Description of the attraction
A few kilometers from the Trinity-Scanov Monastery (in the northeastern side) at the foot of Mount Plodskaya (formerly Gorodok) there is a three-level cave complex with a healing spring of the Kiev-Pechersk miracle workers - Theodosius and Anthony. The founder of the cave monastery was Arseny II, who retired to an underground cell in 1826. From 1866 to 1880, on the top of the mountain, several hermit monks, who joined Arseny, built a stone church and a chapel at the entrance to the cave. At the beginning of the century, the main entrance to the cave monastery was lined with ornaments, the walls and vaulted ceilings were whitewashed, candles were burning in the niches in front of each cell, illuminating the passage, more than 2.5 km long. Deep underground, at the lowest level of the cave (according to legend, there were seven of them) a spring with clean water gushed.
In the thirties, the church and the chapel were completely destroyed, and the cave was eventually dismantled brick by bricks for the needs of the state farm by local workers, because of which the blockages of the lower tiers were formed. Currently, underground structures consist of labyrinths of caves and cells, more than 600 meters long on three levels. The height of the main connecting corridors is about two meters.
Over the past decade, restoration and strengthening works of some parts of the cave have been carried out, but, in fact, a unique historical object, surpassing the length of underground structures of the famous caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, remains not fully explored.
From the main entrance to the cave, a long staircase stretches up to the top of the mountain, which previously served as a climb to the church, now offering an amazing panoramic view of the picturesque surroundings. You can visit the cave monastery both in groups with a local novice or on your own.
