Cinderella Cave
Often caves are overgrown with mystical stories. Often, these are just fables that are invented to create a romantic or magical halo over the cave. But Cinderella Cave is not such a case. It is not yet well explored, so it is not known what exactly awaits cavers in its depths. It is located in the village of Podvirne, Novoselytsia district , Chernivtsi region, near which the entrance to the cave was excavated from the Ukrainian side, close to the Moldovan border. It's not easy to get here if you don't have a car. There is a bus from Novoselytsia to the village (check with the bus station manager for departure times). In the Novoselytsia district, near the village of Stalnivtsi, there is another interesting cave - Bukovynka.
The Cinderella Cave stretches for tens of kilometers on the territory of two countries. An interesting fact is that the entrance to the cave is located near the village of Criva in Moldova, and the main part of the cave is in Ukraine. Ukraine has also begun to develop an entrance to the cave near the village of Podvirne, Chernivtsi region.
The length of the explored passages of the cave is approximately 91 kilometers. Cinderella Cave is the third longest gypsum cave in the world. The first place in this rating belongs to the Optimistic Cave (the length of the passages is about 250 kilometers).
Cinderella Cave was opened in 1977. At first, cavers did not dare to explore the cave because the entrance was very dirty. That's why it was called Cinderella (the heroine of the fairy tale was covered with soot). Until the mid-20th century, the cave was flooded with water. When the water subsided, the scientists discovered, without exaggeration, huge underground galleries. It is interesting that the halls and galleries are covered with a layer of clay, there are shades of red, white, black, green, and blue. Some of the routes now have unusual clay figures. There is also a statue of Cinderella herself.
The mineral Bernesite was found in the cave. It is usually found at the bottom of deep ocean trenches. It is a mystery how its deposits appeared on land. Also in the Cinderella Cave, an accumulation of radon, a radioactive gas, was recorded. The Cinderella Cave was considered as a contender in the Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine competition.
- Ukrainian lands have a lot of mysterious and unknown things, but there are even more secrets underground. There are mysterious caves that have played an important role in history for the locals. Some of them were inhabited by monks, some served as hiding places for rebels, and other cave passages still keep secrets.
- More than 130 caves are already known in Bukovyna. They are different: vertical, horizontal, small and large, with underground lakes and rivers - each one is unique. One can be 5 meters long, and, for example, Cinderella is more than 90 km long. However, there are only three large caves longer than one kilometer: Cinderella and Bukovynka (5.5 km) in the Novoselytsia district and the Chornopotocka cave (1 km and 5 meters long) in the Zastavna district.
- A cave hyena's lair was found in one of the caves in Bukovyna. There are also remains of animals that were preyed upon by the hyena: bison, cave bears, horses, and deer. They are approximately 42 thousand years old.
- There are a number of caves in the Dniester basin where monks once lived. There are over a hundred such cave hermitages and monasteries. Most of them appeared in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Occasionally there are cells of the twelfth century, the time of Kyivan Rus.
- There are about ten such cave complexes in the Chernivtsi region, for example, the Neporotiv (Galician) Monastery in Sokyryany district, the village of Babyn in Zastavna district has the remains of cells, and the village of Vasyliv has traces of a monk's residence, and even on the territory of the Dniester PSPP, the remains of cells were found in the rocks. The Halychyna St. Nicholas Cave Monastery is still in operation today.
