Saint Vera’s Island
The only large island in lake Turgoak – Vera’s Island practically touches the western shore of the lake Turgoyak. At the lowest water level in Turgoyak, the island practically becomes a peninsula.
Vera Island is relatively small, its area is only 6.5hectares and the maximum width is no more than 800m.
According to popular legend, Vera was a princess or the merchant's daughter. Not wishing to marry a man she was not in love with, she founded monastic hermitage on the island in the 19th century.
The old names of.Vera Island are- "Pinaev" or "Pinaevsky. According to the legend, after the defeat of Pugachev revolt, his comrade-in-arms named Pinaev tried to hide on this Island. Vera spent first months of her voluntary exile in the very habitation he left.
No one can remember the earlier names of the island.
Vera Island has always been an object of attention in Miass because of the famous sights on the island - the so-called ' anchoress’s cave'.
Archeological work is now being carried out on the island has been actively carried out on the island. About 50 archaeological monuments were discovered on the surface of the island, they occupy less than a half of the territory of the island. The oldest structures are of the Middle Paleolithic (60 thousand years ago), the newest from the 19th century. It turns out that the most of the monuments were cult origin.
The complex of monuments includes: 3 megalithic structures, 15 ancient sites, 13 sites of Old Believers’ hermitage. The Old Believers Cemetery Was discovered in the north-eastern slope of the island. On Snt.Vera Island there are some objects that were used by the Old Believers again, but they had been created by people of absolutely different culture and another era.
It is the opening of Snt.Vera island megaliths that has brought recognition of the ancient dolmens of the Urals.
All this allows to build one of the most interesting archaeological All this allows us to show you one of the most interesting outdoor archaelogical museums in the world.
Snt.Vera Island also is interesting from climatic point of view. There are three zones, which vary in climate and vegetation, and the nature of archaeological sites. Is is a kind of microcontinent: a warm and quiet south-western part, where in the transparent pine forest some settlement monuments are situated. Some cult sites are on the harsh rocky ridge and cool north-eastern part, in a deciduous grove in which the Old Believers’ Cemetery was found. They are easily visible directly visible on the snap shots from space
Snt.Vera island is a cultural heritage of regional importance.
