Quarry near Baikal, where marble deposits are older than the lake

We went to the village of Buguldeyka to see the marble quarry.

View from the quarry to the village.

Work there is not currently underway, since any industrial activity on the coast of Lake Baikal is prohibited. Free admission.

The Buguldeysk deposit of statuary marble was explored in 1968-1973 by the Irkutskgeologiya enterprise.

Photos in gloomy weather were taken in the evening, sunny and bright - the next morning.

These marble deposits are older than Baikal, they are about two billion years old.

The length - more than 10 km, are located shallow.

You can go down the stairs. If I were alone, maybe I would have gone down, but I hadn’t ventured with the child. This photo seems to have a shallow depth.

Tiles of this marble 3 cm wide shine through in the sun. It is valued for its consistency and purity of chemical composition, is particularly soft and is well polished, acquiring a mirror appearance.

The sizes of blocks not broken by cracks are significant. Separate blocks reach a volume of 16.75 cubic meters.

Human figure for size comparison.

From the photo it seems that a small piece broke off, in fact its size is about three meters.

The quarry is currently in reserve. Under special licenses, it is possible to develop small volumes with an element length of up to seven meters. They say that the main customers of marble are the owners of the mansions, installing columns in them.

After a career walk, we went to the village and to the shore of Lake Baikal.

At the entrance, the eye rests on a picturesque rock.

The village is large, inhabited on the one hand, and on the other less, many abandoned houses. Between this half-abandoned part and the shore there is a wasteland with bumps, on which there is a garbage can with a large number of all kinds of bottles. We still did not understand where there were so many bottles from, the tradition is to bring them there. Maybe for good they drink it? It can be seen that they have been lying for a long time, the labels are washed away by rains and snow.

A man on a catamaran loaded with belongings was clearly waiting for someone.

The water here is cold, it’s not for you on the Small Sea.

The bridge over the Buguldeyka river. A marble quarry is visible on the top of the mountain.

When we were just going to Buguldeyka, we paid attention to the old dilapidated houses.

On the way back we stopped for a better look.

This is an abandoned Buryat ulus, located in the valley of the Buguldeyka River, approximately in the middle between the villages of Alaguy and Buguldeyka, in the area of Kharatyrgan (I googled it). Several yurts from this ulus were taken to the Taltsy architectural and ethnographic museum.

Nomad Buryats lived in round felt yurts ideally suited for such a way of life. When they "settled", they began to build wooden huts, similar to the Russians, but in their own way - rounded, six- and eight-walled.

Walls were cut from larch logs. Four poles were dug inside the perimeter, connecting at the top with beams - it was a support for the roof, made of poles. In the center of the roof is a hole for smoke. The roof was made of bark, and sod was placed on top for warmth. They recalled the traditional Norwegian dwellings, there is also grass on the roof.

Separate room.

The valley itself is very picturesque, reminiscent of the Alpine.

You can get to Buguldeyki from Irkutsk on the road to the Small Sea: in Bayandai you need to turn right, in Kosoy Steppe again right. From the Slanting Steppe to Buguldeyki 40 km.

The Taltsy Museum of Architecture and Ethnography is 47 km along the Baikal Highway.