In this tour the visitors will see the unique underground monastery.

The Kholki monastery

Nobody knows when an unknown monk dug the first cave as his monastic cell. But some details of the undeground church, cells and tunnels allow to suppose the most exact time might be the period of the Mongol-Tatars invasion when a lot of churches and monasteries were desrtoyed and whole cities and towns burnt to aches.

The architecture, lay-out, technical features and the place of building the monastery are the same as in the Kiev-Pechersk Laure. The first writing records about this monastery and its abbot Enoch Helasy related to 1620 but this is not the date of the first monk settling there.

For a very long time from XVIIIth century to the beginning of XXth century the monastery was closed and the places of the entries into caves forgotten.

Inside the caves

And only not long before 1917 the entry to one cave was found. In the old description of the monastery was written it included twelve cells, an underground church and other rooms, but now from the single found entry it's possible to visit only the church and six cells. The restoring of the monastery began in 1996. On December,12, 1999 the new built Church of the Icon Of the Holy Lady of the Don was sanctified.