Turquoise Quarries of Razdolnoye

The turquoise quarries lie next to the village of Razdolnoye in the Birobidzhan urban okrug of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, about 10 kilometers from Birobidzhan, on the left bank of the Bira River. These are former sand and gravel pits that over time filled with groundwater: thanks to the clarity of the water and the composition of the bottom, it took on a bright turquoise hue, which is how the place got its popular name.

What to see

There are several quarries near the village, each with its own shoreline and shade of water. The best known is called Viktoriya — water-tourism competitions are held on its surface, and it is the one most often shown in photos of the area. The water in the quarries is clear and calm, with no current, so in summer people come here to swim, paddle on SUP boards, and have picnics on the green banks.

Gulls and other birds gather on small islands amid the water and let people approach fairly close without flying off. That is where the place's second, unofficial name comes from, the one mentioning birdsong: Razdolnoye itself belongs to the Ptichnya rural settlement, and birds are genuinely plentiful in its surroundings all year round.

History

The village of Razdolnoye is an old settlement on the left bank of the Bira: in 2018 it marked the 95th anniversary of its founding, meaning its history goes back to the early 1920s. Through all these decades it has remained a small rural settlement close to Birobidzhan, while the sand and gravel quarries themselves appeared later, in Soviet and post-Soviet times, as a result of construction-material extraction.

A convent dedicated to Saint Innokenty operates in the village — the first women's monastery founded in the Birobidzhan diocese. It remains an active spiritual center for residents of the surrounding villages.

Getting there

From Birobidzhan it is about 10 kilometers to Razdolnoye by car; the last stretch of the road to the quarries themselves can be unpaved, so it turns muddy in rain. It is also possible to get there by taxi or by scheduled transport to the village, followed by a short walk to the water.

Good to know

Several guesthouses near the quarries offer overnight stays, so a visit here can easily stretch beyond a single day. The surrounding forests yield plenty of mushrooms in season, so a trip to Razdolnoye is worth planning not only for swimming but also for mushroom hunting in late summer and autumn.