Attractions and entertainment in the Nizhny Novgorod Region

Lake Svetloyar

Lake Svetloyar is one of the most mysterious lakes in the Nizhny Novgorod region and in Russia as a whole. The lake has an almost perfect oval shape of 470 by 350 meters, the water in it is always clean and transparent. It has a great depth - 33.4 meters. It is considered a holy place.

There are many legends associated with the lake. One of them, because of which the lake is called the little Russian Atlantis– is that the legendary city of Kitezh plunged into the waters of the lake. As this legend says, Kitezh-Grad was built by Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich after he built the city of Maly Kitezh (today Gorodets). Moreover, the city was built without any fortifications, despite the danger of the invasion of Batu troops. When the Tatar conquerors approached the walls of Kitezh-Grad, the inhabitants prayed to God for salvation, and then the city was completely submerged under water. But the city did not die. According to legend, he is still intact today, and from the depths of the lake you can sometimes hear the bell ringing, and in the clear waters of Svetloyar and fog you can see its image.

But even if you don't believe in beautiful legends, there are plenty of mysteries at the lake. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus about its origin, but today the predominant version of its origin is cosmic, i.e. it is believed that it was formed due to a meteorite that fell here about three thousand smoulders ago. There are also versions of the hypothesis of glacial, karst, ancient, volcanic, neotectonic and salt dome origin. It is also not clear why the water in the lake always remains clean and fresh, never overgrown with mud. Water from Svetloyar can be stored in a vessel for many years without losing purity, transparency and taste qualities.

Now the lake is a holy place, and a monument of nature of federal significance. The area around is nature-protected: you can not put up tents, chop down trees, light fires, litter, fish. It is possible to swim in the lake, although historically it was impossible to do this here, you can only bathe in its waters.