Spassky Cave Church in Russia

On the banks of the Don River, in the picturesque Voronezh region of Russia lies one of the most fascinating tourist attractions this country has to offer - the Spassky Cave Church. It’s believed the first caves were dug into the cretaceous mounts of Kostomarovo before the adoption of Christianity in Russia. Hermit monks would use these austere cell-like spaces to hide from persecution, and it wasn’t until the 12th century that the first rock monastery was carved in the region. Because there is no any historical note, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact date the Spassky Cave Church appeared near the small Russian village of Kostomarovo, but it is now considered one of the most incredible monuments of ancient architecture in Russia.

The Svyato-Spassky Convent in Kostomarovo is an ancient cave monastery located about 150 kilometers south of the town of Voronezh, just 3-hours drive away. There are two churches in these caves: a big Spassky temple with columns and a small St. Seraphim Sarovsky church. The Spassky temple burrows deep into the chalky cliff to form a spacious interior that can house up to 2,000 people.
This church is unique, made by carving a rocky mountain. The style is influenced by Byzantine architecture, but the interior is much more Orthodox style.

This unique and amazing building has a sad story. In the past, the Spassky Cave Church is used as torture chambers the communists against the monks. During communist power they were expelled from church, even one from them was shot.

Those who have visited Spassky Church speak of a fantastic sense of easiness and divine bliss, and it also has a reputation for healing diseases and wounds, helping people make the right decisions and cleansing sins. In fact, there is even a Cave of Repentance inside the chalk church where condemned sinners were once confined to repent for their sins. The sense of easiness may also be influenced by the beautiful natural surroundings that the locals believe look so much like the Holy Land that they named them after it. There is a hill of Golgotha, a Mount Tabor and even a Gethsemane Garden. Local residents believe that place around Spassky Cave Church is a sacred place.

Although famous among Russia’s religious folk, Spassky Church and the cretaceous caves of Kostomorovo remain almost unknown to the rest of the world.

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Danxia , China

Bordering on Hunan Province to the further north and Jiangxi Province to the east, Shaoguan is a hub of communications connecting Central China with South China. It lies in the north of Guangdong Province, thus having been called the northern Gate of Guangdong. Covering an area of 18,579 square kilometers (7,173 square miles), Shaoguan has a population of 3,148,500 (2003) and consists of three urban districts, six counties and two cities. With a long history, an important geographic location, aged cultural tradition and rich natural resources, Shaoguan is an excellent tourist city in China, a national advanced clean city and a civilized city in Guangdong as well.

History
Shaoguan is one of the earliest birthplaces of Lingnan's ancient culture, the native place of Maba People and the rising place of Shixia's culture. As early as 100 thousand years ago, the ancestors of North Guangdong labored and lived here. Shaoguan was called Shaozhou in Sui Dynasty (581 - 618) and set up the customhouse in Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and thus began to be called the present name.

Landform
At Shaoguan, the Wu River from the northwest and the Zhen River from the northeast join up to create the Beijiang River which flows south to Guangzhou. Shaoguan's downtown area lies on a peninsula shaped by the Zhen River and the Wu River. There are seven bridges crossing the three rivers. Located in a comparatively high mountainous region, Shaoguan City is popular for its beautiful natural scenery with a few hot springs.

Climate
Shaoguan is in the middle subtropical monsoon area of humid type. The four seasons are very distinct with a lot rain in summer and occasionally snowfall in winter. The annual rainfall is 1,910 millimeters (6.3 feet) and the average annual temperature is 20.7 degrees Celsius (69.3 degrees Fahrenheit). The rainy season and hot season are basically of the same time, favorable to plant growth and agricultural production.

Tourist Resources
Shaoguan has peculiar landscapes and rich tourist resources. It has 11 scenic spots, conservation areas, forest parks, key temples and cultural relics at national level and 19 scenic spots, temples and cultural relics at provincial level, such as Fengcailou Mansion, Mausoleum of Zhang Jiuling, Mt. Furongshan and Maozifeng Peak. The most well known natural view is Danxia Mountain, one of the four famous mountains of Guangdong Province, distinctive for its steep stone walls, peaks and pillars. Besides, there is a modern communication network of railways, highways and waterways organically connected. Shaoguan has become a modern city with convenient transport facilities and it was rated as China's Excellent Tourist City in 2001.

- Mount Danxia -

Located in the northeast of Shaoguan city in Guangdong Province, Mount Danxia is called 'Red Stone Park of China', 45 kilometers (28 miles) away from downtown Shaoguan. Danxia means the 'red rays of the sun' in Chinese words. It is the peculiar landform characterized by red steep cliffs, flat valleys and sheer body. Geologist classifies the same sort of such formations into 'Danxia Landform'. Mount Danxia is the most beautiful and typical among the other 700 landforms which are to be found elsewhere in China.

The recognition of Mount Danxia can be traced back to 1,500 years ago, when our ancestors approached it and put their admiration into beautiful poems. The numberless sized red stone peaks, stone walls, stone bridges and the like are scattered randomly over the mountain.

