The Chelyabinsk region is a rich region. The Southern Urals are famous not only for their lakes, forests and incredible views, but also for their mineral resources. The site's correspondent found places on the map of the region with unusual landscapes where precious stones can still be found.

1. Valley of Fairy Tales on Taganay

Tourists gave this beautiful name to this place for the abundance of large boulders with a bizarre shape. The fact is that the Valley of Fairy Tales is located in a zone of ancient tectonic shifts. Quartz grains can be found here. Over the course of several geological epochs, they experienced friction against each other and acquired a smooth, rounded shape.

2. Zhukovskaya mine of pink topaz

This mine is a deposit of rare pink topaz and a natural monument. Located on the banks of the Kamenka River. Its size is small: 20×50 meters and a depth of up to 3 meters. Previously, gold was mined here, but the Zhukovskaya mine became famous thanks to the finds of pink topaz and the rare euclase gemstone. Today, this is the only place on Earth where pink topaz can be found.

3. “Pomegranate Crown” by Taganay

The mine is located near the Zlatoust-Magnitka road. More than 40 types of minerals have already been found here: from reddish garnets to blue calcite. It is said that the garnet minerals are so beautiful that this is how the mine got its name. Also on the territory of the mine grow plants listed in the Red Book, including the Dremlik orchid.

4. Karandashnye pits tract

Graphite was mined in the Karandashny pits in the 19th century. The tract is located on the shore of Lake Bolshoi Elanchik. It was opened in 1826. There was so much graphite in the pits that in 1842 Pavel Anosov, the discoverer of the tract, came up with the idea of ​​​​making pencils from it and launched a pencil factory in Zlatoust.

5. Marshalite quarry

The location of marshalite deposits is located in the Sosnovsky district, 45 kilometers from Chelyabinsk. It is an extended but shallow pit, the walls of which are bright white. This place looks very beautiful thanks to the trees growing on the edge of the cliff. In autumn it attracts a large number of photographers, and in summer the pit is a quarter filled with water.

The kingdom of gems is amazing, attractive and diverse. In it you can find stones of all colors of the rainbow, large and small, transparent and not. Since ancient times, people have appreciated the rarity and beauty of many natural minerals and endowed them with mystical powers. Since then, they have been trying to surround themselves with them, using nuggets to make jewelry, accessories, household items and interior decoration. By what criteria are stones divided? What minerals are mined from the depths of Russia's treasury - the Ural Mountains?

What are gems, what types are they?

Gems are considered to be transparent and opaque minerals or rocks. They are divided into three categories: precious, semi-precious and ornamental. Most occurred as a result of volcanic activity and the formation of mountain folding. They absorbed the power of the four earthly elements and waited for thousands of years for the hour when they would fall into the hands of people.

Diamond

The name "gems" does not refer to scientific terms. It has been used in the Urals since the 18th century and received practical application in the 20th century thanks to the works of the mineralogist A.E. Fersman. According to the classification developed by the professor, gems are transparent stones from the category of precious and ornamental. He classified all opaque minerals and rocks as “colored stones.”

Any classification of nuggets by color, transparency, cost, or application is conditional. Depending on the quality, the same mineral can be classified as precious and ornamental stones.

Gems

Precious minerals include finely cut or polished minerals, which are distinguished by their rarity, durability and spectacular appearance. Their weight is measured in carats, and their value is determined by criteria such as purity (no impurities), uniqueness and demand.

Ruby

The most famous nuggets:

• diamond (cut diamond) (Mohs hardness - 10 out of 10);
• corundum ruby, blue sapphire (hardness - 9);
• chrysoberyl, alexandrite (hardness - 8);
• beryl aquamarine, emerald, sparrow (hardness - 7.5-8);
• spinel (hardness - 7.5-8).

Semiprecious stones

Semi-precious nuggets are those that are popular in jewelry, but are not rare or expensive. Their hardness is lower than precious ones, but in beauty they are in no way inferior, and sometimes even superior to their older “colleagues”. Jewelers value them for their transparency, hardness (6.5-7.5 points) and ease of cutting. The most popular semi-precious nuggets:

• amethyst – blue, bluish-pink, purple quartz (see photo);

Amethyst

• garnet - crystals from red to dark, almost black;
• citrine - lemon-yellow or honey-colored quartz;
• topaz - aluminum silicate, available in many shades - blue, pink, yellow, golden;
• chrysolite is a magnesium iron orthosilicate with a warm golden-green or cool emerald hue.

