various factors, including tectonic movements, these survived. Their phenomenon is in their resilience. "
If you come very close to the outliers, not being afraid of the overhanging stone mass, then you will see in the rock many deep, almost horizontal and less pronounced vertical small cracks. This is evidence that nature continues its painstaking work today. Fresh collapses of boulders at the foot of the idols are another confirmation of this. Lichens also have a gradual destructive effect on the breed, which, according to the observations of the reserve's workers, every year gain more and more space on the bodies of idols. “All this just means,” and says. O. director of the Pechora-Ilychsky reserve Dominik Kudryavtsev - that, alas, do not belong to the category of eternal idols. However, their age is not at all short - for several millennia they will surely rise to the plateau, amazing travelers with their grandeur ”.
Evgeny Kalinin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
- Similar outliers can be seen in the Stolby reserve in Krasnoyarsk, but there they are made of granite. And the remnants of the Manpupuner plateau are composed of quartzite-sandstones and crystalline schists. But, oddly enough, they are almost harder than granite rocks. I personally approached the blockheads with a hammer in order to beat off part of the breed, and I did it with difficulty. Imagine how strong it is! Well, the age of these idols, respectively, is no less respectable. We estimate it to be 490 million years old. It is no coincidence that this object was probably endowed with some mystical meaning in previous centuries, but my colleagues and I did not find modern beliefs associated with it.
Yuri Piotrovsky, Senior Researcher of the State Hermitage, Deputy Head for Science of the Department of Archeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia:
- Megaliths for scientists represent a huge field of activity. For example, there have been attempts to define a single center for the emergence of such monuments. Now we understand that it is very difficult. There is also a theory that all megaliths can be structures of one people. A controversial idea, and it is not yet possible to confirm it. Megaliths are phenomena of human culture, and they are associated with worship. But with the worship not of stones, but of what, as people always believed, is inside the stones. However, there is a condition: megaliths are man-made objects, and the remnants of the Manpupuner plateau are not such, they are geological monuments. Although this did not prevent them from worshiping in the past.
The Voguls, the local population of the Urals, have other points of view. There are at least three legends explaining the origin of the Little Doodles (this is how it sounds in translation Manpupuner from the Mansi language).
According to one of the versions, after the Younger Brothers, i.e. The Voguls were chasing six giants of the Samoyed, while they were trying to go beyond the Stone Belt. The giants had almost caught up with the Vogul, when suddenly a shaman with a white face, Jalpingner, appeared in front of them. He raised his hand and managed to utter one spell, after which all the giants turned to stone. Unfortunately, Jalpingner himself was also petrified. Since then, they have stood against each other.
Another legend says that seven giant shamans followed Riphea to destroy the Voguls and Mansi. When they climbed the Koyp, they saw the sacred mountain of the Voguls Yalpingner (the holiest place for the Voguls) and understood the greatness and power of the Vogul gods. They were petrified with horror, only the leader of the giants, the chief shaman, managed to raise his hand to cover his eyes from Yalpingner. But this did not save him either - he also turned to stone.
Finally, we left the most romantic legend about the origin Manpupuner... As the myth says, there lived one tribe of Ugras (Voguls, Mansi and other tribes related to them were called by a common name - Ugra). It was so rich and happy that it was legendary far beyond the Stone Belt. The tribe lived under the auspices of Yalpingner, and their leader was the mighty and wise Kuuschai. The leader had a daughter, the beautiful Ayum. There was no one more beautiful than her in the world. Torev (bear) found out about her beauty, that he lived on the other side of the Ural Mountains. And then, one day, Torev came to
Kuuschay and demanded Ayum from him as his wife, to which Ayum himself refused. Torev was very angry, called his giant brothers and decided to destroy the Ugras and take Ayum as his wife by force. Approaching the stone city where Ayum was, the giant brothers began to besiege him. A great battle ensued and the power was on the side of the giants. Then Ayum asked the good spirits of Yalpingner to convey the news of the attack on the city to her brother Pygrychum, who was on a hunt at that time. But Pygrychum was far away. The giants burst into the city, destroyed the crystal palace, the fragments of which scattered over the Riphean mountains (since then, rock crystal has been found here). The tribe of Ugra-Voguls was forced to flee. And so, when the giants had almost caught up with Ayum and her fellow tribesmen, Pygrychum suddenly appeared with a golden shield and a shining sword, which were given to him by the spirits of Yalpingner. Pigrychum sent a beam of light reflected from his shield into Torev's eyes and he turned to stone. Likewise, his brothers were petrified. And so it arose Manpupuner.
