Chervenitsa - geological phenomena over the village of Kunino

The natural phenomenon Chervenitsa is a molded  boulder, rising more than 150 m above the terrace of the river Iskar in village of Kunino, Vratsa district. It is located about 46 km east of Vratsa and approximately 120 km northeast of Sofia.

The site is located at the entrance of Karlukovo Gorge, one of the most beautiful karst regions in Bulgaria, at 300 m altitude. It is built of Maastricht limestone - limestone, precipitated at the end of the Upper Cretaceous, 70 million years ago. Limestone material is creamy with flint flakes. Chervenitsa is separated from the rocks of the gorge through deep fault line known as the Dolni provod. The maximum height of the actual scale is 72 m, but the sandstone deep cut from Iskar creates visual sense of much greater height. Length in the direction west-east is 174 m the and the eastern wall is hit by quarry of limestone, acted from 1922 to 1972.

The rock differs from the typical landscape of deep karst gorge Karlukovo through its unity. There are no tectonic cracks, which prevented the destruction and formation of typical karst gorge. Here limestones have a slight reddish tinge that highlights them from the surrounding rock, hence the name of the phenomenon.

At the foot of Chervenitsa is the cave Svinya dupka. After the great Anglo-American bombing of Vratsa on 24th of January 1944, when the railway station of Kunino was bombed too, this cave was organized as a bomb shelter.

In the 50s of the 20th century in the eastern end of Chervenitsata was developed a quarry for limestone, and just at the foot of the rock worked a furnace for production of lime.
In 1974 the rock formation was declared a natural landmark. According to the Act on Nature Protection the career was removed.

Despite being declared a natural landmark Chervenitsata is not popular among nature lovers, but only among the locals.

The area is rich in natural attractions: caves Samuilitza 1, Samuilitza 2 and Galabarnika in the land of Kunino; Skalnite kukli /Rock dolls/, Reseleshkite kukli, Kaleto, Kupenite and waterfall Skoka in the land of Reselets /11 km northeast/; cave Prohodna, srutisteto Strupanitsa, Provartenika and the famous karst caves in Karlukovo area /30 km southeast/; Chuklite and Kamarata in Breste region /15 km north/, Sedlarkata at Rakita /35 km northeast/. All sites are currently listed in the Register of geological phenomena of Bulgaria and fall within the Geopark Iskar Gorge.

Transport

Kunino village is located on the railway line Sofia - Varna. It is also easily accessible by car along highway Hemus /E83/ up to Yablanitsa village and thence along a secondary road through Roman.

Accommodation

The village does not offer lodgings. 17 km northeast is the town Cherven Bryag, who has a three-star hotel.

Sources: http://mgu.bg/, http://bg.wikipedia.org/
Photos: http://mgu.bg/, http://www.panoramio.com/