Ornamental specimens

Ornamental samples include poorly translucent and opaque samples of nuggets and mineral bodies with a colored pattern.

Jasper

The most revered by masters:

• Jasper. Dense particles of quartz combined with silica and clay. It can be variegated, uniform, striped. Color - brown, blue, olive, depends on impurities.
• Malachite. Basic copper carbonate with a rare emerald green hue and a pattern of thin graceful veins. A product of weathering of copper ores, their constant companion.
• Chrysoprase. A variety of quartz and chalcedony with nickel impurities. The color of the stone is described as apple, bluish-green. Occurs in the form of small grains.
• Charoite. Chain silicate and the rock of the same name are purple, lilac, light brown.
• Chalcedony. A fine-fibered variety of quartz. Color – from white to honey-yellow.
• Cornelian. A variety of chalcedony, has a red or orange tint. The structure is fibrous, consisting of thin layers of quartz.
• Nephritis. White, gray, green amphibole with high impact strength. Samples with a single color are valued higher than “cloudy” or striped ones.

Nephritis

Historical facts about gems of the Urals

The richest deposits of valuable minerals are located in the Urals. The first valuable minerals were mined here already in the 18th century by local artisans. At the risk of their lives, they descended into self-cut mines. Deep in the bowels of the earth, where not a single ray of sun reaches, they searched for precious veins. Even then, golden beryls, dark amethysts, topazes, smoky quartz, and precious Ural emerald stones were mined.

Later, the artisans were pushed aside by industrialists and jewelry makers. Factories for cutting nuggets and handicraft workshops for processing jasper, selenite, and malachite were founded. Since 1905, South Ural vesuvian and imported lapis lazuli and green jade were added.

Malachite

The peculiarities of nugget mining in the Urals are not only gigantic manifestations, but also the uniqueness of some nuggets. They were first discovered thanks to the “gem strip of the Urals” - an area that occupied 100 km and stretched north from the eastern part of the mountains. Many of the samples found here are the best, some are standard.

For example, large deposits of rhodonite have been discovered in the middle part of the mountain ranges; rubies and euclases are mined near the Kamenka River. The mines of the Chelyabinsk region are rich in jasper and zircon. Cherry tourmalines, alexandrite and malachite are unique.

Alexandrite

Among the residents of villages and hamlets in the region of the Murzin-Adui semi-precious belt there were many experts on nuggets. Some stone cutters carried out government orders for the Vatican and European royal courts. Most of all, the Ural nuggets were glorified by master Danila Zverev from the village of Koltashi, where the craft was developed. Using the Florentine mosaic method, he produced a map of France, which was presented by Nicholas II to the French Republic before the First World War.

Danila Zverev knew P.P. Bazhov. It is believed that he became the prototype of Danila the Master in the tales of the Soviet folklorist. The tale “The Distant Peeper” was dedicated to a talented folk craftsman.

Precious minerals mined in the Urals, with names and photos

The first colored stones in the Urals were found in the area of ​​Murzinskaya Sloboda, on the Neiva River. Rumors about the discoverers, the Tumashev brothers, prompted local peasants to start fishing for expensive stones. Since then, deposits of the following precious stones have been discovered in the area of ​​the semi-precious strip of the Urals:

• Alexandrite. It was found in 1834 in the Malyshevskoye deposit. It has a rich shade of green, red, purple. Capable of changing color when viewed from different angles.
• Topaz. It was valued by primitive people who lived near the Ural deposits. Local minerals are presented in a wide palette of shades: pink, wine, purple, yellow. Currently, their reserves are depleted.
• Mariinsky. A bright green transparent stone with a hardness of 8.5 according to the Mohs criterion was discovered in 2011 in the Mariinsky emerald deposit. It is similar to alexandrite and also changes color from different viewing angles.
• Emerald. The development of beryl deposits began in the 19th century, but the bowels of the earth still hide a lot of wealth. Nuggets from the Urals have an intense green color. Using special technologies, small defects are filled with resin and treated with cedar oil.
• Amethyst. Ural nuggets of this group are considered the best in the world. They do not lose their saturation and “play” under artificial light, which cannot be said about nuggets found in other places. Most amethysts are purple (see photo), but they can also be red.

