Ruskeala Mountain Park is one of the most beautiful places in Karelia and the entire North-Western region of Russia. In terms of tourist attractiveness, it can be compared with the royal palaces located in the southern suburbs of St. Petersburg.
The distance from St. Petersburg to the Ruskeala Mountain Park is 300 kilometers, which is significantly further than to the palaces. A day trip from St. Petersburg is possible, thanks to the modern road. It is laid along the western shore of Lake Ladoga. However, it is better to go here for a few days.
The main attraction of the Ruskeala Mountain Park is the Grand Marble Canyon. For several centuries, marble has been mined here, on the banks of the Tohmajoki River. Until the beginning of the 18th century, these lands were owned by Sweden. In those years, marble in Ruskeala was mined in small volumes, mainly for lime firing.
After the end of the Northern War in 1721, the city of Sortavala was ceded to Russia. Industrial marble mining here began under Catherine II in 1767. Many cathedrals and palaces in St. Petersburg were built from this marble. In Soviet times, this marble was used for cladding metro stations.
Marble and lime mining was carried out here until the end of the 1990s. The Great Marble Canyon was mothballed after World War II and quickly filled with water. For more than a decade, the quarry was in an abandoned state, but in the 2000s, the tourist infrastructure began to form here. At first, visitors could only walk along the banks of the Great Marble Canyon and go boating. But over time, a whole Mountain Park was formed here.
The tour "Underground Ruskeala" is of great interest in the Ruskeala Mountain Park. Here you will see the tunnels of the Marble Quarry, which are very beautifully illuminated. All this is reminiscent of the scenes “In the Cave of the Mountain King” from Edvard Grieg`s Peer Gynt suite. The route passes through underground tunnels. Previously, there were trolleys, and now there is a path for tourists. You will see tunnels in different layers of rock, where marble and lime were extracted. The Large Marble Hall looks very beautiful.
Excursions to the "Underground Ruskeala" are very popular. The number of visitors in groups is limited, so you have to buy a ticket for a tour online in advance. Otherwise, there is a risk that you will wait a long time or not be able to get there at all. The temperature in the underground quarries is about 6-8 degrees.
After exploring the Great Marble Canyon and the Underground Ruskeala, head to the Italian Quarry. Here you can see how marble was mined in the 18th and 19th centuries. With the help of drilling, giant blocks weighing up to 16 tons were separated from the rock.
On the way to the Italian Quarry, you can visit the small Park Secret Paths of the land of Kalevala. This interactive site is dedicated to the Finnish epic Kalevala. You will see the bright side, where the heroes and gods of the Finnish peoples lived. If you go up to the windmill, which symbolizes Mount Sampo, you can see the dark side. Old Loukhi lives there.
Near the Italian Quarry is the Lake Svetloye (Light). It was part of the Ruskeala marble quarry system. On its shore, waste rock and marble blocks were dumped, which were damaged and rejected in the mining process. In summer, people come to the shore of Lake Svetloye to swim and sunbathe in good weather.
Every August, the Ruskeala Symphony Festival takes place in the Ruskeala Mountain Park. The main venue of the festival is located in the Italian Quarry, as there is a convenient space among the stone marble blocks. However, chamber performances of various orchestras are held both in the Grand Marble Canyon and in the Underground Ruskeala, where there are halls with excellent acoustics.
On the way to the Ruskeala Mountain Park, you have make a stop near the Ruskeala Waterfalls on the Tohmajoki River. They are located directly on the road from Sortavala. If you decide to go to these places for a few days, then from Sortavala you can go on an excursion to the Ladoga Skerries Nature Reserve, as well as to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on the Island of Valaam. On the western shore of Lake Ladoga is the small town of Priozersk, where there are also interesting sights.