What impress us most are the peaks. The top is flat, one or more sides are almost upright cliffs, while the opposite side is the gently sloping hill. More often the gentle places are covered by lush vegetation, and the place that the red stones expose are usually the craggy cliffs. The unique body endows the peaks with the beauty of majesty as well as the charm of softness. Standing in front of the cliffs, the stone wall of hundreds of meters high is like the magnificent pillar that holds up the sky. Overlooking the mountain from afar, the line of the summit and mountain slopes brings you a feeling of softness and intimacy.

The peculiar red stone in Mount Danxia came into being 100 million years ago. It was an inland basin here at that time in which the surrounding rocks broke and accumulated. It was pretty hot and dry then, thus the rock was oxidized and turned rusty. Undergoing a period of 30,000,000 years, the deposits in the basin gradually transformed into red sandstone and conglomerate. Later, as a result of the crustal movement, the land rose and turned into the mountainous area. The long-time erosion made it present Danxia Landform constituted by red sandstone.

Mount Danxia is not only bright in color, but peculiar in outlook. Yangyuan Stone, Yinyuan Stone and Longlin Stone are the most distinctive among the others. Yangyuan Stone is a colossal stone rising sharply into the sky with the height of 28 meters (92 feet) and the diameter of 7 meters(7.7 yards). Yinyuan Stone is a crack that was eroded by the running water on the mountain, and it is considered as the 'Mother Stone' and 'Source of Life'. The two special stones face each other across the mountain, one is masculine and the other is feminine, one is firm and the other is tender. The perfect match of the two stones is far enough to stir up your astonishment and exclamation. The surface of Longlin Stone has some similarity to the scale of the dragon, connected to be the lines by thousands of honeycomb-like holes. The color of the epiphytic moss varies as the climate changes, resembling a huge dragon on the stone wall, undoubtedly a wonder in nature.

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Sanqingshan, China

Mount Sanqingshan National Park, a 22,950 ha property located in the west of the Huyaiyu mountain range in the northeast of Jiangxi Province (in the east of central China) has been inscribed for its exceptional scenic quality, marked by the concentration of fantastically shaped pillars and peaks: 48 granite peaks and 89 granite pillars, many of which resemble human or animal silhouettes. The natural beauty of the 1,817 metre high Mount Huaiyu is further enhanced by the juxtaposition of granite features with the vegetation and particular meteorological conditions which make for an ever-changing and arresting landscape with bright halos on clouds and white rainbows. The area is subject to a combination of subtropical monsoonal and maritime influences and forms an island of temperate forest above the surrounding subtropical landscape. It also features forests and numerous waterfalls, some of them 60 metres in height, lakes and springs.

Sanqingshan is a relatively small National Park near the city of Shangrao in the Jiangxi province of China. What it lacks in size it makes up for in shear natural beauty. It is officially the 7th World Heritage Site designated in China and has been noted for its exceptional scenic attraction. The key mystique of this remarkable place is the combination of extraordinary granite geology in the form of weird outcrops and pillars combined with seasonal climate variations than often cause mists, fogs and striking sunsets. Those that have visited this place describe a feeling of overwhelming peace and tranquility. This effect is enhanced by the profusion of natural waterfalls, pools and springs. If you allow yourself, it is truly possible to see Earth, Water, Wind and Fire joined in time.

In 2008, Sanqing Mountain was listed to be the world heritage together with Fujian Tulou buildings. It is a world-famous cultural and natural mountain in China. Sanqing Mountain is the cultivation center of Taoists of different generations. Sicne Ge Yun and Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty came here, Sanqing Mountain gradually turned to be the center of Taoism believers or masters. The first man who fabricated the temple or monastery on the mountain was Wang Jian who was the leading official of Xinzhou in Tang Dynasty. At that time, Wang Jian was ordered by Emperor to manage the local people; after his retreat, he built the reclusive residence in the mountain until his death. In Song dynasty, Wang Ling, the descendant of Wang Jian donated a lot to build more temples, and then Sanqing Mountain became the center and the blessed land of Taoism. During Ming Dynasty, Wang Gu, the offspring of Wang Lin reestablished the Sanqing Palace. In total, there are more than 300 buildings have been built such as the pavilions, temples, stone carvings, gates ,bridges and so on. The whole mountain is full of the Taoist buildings. It could be equated with other famous Taoist mountains such as Qingcheng Mountain, Wudang Mountain and Longhu Mountain and so on. Hence, Sanqing Mountain is honored to be the Open-air Taoist Museum. Sanqing Mountain has rich tourist resources. Generally it could be divided into five scenic zones and in 1988, it was approved the be the national-class scenic zone in the second batch of tourist attractions application list.
The natural landscape of Sanqing Mountain is also very attractive. Its peaks are very steep and grand. It is totally different from other mountains in southern China. The plant species are also rich here. The weather conditions are also changing all the time. In Sanqing Mountain, the strange peaks are too many, the original waterfalls and the deep valleys and the floating clouds and so on give the comers the natural and cozy feeling. In the mountain there are 2373 kinds of plants, among them 68 are the rare ones and there are also 1728 wild animals. Mr. Paul, the president of Amercian National Park Fund highly spoke of this mountain that commented it as one of the perfect mountains in the world and the treasure of human beings.

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