Amethyst

• Diamond. Until 1956, the hardest minerals in the world were mined only in the Urals. Then the championship was given to Yakutia. The first diamond was found in the Perm region in 1829. Currently, the Urals account for 0.1% of all diamond production in the Russian Federation. However, obtaining them is much cheaper than in Yakutia, so the search for new deposits does not stop.

The list of other valuable nuggets that the Southern Urals admires includes ruby, blue sapphire, garnet, and rock crystal. They are valued for their rarity, purity, and the ability to be cut into jewelry.

Ornamental gems of the Urals

The ornamental stones found in the Urals have always been valued by craftsmen. One part of them was used for paint, the other was used for crafts and interior items.

Rhodonite

Among the stones that glorified the region:

• Malachite. There are amazing lines about him: “I will try to recreate the picture in poetry. I wonder if anyone will be able to successfully recognize the gem. The green flame froze inside him forever. The mineral is beautiful in its design. Tell me, what is the name of this stone, which has glorified the Urals in all regions?” The deposits of the Ural nugget itself are now almost exhausted. The Gumeshevsky mine (opened in 1702), the Mednorudyanskoye deposit and Mount Vysokaya (since 1722) have been depleted. Hopes are pinned on the Korovinsko-Reshetnikovskoye field (since 1908).
• Rhodonite (eagle). In the Urals, stones of the highest quality with spectacular lobster and cherry colors are mined. They may have patterns in the form of spots and veins. The most famous deposit is in the area of ​​the village of Sidelnikovo.
• Jasper is brown, green, gray-blue, spotted. Some rocks in the Urals are made from it. Local specimens are unique in beauty. Separately, Jasper is mined near Orsk.
• Rose quartz. Ural crystals are not of high quality. They are cloudy, with cracks, and are used for crafts. Finding high-purity jewelry quartz in the Ural Mountains is a great success.

Coil

In the Chelyabinsk region, opals, hyacinths, serpentine, aventurine, pyrite, and muscovite are found. Crystal and piezoquartz were found here.

Areas of application of gems

Nuggets are most often used to make jewelry. A small part is used by scientists in laser technology and microelectronics when designing high-precision devices. Ornamental stones are used to make accessories, finishing materials, designer items, and interior items.

Other uses of gems:

• alternative medicine (lithotherapy);
• dentistry;
• radio electronics;
• industry;
• jewelry production.

Aventurine

Features of caring for products made from semi-precious stones

Possible forms of investment include purchasing jewelry with gemstones and purchasing uncut gems. In order for the stone to retain its luxurious appearance and strength, proper handling and regular care are important:

• when playing sports, water procedures, or visiting a sauna, products with stones must be removed;
• Avoid contact with the nugget with cosmetics, perfumes, and household chemicals;
• store each piece of jewelry in an individual case with soft inner lining;
• If dirty, wash the stones with soapy water and dry naturally;
• Avoid prolonged exposure of stones to direct sunlight, contact with flames, and sudden temperature changes.

Rose quartz

How to buy a real Ural gem and not a fake?

It is easy to suspect the artificial origin of stones at a low price. However, sometimes sellers pass off synthetic stone as natural and sell it for a lot of money. You can visually identify a fake by the ideal appearance of the stone, the absence of chips, cracks, or inclusions. This stone from the Chelyabinsk region is not ideal in appearance; it remains cool in the palm for a long time. Precious nuggets shine and shimmer, some of them change shade under different lighting angles.

Having read about the Murzin mines, the first thing I thought was: “Oh, there are also amethysts there?!” Then I realized that I had confused Murzinki, mistaking that distant, precious one for my own, dear one, near Novouralsk, to which my father took us on a school trip. There is also a quarry there, where optical quartz was mined, and we, fifth-graders, found “crystal brushes” in the dumps, brought them home, cleaned them with acid, and gave them to our mother. At the last meeting of classmates, we remembered this trip, and I asked the graying boys what happened to the quarry. They said that it was overgrown with bushes, in the spring there was a swamp and in general it became somehow small or we had grown a lot.

Recently, my father came to stay with me for a couple of weeks and we decided to go to another, semi-precious Murzinka: take a ride in a good car and look at the Gray Urals.

The map is clickable. , where the mines, museum, waterfalls are located, as well as areas with a terrible road. By the way, the Murzinsky quarry near Novouralsk is also marked. In total the trip took about 12 hours.

