Marble Cave in the Crimean Mountains is the largest and most visited cave in Crimea. It is located in the middle of the road between Alushta and Simferopol: 45 km from Alushta and 35 km from Simferopol. Next to the Marble Cave (1.2 km) is the Mammoth Cave. Usually tourists visit these caves during one excursion.
The marble cave was discovered during the exploration of Chatyr-Dag Mountain in 1987. It was called "marble", since a marble quarry is located nearby. The cave is located at a depth of 63 meters, and its length reaches 2 kilometers. The excursion route, open to the public, is 800 meters.
Analysis of the sinter formations on the walls, stalagmites and stalactites in the Marble Cave indicate they were formed about 1.5 million years ago. The microclimate in the cave is completely preserved, allowing stalactites, stalagmites and rare crystals to grow. Many stalagmites are similar in shape to fairy-tale heroes, so the excursion route through the Marble Cave was called the Fairy Tale Gallery. Some stalagmites have their own names: Host, Minaret, Castle, Dragon, King-Bell, etc.
Entering the Marble Cave, visitors first see the Fairy Tale Gallery, then a path leads to the largest hall of the Marble Cave. It is called the Perestroika Hall (sometimes it is also called the Collapse Hall). The length of this hall reaches 100 meters, and the width is 28 meters. This is one of the largest cave halls in Europe.
It is bordered by the Palace Hall, where you can see the karst columns of the King and Queen. Behind it is a Clay hall. After that, you need to go back to the entrance. There is another gallery of 7 halls open to the public: the Hall of Hopes, the Balcony Hall, the Vernadsky Hall, the Chandelier Hall, the Riverbed Hall, the Chocolate Hall and the Helictite Hall. With this hall, the second karst cavity ends and you need to return to the entrance again to pass into the crevice, which is called the Tiger Passage. It was opened a year later than the main halls of the Marble Cave. This is the oldest part of the cave, and in it you can see even more beautiful flow formations, stalactites and stalagmites.
In the Marble Cave, the temperature remains constant around 9 degrees, so it is better to take warm clothes to visit. If you don`t have warm clothes with you, then there are a lot of jackets hanging at the entrance that you can wear during a visit to the cave. Sometimes chamber concerts of classical music are held in the Marble Cave.
