Minusinsk Basin, also known as the intermountain valley, located on the border of Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai.Around the basin towering mountain ranges.Its southern and south-western border is framed by mountain ranges of the Western Sayan.North and west side of the basin "dogging" Abakan Range, located in the east and East Sayan.Minusinsk Basin opened only from the north - there are stretches of the West Siberian Plain.Large river Abakan, Yenisei, Chulym and Tuba transform the mountain valley in a green and fertile land.Even the dunes on the eastern basin grows a beautiful pine forest.
Minusinsk Basin is famous for its gardens, which founded the exiled Decembrists Krasnokutsky.Another Decembrist Krivtsov by name in the letter called the Siberian region of Italy.So the name of the forest basin received is not in vain - it's a very diverse and rich nature surrounding Minusinsk.Krasnoyarsk region abounds with beautiful clear lakes surrounded by willows and poplars and rapid mountain rivers.Rich meadows alternate with salt marshes and feather grass steppes, and hid in the mountains alpine meadows, fragrant with hundreds of herbs and flowers.Part of the mountains surrounding the basin is covered with wild taiga, which is rich not only wood, but also a valuable view of marble.
addition to scenic spots, Minusinsk Basin is full of history.Even now, archaeologists have found in it traces of different eras, from the Paleolithic and ending with the Middle Ages.A variety of nations and cultures have left "traces" in the form of burial mounds and ancient ruins of cities and settlements, rock paintings, stone sculptures and figurines unknown creatures.Scientists were especially interested in the stone sculptures of animals.These are samples of ancient art attracted to Siberia first archaeologists.
Minusinsky area was full of statues.Some of the figures carved from granite or sandstone stelae look like flat, others are high reliefs of four-meter height.Of particular interest is a group of steles with animal masks, headdresses topped with characteristic.Of this group, it released the stele called "Shira Baba."She recalls an ancient totem in the center of which is carved face of a man-beast, framed by ancient ornaments.Under the guise depicted snarling muzzle of a wild beast, and above it can be seen realistically formed a human face.All together a very harmonious and mysterious composition, the mystery which has not yet been disclosed.Scientists have just begun to unravel the secrets of the ancient steles.Only In 1960, historians have found that almost all of the Yenisei steles were carved tribal Okunev culture, inherited the title of Okunevskaya Ulus, near which were excavated.
Minusinsk Basin keeps a history of not only the local people.He passed through the valley, and a horde of Genghis Khan, who left a trail of burned castles and ruined cities.Find here the remains of the ancient scholars and the ways in which caravans from Central Asia, Arabia, Tibet and China.For more than a century, historians and archaeologists solve puzzles and restore the ancient history of this corner of the planet.