I’ll tell you right away that there are two roads to Murzinka. The second is through Rezh, along which we returned. There is no particular point in describing the path. Before the turnoff at Nikolo-Pavlovsky, the track is excellent, I don’t know why they criticize it, apparently they’ve never driven to Perm. Then nothing, either, but after Petrokamensky 20 kilometers of hell begins. The entire roadbed was torn apart by timber trucks, and in one area there was even an excavator, unloading, and then hammering huge cobblestones into huge holes with a bucket. Express repair. Back at the insistence of the locals we went through the villages. So, they say, it’s 40 kilometers shorter. This is true, but the loss in speed is significant, and besides, the Rezhevsky tract is a sad rut with a huge number of artificial potholes and speed bumps. True, on the road, in Kaigorodskoye, you can still taxi. He is standing on the mountain.

The Mitsubishi Outlander that we picked up at the Independence auto center is a little smoother and softer than my Subaru Forester. It's cool that all-wheel drive is disabled. In the front on the highway it eats 8.7 l/100 km. On potholes and off-road we connected a 4x4, it didn’t shake - it rocked, it took out normally, it consumed 9.8 liters. We rode without any problems, thank you, Artem.

The second abandoned church stands in Murzinka itself. More precisely, it is not used for its intended purpose - a local history museum has been organized in it since Soviet times. The building was divided by a horizontal ceiling, a second floor was made, and the space was filled with stained glass windows with precious stones, mammoth bones and wooden crafts. The museum is very atmospheric: there are no unique exhibits there, but the guide is a woman who is very inspired by her work. One might even say, hungry for spectators and listeners, running wild without a constant flow of tourist groups. He speaks in detail, a lot, interestingly, and it is clear that he is in a great hurry to have time to tell everything while people are listening. It is difficult to hold the attention of a modern multimedia citizen. She can do it. Thanks, by the way, to Vladimir Diaghilev and him, who organized geological excursions from Yekaterinburg to Murzinka this summer.

I remember one story and one exhibit at the museum. The story is about a local miner, an employee of one of the Uralquartz Gems batches; in Soviet times, at the Mokrusha mine, he dug up a giant clump of topaz weighing 43.6 kg. I cleaned it with a brush, put it in my backpack, got on the train and went to hand it over to the headquarters. While I was traveling, the police cordoned off the station in Sverdlovsk, people were kicked out, the topaz was accepted on the spot and sent straight to Moscow, to Gokhran, and the miner was sent back home by train. They later gave him a bonus for extracting “the property of the republic.”

The exhibit that impressed me is called “the skittish”. Figuratively speaking, this is a geological cradle in which local amethysts, topazes, tourmalines, beryls and other semi-precious stones, which are essentially quartz derivatives, were born. I will try to explain how this happened. The Murzinsky deposit was formed during the era of the Hercynian folding, 250–300 million years ago. Granite magma rose from the depths and solidified closer to the surface like giant domes. Of course, it didn’t freeze right away. The surface cracked, the fractures were filled with rock rich in silica, and it was periodically “carbonated” by escaping water vapor. The surface's structure resembled milk foam on a cappuccino, into which caramel and chocolate syrup were poured here and there in a thin stream. These additions formed pegmatite veins that hardened from the periphery to the middle. After complete solidification, voids remained in the veins - “gnarly holes”. Inside there were all the conditions for the crystals to grow and take on the classic “sharpened pencil” shape. By the way, the bug in which Sergei Borshchev found megatopaz was the size of a horse, and half-meter beryl crystals still grew in it.

Geology is over for now. Let me make a reservation right away: this knowledge is not mine. This is a very brief retelling of the geological saga as told by the museum curator Yaroslav Volos. A man in camouflage and with a pickle in his left hand talked enthusiastically about the stones that he found in this land. He took us around the dumps, from adit to adit, and literally sang and was happy to sing about what seemed to worry him more than anything else. “A stone is like a child. You dug him up, he was born, which means he needs to be kissed. That’s why the miners lick every gem they find,” he said. And his accent was so strange - a mixture of the Ural “okanya” and “porridge in consonants” with Little Russian chant and soft “gekan”. In short, he is also a person who is in love with his work, the likes of whom are few today.

He and I wandered around the Talyan mine. This deposit was so named after, by decree of Catherine II, 30 workers of the Peterhof lapidary factory and two craftsmen - brothers Jean-Baptiste and Valerie Tortori from Florence - arrived here. The gems found here were later called “taglias” in honor of the Italians.

