Chertovo Gorodishche

Chertovo Gorodishche (Devil's Settlement) is a rock outcrop on a hilltop in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Yekaterinburg, 4–6 kilometres southwest of the village of Iset and 20–25 kilometres northwest of the city centre, in Sverdlovsk Oblast. The summit rises 347 metres above sea level and is crowned by a granite ridge up to 34 metres tall, made up of ten separate rock towers and stretching 70 metres from southeast to northwest. The granite is of volcanic origin and formed here about 300 million years ago. It is one of the Middle Urals' best-known "unclean" places in local lore — a protected natural monument, a site of archaeological finds and the subject of many legends.

Legends and testimonies

The name is usually explained by local belief that the area around the hill was home to evil spirits: according to stories, a devil supposedly mocked travellers and led them off the path. Another version holds that the name did not come from the word "chyort" (devil) at all, but from the Mansi phrase "sart-tan" ("frontier trade"), which in Russian pronunciation gradually turned into "Chertyn" and then "Chertovo".

A local legend tells that a devil tried to build a house on the hilltop, but the stones kept rolling down the slope and the building never came together. In another tale, the rocks are the remains of a stone wall with which the legendary Chud people (chud belogolazaya) defended their lands against attackers who struck suddenly. A third version claims the hill itself is artificial, built on the spot where the mysterious Chud people once vanished underground.

Old-timers used to say that evil spirits "play" around the settlement and lead Orthodox travellers astray, that people near the hill see things, and that strange lights have been spotted over the summit at night. Researchers of paranormal phenomena classify the place as a low-intensity geopathogenic zone.

History

Archaeologists believe that from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD the site held a sanctuary of the ancient Ural peoples: fragments of Itkul culture pottery, pieces of sheet copper and burnt bone fragments, presumably left from sacrifices, have been found on top of the rock towers and in their crevices. Pottery of the Batyr, Molchanovo and Yudino types, dating to the 10th–13th centuries, belongs to a later period. Excavations at the foot of the rocks were carried out in different years by S. I. Sergeyev, V. Ya. Tolmachyov and Ye. M. Bers.

The first scientific description of the rocks was made by members of the Ural Society of Natural History Lovers after an 1861 expedition organised by Verkh-Isetsky priest V. Z. Zemlianitsyn; the report was only published in 1873. In 1909 the rocks were photographed by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky. In the 1980s the site was closed to visitors for five years to clear away rubbish and build a climbing area.

Getting there

The most popular way is a commuter train from Yekaterinburg's Sverdlovsky railway station to Iset station, about an hour's ride, followed by a roughly 6-kilometre walk along the dirt road from Iset to Severka. By car from Yekaterinburg, drive toward Sredneuralsk and the village of Iset, leave the car by the road and continue on foot — about an hour and a half through the forest. Bus No. 337 from Yekaterinburg's Severny bus station also runs to Iset. In winter a trail to the settlement starts from Gat station; in summer this route is blocked by a bog.

Good to know

The settlement is one of the most visited rock formations near Yekaterinburg and a popular training spot for rock climbers: the north wall has routes rated from 6a to 7c+. The rock surfaces are covered with handwritten inscriptions, the oldest dated 1902, numbering more than two thousand in total. Nearby are other rock outcrops — Malye Cherti, Lestnichny Kamen and the Grebeshok cliff, which has a stone basin on top believed to have once served as an ancient sacrificial altar.