As you can see, in all legends one constant motive remains - the presence of giants who wanted to destroy the Vogul tribe and the magical help of Yalpingner. I must say that Man-Pupu-Ner has always been a sacred place for the Voguls, but its strength was somewhat negative. Climb the plateau Manpupuner an ordinary person was strictly forbidden, only shamans had access there to recharge their magical powers. Not far from the plateau Manpupuner there are several more Vogul sanctuaries - Tore-Porre-Iz, Solat-Chakhl (Dead Mountain), where, according to legend, nine Mansi hunters perished, and where the legendary group of Igor Dyatlov (already in our times) perished.
By the way, Dyatlov's group also consisted of nine people. Also nearby is Yalpingner itself, relatively nearby is the Prayer Stone (on the territory of the Vishersky Reserve), where there was also a temple and the sacred cave of the Voguls and Mansi. As you can see, not only Manpupuner deserves the epithet magical and magical, but undoubtedly he is the most beautiful and impressive.
And more about legends ...
Legend of the Golden Woman.
Since ancient times there has been the legend of the Golden Woman guarded by the Mansi shamans. People used to think that it was some kind of material figure or sculpture, and they tried to find it. This is actually a treasure, but not a precious metal, but a spiritual treasure, says the artist Alexander Kaminsky. More than once during the month he saw a glowing golden female figure against the background of a dark peak. "I believe that this is one of the images of the Mother of the World." (Or maybe this is Pavel Bazhov, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain?)
Mansi legends.
However, the most interesting are the Mansi legends. ManPupuNer in Mansi it means "Small mountain of idols", and the boobies themselves - ern pupygyt - "Nenets idols". According to the legend, reflecting the ancient clashes between the Mansi and the Nenets, the giants-Samoyeds decided to go to war with the Mansi. They climbed the mountain and saw not far away Tagt-Talakh-Yalping-Ner-Oyka, terrible in his anger. This is the "Holy old man Ural in the summit of Northern Sosva", and the giants turned into stone pillars. And that's how they stand. And their shaman-leader dropped his tambourine. The tambourine rolled and turned into a huge mountain Koyp.
Nearby is the Pecherya-Talakh-Chakhl mountain - a mountain at the top of the Pechora. These mountains are sacred among the Mansi people.
Old-time Russian population and epics.
Blockhead - here means an idol, an idol. It is interesting that the old-time Russian population in the villages along the upper reaches of the Pechora calls the stone idols heroes, transferring epic images to the Northern Urals. However, there is another name - the Man's Stone with an interesting commentary recorded in the middle of the 19th century: “Observing from a distance the pillars that crowned the peaks of the Man's Stone, one might think that this mountain is inhabited by giant people. In the stories of superstitious peasants, there is a legend that the Ostyaks, making a sacrifice on its peaks, were turned to stone by the power of the Almighty as punishment for idolatry. " Komi, however, say that these are 7 robbers, petrified by the word of God until the day of the Last Judgment.
Ural - the birthplace of civilization?
According to one of the theories, the Ural was the epicenter of the emergence of modern civilization. There was here the country of Hyperborea - the foremother of world civilization, from which the sacred cities of the Light remained, in which the Hyperboreans - the Aryans - lived. In the Chelyabinsk region alone, archaeologists have found 23 such cities, the most famous of which is Arkaim. And recently in Bashkiria, another city was found, called Bakshay, which is 1000 years older than Arkaim. All these cities are linked by energy canals.