The latest development here is the Khalyavka mine. It was discovered in 1997 - a fallen birch tree revealed a large amethyst vein. Precious stones were literally entangled in her roots. For more than ten years people have been coming here to dig for gems freely, without a license. They say that everything worthwhile has already been found. We poked around in Khalyavka - the rock is soft, easily broken with a hammer, but apart from crumbly quartzite cobblestones and a couple of crystal brushes, we found nothing.

Looking at the conditions in which the miners worked, you immediately understand: people used to be more iron-clad. I can’t even imagine what would make me crawl underground every day and poke around in the clay. And so it has been for decades. But Ildar Ivanovich said that these were gambling, happy people: every day they woke up with the thought: “Today I will definitely be lucky,” and they went to try their luck. Many people succeeded. They say that gems were taken out of here in carts loaded to capacity. Through Yekaterinburg they went further west, to St. Petersburg, and then to Europe.

There were sovereign mines where serfs and contract soldiers worked. There were also “hitniks”, free miners, people outside the law. They sold the stones to buyers, right on the spot or transported them to Yekaterinburg. The legendary buyer here was a certain Lipin, the head of the Ural gem mafia. He lived somewhere on what is now Sverdlov Street. Khitnik was obliged to show his booty to Lipin’s people - if they did not buy, then he could offer smaller ones to buyers. They always asked: “U l And Was there a Pinsky?” (buying a stone from them is a mortal risk). It is unknown where the stones from the black market went; most likely, capital jewelers legalized them, made jewelry and sold them all over the world. In the village of Yuzhakovo, neighboring Murzinka, lived the buyer Samoshikha; she had stores in London and Paris. She sold gems there, which she took on the spot from hitniks: for a large one - a damask, for a smaller one - half a damask. After the revolution she left for Europe. It is clear that the miners did not make a lot of money, many drank heavily, they had enough to live on and that was fine.

Ildar Artemyev told these stories over a glass of cognac at the Yuzhakovsky Falls. Here, on the Ambarka River, a dam broke in the 1970s and water went around the main channel. It turned out beautifully - the height difference is about 60 meters, the stream is vigorously rushing along the boulders of the gorge between the classic Ural pancake rocks. We sat there, ate porridge, wet our feet - the water was not cold, it was clean. Upstream there is a pond, the Neiva flows a little to the right. You can swim, relax, pitch tents.

This place is a 15-minute drive from Talyan (I marked it on the map at the beginning of the material). By the way, there was an area where you could “drill” with an SUV. I turned on all-wheel drive on the Outlander, moved it, and didn’t even get dirty. We got to Yekaterinburg in 2.5 hours, the trip took about 12 hours in total. A classic weekend route.

Gem Stripe passed along the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. It unites hundreds of deposits of semi-precious stones. Here you can find rubies, sapphires, beryls, amethysts, topazes, tourmalines, rubellites, aquamarines, morions, overflow and many other valuable stones. Some stones from the semi-precious strip of the Urals are considered the best in the world.

The first mines appeared here more than three centuries ago. The very first official evidence of the discovery of gems dates back to 1668, when ore explorers the Tumashev brothers first found deposits of colored stones in the Urals near the Murzinskaya settlement. For their discovery, the Tumashevs received a huge sum for those times - 164 rubles. The semi-precious glory of these places began with the discovery of the Tumashevs.

The most famous settlement of the semi-precious strip of the Urals is village of Murzinka, located 120 kilometers northeast of Yekaterinburg. The name of the village comes from the fact that before the arrival of the Russians, the Tatar Murza lived here. In 1639, the Murzinsky fort was founded here by the boyar's son Andrei Buzheninov.

The village operates Mineralogical Museum named after. A.E. Fersman. The museum is named after the famous geologist Alexander Evgenievich Fersman for a reason. He visited Murzinka many times, traveled around the entire semi-precious strip, and wrote about these places in his numerous works. The house where Fersman stayed has survived to this day in Murzinka.

A. E. Fersman wrote: “It is difficult in the whole world to name another corner of the globe where a greater number of valuable gems would be concentrated than in the famous Murzinka - this reserved region for mineralogists in the Urals... In the Urals, all the best that gives it is indiscriminately attributed to it.” nature".

