Location: |
700 m from the upper station of the cable car on Ai-Petri.
Use the cable car from Miskhor.
(N 44 27.344, E 34 03.415) |
Open: |
MAY to OCT daily 9-20. [2020] |
Fee: |
Children (0-4) not allowed. [2020] |
Classification: | Karst Cave ice cave |
Light: | Incandescent |
Dimension: | T=0-10 °C. |
Guided tours: | |
Photography: | |
Accessibility: | |
Bibliography: | |
Address: | Three Eyed Cave. |
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info. |
1987 | construction of the entrance staircase. |
1989 | cave opened to the public. |
Печера Триглазка (Three Eyed Cave) was named after its three entrance shafts. The fact that the cave is located at 700 m asl and that it has only entrance shafts makes it a cold trap. In winter the cold air flows into the cave while warm cave air leaves the shafts. In summer the air outside is warm but the heavy and cold air stays inside the cave. The floor of the cave is covered by a several meters thick layer of ice. The cave has during winter a temperature below 0 °C and in summer it rises almost to 10 °C. The ice melts normally until late summer.
The cave was known for a very long time, and ut has been used by the ancient hunters without entering. The killed prey was lowered through the central entrance on a rope. Inside the cave it was stored at the temperature of modern refrigerators. If the wanted to eat some meat they pulled it out, cut off what they needed, and lowered the rest again.
The ice was used between the 15th and 17th century for the Khan's palace of Bakhchisarai,. This use as a natural refrigerator was continued in the 19th centuries by Count M. S. Vorontsov. He used the ice from this cave to cool food, drinks and wines. There was a sort of ice mining going on, the ice was sawed, stacked into huge buckets, and transported down the steep and winding mountain roads to the estates of the count and other noble and rich people. At this time the cave was also called Vorontsovskaya Cave.
The cave is accessible by a stone staircase which was cut into the rock to allow access to the bottom of the pits. The cave was developed as a show cave in 1989.