The Manpupuner rock formations are a set of 7 gigantic stone pillars located on a flat plateau, west of the Ural mountains in the Troitsko-Pechorsky District of the Komi Republic. About 200 million years ago this area was a high mountain. Natural weathering by rain, snow, wind, cold and heat gradually destroyed the mountains, especially the weaker rock. The relatively hard sericite-quartzite schist, which the stone pillars are composed of, survived and now towers over the surrounding plain.

One of these pillars stand somewhat apart from the others, and with its narrow bottom and broad mid-section resemble a huge bottle, turned upside down. Six others are lined up at the edge of a cliff. People have seen all sorts of shapes in these pillars — the figure of a man, or the head of a horse or a sheep. Each of these monolith is between 30 to 42 meters high.

Photo credit