The Mineralogical Museum in Murzinka was opened by enthusiasts in 1958. In 1964, the building of the Sretenskaya Church, built in 1729 (this is one of the most ancient churches in the Sverdlovsk region), was transferred to the museum. The first director of the museum was Ivan Ivanovich Zverev, the grandson of the famous miner Danila Zverev. He donated his entire rich collection of minerals to the museum.

The museum occupies two floors. The church painting on the second floor has been restored.

The museum displays samples of semi-precious strip minerals, as well as exhibits telling about the history of the village of Murzinka and famous craftsmen, miners’ tools, etc.

One of the most unique finds in the vicinity of Murzinka is the Pobeda topaz weighing 43.6 kg, found by S.K. Borshchev at the Mokrush mine. It consists of individual intergrowths of blue topaz crystal. Currently stored in the State Storage of Russia. According to the guide, the geologist who found it took the druse to Sverdlovsk on his own, by train, and there he was met by security forces and sent the precious find to Moscow under strict guard.

Minerals found in the mines of the semi-precious strip are in many Ural and Russian museums. But the best examples are exhibited far from the Urals - in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to museum workers, due to the fact that the rural museum is not able to provide security, the most valuable and unique stones, previously exhibited in Murzinka, were transported to Nizhny Tagil, and only what was not very expensive was left here. Although, of course, there is something to admire in the Murzinka Museum. Hundreds of a wide variety of stones are exhibited here, most of which were donated to the museum by caring miners.

There are also interesting objects near the museum. To the left of the entrance to the museum is a mineralogical hill, and behind the museum building is a corner decorated in the ancient Slavic style.

Shown here in wood is the tale of Kolobok, which, according to the creators of this object, is based on Slavic ideas about the lunar cycle. Nearby are the god Perun and the goddess Zhiva carved from wood.

The main Ural writer D.N. visited Murzinka and its environs. Mamin-Sibiryak. His essay “Gems” is dedicated to these places (I recommend reading it!).

In the vicinity of Murzinka there are many gem mines. Including such famous ones as Mokrusha(her topazes are called the best in the world), Vatiha(with the best amethysts), Talyan.

To the nearest mine - Talyan- They are now organizing excursions. Moreover, tourists are given the opportunity to look for valuable stones themselves. Some are lucky enough to find crystal druses or amethysts here.

The Talyan amethyst mine is located on a small gentle hill to the northeast of the village.

It got its name from the abbreviation of the word “Italian” - “talian”, since it was discovered in 1768 by the Italian brothers Tortori.

Here you can see old pits up to several tens of meters deep, old dumps overgrown with trees, and small trenches. In one place, a side adit leading to the bottom of the pit has also been preserved.

As the guide says, underground the pits are connected to each other by a horizontal adit.

The youngest mine in this place is Freebie- was found by chance in 1997, when a fallen birch tree exposed an amethyst vein.

Khitniki (people who mine minerals without a license) continue to work in Talyan today. According to some estimates, 20-30 kilograms of amethysts are mined here every year.

In the past, entire villages along the gem strip were mined for precious stones. They lived well, but this hard work usually did not bring much wealth. Those who became rich were not those who searched and mined stones, but resellers. Sometimes precious stones were accidentally found even on their own plots while working in the garden.

Stretching for several kilometers along the Ambarka River village Yuzhakovo became famous for its miners - the Yuzhakov dynasty. According to legend, one of the first Yuzhakovs found amethysts for the necklace of the English princess Charlotte, given to her as a gift when she came of age. And Samoil Prokopievich Yuzhakov was the teacher of the famous Danila Zverev (the prototype of the teacher Danila the master - Prokopiech from P.P. Bazhov’s tale “The Stone Flower”).

There is an orphanage in the village of Yuzhakovo. Its employees, together with children, developed a project for the geological trail “Mines of the Murzinskaya Gem Strip.” And in the village school there is a small local history museum, where you can get acquainted with old household items.

Near the village of Yuzhakovo there is another interesting place - Yuzhakovskie waterfalls on the Ambarka River. The waterfall here was formed in the 1970s due to the failure of the dam of a pond created for watering fields.

As a result, the embankment was partially washed away. Water falls from mountain outcrops, forming a picturesque waterfall.

The water at the waterfall bubbles and foams, the sound of the water can be heard from afar. The place is very beautiful! Yuzhakovskie waterfalls are a favorite vacation spot not only for residents of the surrounding villages, but also for city residents.

