A Larger Zombie

Underground Devious Mazes.

I’ve often wondered where and how people created things in past. It’s hard to imagine our life without electricity, technologies, shops, spoons and toilet paper. What was the world like before?

I got an unexpected reply when I went to explore the underground devious mazes beside Moscow and Domodedovo airport. They’re a very confusing mine of 27 square kilometers in size, made centuries ago by extracting stone for building the city. People say the stone was also used for the Moscow Kremlin. So, probably, that’s where Kremlin lied before! -)) The rest of the stone was put beside the walls in a careful pattern.

The entrance into the mine is beside the river which flows into Moskva river (it goes all the way through the city center). That’s how it looks like nowadays. It’s one of a few entrances while the main one got closed years ago.

Curious young folk (who reminded me of hippies in a way) wonders around those places. They can lead visitors through the mazes easily even without help of a map!
It’s easy to guess where one of them broke his arm…

It was my first serious underground journey. I wouldn’t risk to go alone and without the map, so I was there with my friends. Together, we could trust the “locals”… who equipped the mine in an incredible way. I mean it: it seems there’s whatever stuff possible down there. It was brought there in a mysterious way or created right there. All the places have been named and “furnished”. There’s a kind of a kitchen, rooms for rest, there’s even a temple. I found it the most artistic because it’s like a small wall gallery that pictures… religious stories, of course.

Candles, just like small torches, make these rooms comfy inspite of wetness, low temperature and high humidity. It’s very easy to forget whether it’s a day or a night. Silence is so great that it’s easy to hear blood running through your veins and darkness is all around you.

…And faces of those who have long been lost, poke out of the walls.
Not really.
These are just some of the sculptures.

These signs and various marks help the wanderers remember the way. It’s important because the walls, turns, ups and downs look all the same. Especially in a dim light… not to mention darkness.
I hope that stealing these signs didn’t cause any drama on roads. The “Stop” sign was the first one we saw as soon as we climbed down and crawled through the low narrow corridor. Very smart.

To think of stopping is a useful thing to do because the mine isn’t safe and isn’t made for tourism. Actually, it was made just to extract the stone and that’s it. xP But people who really love it, come to explore it over and over again and even care about its rooms.
The mazes are of different height and width. Sometimes you need to crawl to get to a place, slide down or climb up. In case if your way gets closed by a stone (they say it’s rare) you can use another (longer) way to walk around. That’s one of those things that’s kind of “safe” about this place.

This just made me smile… who may cross the road except some rats? They have to make their own sign.

There’s a special notebook for the visitors to write down their names as soon as they come inside and to cross them out when they leave. It’s in case if someone gets lost. But getting lost there isn’t that bad – some happy wanderer will take you out in an hour or two.

And will take you to the exit leading right into the sun.

What I couldn’t help thinking of was my comparison of this mine with Minecraft. I remembered I was in an actual mine – something I tried hard to imagine while playing that game. Make sure you know what I’m talking about. -)