Manpupuner (Komi Republic, Russia) - exact location, interesting places, inhabitants, routes.
- Tours for May in Russia
- Last Minute Tours in Russia
Previous photo Next photo
Ural mountains... more than 200 million years ago, they proudly stood on the young planet Earth and witnessed many grandiose events. Over the long millennia, water and wind have gradually destroyed them. And today the Ural Mountains are one of the lowest in the world. But there were places in the Urals where nature could not cope with the stone. One of them is known to us as Manpupuner.
First thing under the influence environment soft rocks were destroyed, and stronger ones were able to survive to this day. Geologists call them outliers. On Manpupuner, the remnants are huge stone pillars with a height of 30 to 42 m.
This place is truly mystical, because the Weathering Pillars, as the outliers are also called, are so ancient that even the Mansi worshiped them during the pagan period, and translated from their language, Manpupuner means “small mountain of idols”. Mansi, unlike geologists, know the true origin of stone pillars.
Legend
Legend has it that one day the giants decided to steal the beautiful daughter of the leader - Aim. Brother Pygrychum went to save her. For this, the good spirits gave him a magic shield. When the giants were about to seize Aim, Pygrychum pulled out a shield, and the sunlight, reflecting from it, turned the giants into stone.
Manpupuner is officially recognized as one of the seven wonders of Russia.
Weathering pillars
There are 7 stone statues in Manpupuner. The pillars have a bizarre shape and, at different angles, can resemble either the head of a horse or really the figure of a giant. They say that stone sculptures even change their location. In fact, of course, it's just easy to confuse them due to their changing shape.
The main disadvantage, but also the main advantage of Manpupuner, is its inaccessibility. This mountain is located far from residential areas, and therefore you can reach it either on foot or by helicopter. But these same obstacles make Manpupuner an endlessly fabulous place.
The oldest stone sculptures as high as a 15-storey building in themselves can amaze the imagination, and if you add to this the uninhabitedness of this place, then one can imagine what pristine silence and purity will meet travelers on this majestic plateau. Here, more than ever, you understand that time is just a convention.
Mansi idol plateau Manpupuner
How to get there
So how do you get to Manpupuner? If you are a prepared tourist and long-term hiking you are only in joy, then feel free to go to Manpupuner along the ground. Today, experienced travelers have mastered several routes, both from the Komi side and from the neighboring Sverdlovsk region. This is very popular destination for sports tourism, and on social media, you can often come across invitations to go on a group hike to the Mansi dummies.
If you don't like hiking and can hardly bear canned food and songs with a guitar, then here's a much more expensive, less romantic, but no less exciting way to get to the Weathering Pillars. This is a helicopter flight. This method is also more sparing for the local ecosystem. The fact is that rare white moss grows on the Manpupuner plateau. And careless tourists trample it down mercilessly, and meanwhile it grows by only 5 mm a year! Flying up to Manpupuner, you can enjoy the mesmerizing panorama of the Ural taiga.
A helicopter flight costs from 30,000 rubles per person for December 2019.
If these methods do not suit you, then you can use regular transport. Here all you need is:
- First get to Syktyvkar
- then leave Syktyvkar by train or car to Troitsko-Pechorsk
- from Troitsko-Pechorsk get by passing car to the village of Yaksha
- from Yaksha to overcome 200 km by motor boat
- and walk a little - about 40 km,
but on the other hand, Manpupuner will open up to you in its greatness in full.
Everyone who goes to the plateau on foot needs to understand that they will have to go through the taiga, and with them you must definitely have protection from blood-sucking insects, as well as good wind and moisture-proof clothing. It is better to go in July, as long rains already begin in August.
Hotels and restaurants in Manpupuner? No, have not heard
It is clear as daylight that those who go to the stone idols on foot will have to sleep in tents. And there will be nowhere to eat, especially closer to the plateau. If you forget food at home, you will have to eat pasture or hunt local game, which almost always turns out badly the first time.
If you fly by helicopter, then at the points of departure, of course, you can find a hotel or, in extreme cases, ask for an overnight stay at the good hosts.