The pond itself is nice. Locals say that there is a lot of fish in it.

Further, if you drive from Yuzhakovo towards Rezha, there will be Kornilov village. The famous one runs right through the village. Previously, a river flowed through the ravine, washing away precious stones. But over the past dry years, the river has completely dried up. Along the ravine there are many hidden places.

At one time in the 18th century, Kornilov Log was the main supplier of gems for the capital. And in 1858, a local serf girl accidentally found huge corundum. After cutting, it was presented to Emperor Alexander II. At various times, corundum (including sapphire and ruby), rock crystal, tourmaline, and garnet were found in the Kornilov Log.

Then the road passes through village of Kaygorodskoye. According to one version, the name of the settlement arose from the name of the Tatar Kay, according to another, from the pioneer settlers from Kaygorodok, in the European part of the country. The main attraction of the village is the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. The red brick temple standing on a hill is visible from afar.

Behind the temple there is another Talyan mine. The Italians mined amestists here, as well as in the vicinity of Murzinka.

Nowadays, the famous miner Ildar Artemyev, the author of numerous essays and the book “Kaigorodskaya True”, lives in the village of Kaigorodskoye. He is not only a geologist and jeweler, but also a wonderful storyteller, who knows every mine, every corner of the gem strip. On geological tours along the semi-precious strip organized by the Ural Kaleidoscope, he acts as a guide.

Nowadays, the unique semi-precious strip of the Urals attracts only tourists and hunters. Mining and geological exploration are practically not carried out here. You can no longer find Ural gems in stores; only foreign stones are sold. Although many Murzin gems are rightfully considered the best in the world. But as long as Russia has oil and gas, no one cares about geology and everything else. But freedom for tourists!

“Uralologist” thanks the project of the Regional Development Agency for organizing an exciting tour along the semi-precious strip of the Urals

The Urals are rightly called the treasury of Russia. This is a malachite box filled with a variety of precious stones.

Description

The extraction of beautiful Ural stones began a long time ago, from the time of the arrival of the first Russian settlers. At the end of the 16th century, caravans with goods began to travel from Europe to Asia and back, from Solikamsk to Tura and Tyumen. Then iron ore was discovered, followed by patterned ornamental stones - agate and jasper. Mention of them first appears in the 17th century.

At that time, mining was carried out in an artisanal way, excavations were carried out using a pick and shovel. The pits, pits and adits were almost not reinforced with anything, and the work posed a danger not only to health, but even to life. Often, beautiful gems were found simply on the surface of the earth, along the banks of rivers and streams, or plowed up while cultivating vegetable gardens. At first, prospector miners simply sold rough stones to resellers. But gradually craftsmen began to appear who learned how to cut and make original boxes, jewelry, and souvenirs.

Almost all minerals of interest to jewelers are found in the Ural deposits, and in large quantities. Some of them are found only in this area.

In the science of mineralogy there is such a term as “the semi-precious strip of the Urals.” This is the area where precious, semi-precious and ornamental stones occur, located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. Its length from north to south is approximately 100 kilometers. At the professional level, gems from the Urals began to be studied only at the end of the 19th century.

Deposits and production

The first and largest deposit at that time was the Murzinka settlement. It was here in 1668 that the first precious stones were found by the Tumashev brothers. From that moment on, the life of the settlement changed radically. Residents of nearby villages began to mine gems. Miners from other places began to come here, and the village grew.

Stone making received further development during the reign of Peter the Great. He issued a decree according to which anyone, anywhere could search for and extract minerals, thanks to which many factories appeared in the Urals. At the same time, construction of St. Petersburg began. To build and decorate buildings and palaces, more and more different types of stone were required, as well as craftsmen who knew how to process it. Mining specialists began to be sent to the Urals to organize mining on the required scale.

Over the more than 200-year history of development, hundreds of tons of beautiful gems and semi-precious stones - topazes, beryls, alexandrites and many others - were exported from the Murzinsky mines.

The Southern Urals are also home to beautiful translucent amethysts.

Another famous deposit is Malyshevskoye. Valuable emeralds of stunning beauty are mined here. Currently in use. In 1993, this mine produced a crystal weighing 1.2 kilograms, and in 2013 – weighing just over one kilogram.

The pride of the Urals, one might say, the calling card, has been malachite for many years. From the beginning of the 18th to the 19th centuries, this stone was mined on a huge scale. Malachite was used to make boxes, tabletops, vases, wall mosaics, and various small souvenirs. It was sold abroad. For example, in Versailles there are apartments decorated with polished plates of this stone.

In the folklore of the Ural miners and prospectors there were such images as the Copper Mountain and its Mistress, who was the owner of underground treasures and could help an honest worker in their search.

The largest malachite mine in terms of production volume was the Gumeshevsky mine.

Kyshtymsky, Tagilsky and Mednorudyansky were also famous. Now the explored deposits of malachite are almost completely depleted, only in some places small-sized samples can still be found. However, some scientists, geologists and mineralogists are confident that in the depths of the Urals there are many untouched reserves of this amazing stone. So the search continues, and perhaps there will be another era of malachite abundance.

Kinds

A wide variety of minerals are found in the Urals. The list can include the following natural precious and semi-precious stones.

• Alexandrite. It closes the top five most expensive and rare gems in the world. Its distinctive property is the color change from green in natural light to reddish in artificial light. It received its name in honor of the Russian Emperor Alexander II. Currently, the alexandrite deposit in the Urals is considered depleted; the stone is not mined.

• Amethyst. Its chemical composition is quartz. It has a purple color, sometimes with a reddish tint. Attractive not only when cut, but also in the form of rough druses. Ural amethysts are called Siberian amethysts abroad.

In terms of beauty, they are rated an order of magnitude higher than those from Ceylon and Brazil.

• Emerald. According to mineralogical terminology, it belongs to green beryl. It is a precious stone of the first group, and is also one of the five most expensive of them, taking an honorable third place. It was first discovered in 1830. Emeralds from the Ural deposits are characterized by the depth and richness of their green color.

• Topaz. The famous researcher, mineralogist, academician Alexander Evgenievich Fersman said that Russian topazes stand out in color and beauty among similar gems from other countries, and they can rightfully be called our pride. Stones from different mines vary in color. For example, colorless crystals are found in the Ilmenogorsk belt. The largest ones weighed more than 10 kilograms. Yellow and blue ones are found in Murzinsky and Aduysky. Crimson, pink and bluish - in the Southern Urals.

• Demantoid, or green garnet. Very rare and the most expensive of all known garnets. The first stone was found in 1868, in the Nizhny Tagil region. 6 years later, in 1874, demantoids began to be mined at the Sysert mine. The color of the stones may vary: green, pistachio, yellowish-honey, golden.

The refraction of light rays on demantoid stones after cutting is comparable to that of diamonds. They are highly valued all over the world.

• Diamond. One of the hardest minerals. Comes in different colors. The most common colors are white, transparent, black, and gray. There are specimens with green, brown, yellow, blue and pink tints. Diamonds from the Urals are among the most expensive.

• Mariinsky. The latest discovery of scientists. In 2011, a mineral similar in composition to alexandrite was discovered in the Ural Mountains. The stone is green; the color does not change when lighting changes.

• Aquamarine. Like emerald, it belongs to the beryl group. It was first discovered at the end of the 19th century, at the Adui deposit, north of Yekaterinburg. It has good transparency and sky blue color.

In the Middle Urals, rich deposits of tourmalines, rock crystal, smoky quartz, chrysolites, beryls of various colors and many other beautiful high-quality gems were discovered.

All these minerals are widely used in jewelry.

A separate group is represented by the so-called ornamental stones. They are used to make inexpensive jewelry - pendants, beads, rings, bracelets. As well as various figurines, vases, stands, cigarette cases. The most common are the following.

• Malachite. The most famous Ural stone. Soft, easy to process, it can be sawed, sanded, polished. The original delicate pattern on the cut allows it to be used in the production of mosaics and for decorating interiors.

• Orlets, or rhodonite. The Urals have the largest reserves of this variety. The color of the mineral varies from light pink to dark cherry, with a huge variety of shades. Most often, stands, vases, and candlesticks are made from it.

• Jasper. In the Urals, 8 types of this ornamental stone are mined. There is especially a lot of it in the southern part; there are entire rocks made of jasper. The color scheme is varied: green, gray, yellow, red shades in the most bizarre combinations and patterns. The mineral is durable, can be processed and polished, and produces products of excellent beauty.

• Serpentine. A stone with a soft structure. The color is dark green with black or brown spots.

It looks like snake skin, so it has another name - “serpentine”.

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