Caves and tunnels have always been an integral part of human life. For many thousands of years people have perfected their art in the ability to build underground shelters and tunnels. What prompted them to do this? People went down into the earth to find the hidden material and cultural values ​​of previous eras, to build the mine and make archaeological discoveries. Mankind has used the cave as a warehouse and a safe haven in case of natural and human made disasters, as well as down there for fun or curiosity. The population density on the surface of the Earth are increasing, and national borders are closed, so the tunnels were used by motorists and smugglers of all sorts and kinds. We offer you the pictures that were taken in mines, caves and tunnels around the world.

Kua Karuas Pavilion. December 5, 2010. Tourists visiting the pavilion Karuas Kua, located in Nakhon Cave Praya, in the National Park Sam Roi Yot three hundred kilometers from Bangkok, Thailand. The pavilion was built in 1890 in anticipation of visiting the cave of King Chulalongkorn, who is the grandfather of the present King Phumipona Adulyadej.

Gotthard base tunnel. October 5, 2010. A visitor to the section “Erstfed – Amsteg” Gotthard base tunnel. This is a tunnel through the Alps, the length of which is fifty seven kilometers. It is the longest railway tunnel in the world. Its opening is planned for late 2017.

Underground cycle race. February 6, 2011. Participants of the first underground during cycling competitions in the mine near Budapest, Hungary. Hundreds of cyclists took part in the race, during which they covered the distance in the 1,200 m. The mine, whose length is more than thirty miles, over the centuries quarried stone, which was later used by architects during the construction of the Hungarian capital.

Carlsbad Caverns. December 18, 2010. A visitor comes to the natural entrance to the national park “Carlsbad Caverns”, located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA. Each year, more than four hundred thousand people come to Carlsbad Caverns, to admire the magnificent stalagmites and stalactites, fragile “straws” of soda, which create a unique beauty of the translucent draperies, as well as ponds that adorn the main attraction of the national park – a wonderful “Great Hall”.

Carlsbad Caverns. Hundreds of cave formations decorate the “Great Hall” in the national park “Carlsbad Caverns” near Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA. Adventurers gladly attend excursions through narrow passages and slippery rocks, which have often come down on the ropes or on the stairs.

Metro Station «Puhung» in Pyongyang. April 2, 2011. Metro Station «Puhung» in Pyongyang, North Korea, at a depth of more than one hundred meters. The station «Puhung» is also considered an atomic bomb shelter.

The tunnel near Jerusalem. January 25, 2011. Archaeologist Annette Nagar Department of Archaeology at the Israel Antiquities Authority and demonstrates the drainage tunnel, which was built nearly two thousand years ago during the Second Temple of Jerusalem under the old town on the west side of the Kotel. Israeli archaeologists have finished work on the tunnel excavation, which begins in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa mosque, located in the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. Work continued in 2004.

National Park, an underground river of Puerto Princesa. February 13, 2011. Tourists exploring the National Park underground river of Puerto Princesa in Puerto Princesa, Palawan Province, Philippines. December 4, 1999, this National Park was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of their ecological importance of Puerto Princesa length of 8.2 km is the longest passable underground river in the world.

Kohat Tunnel. January 29, 2011 goda.Pakistanskie soldiers examine the scene after a double explosion in the tunnel Kohat, Peshawar connecting, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the town of Kohat. The explosions took place late at night in the tunnel and beyond.

Mine is a salt dome. July 2, 2010. Workers are testing the mine, which plans to build a permanent nuclear waste repository in salt dome near the village of Gorleben in northern Germany. Shaft depth is 840 meters and reaches a length of 6.5 km

Rock paintings. September 12, 2010. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are studying petroglyphs in caves of Lascaux in connection with the seventieth anniversary of its opening in Montignac in southwestern France.

White rabbits. November 21, 2010. Egyptian boys showing rabbits, which they gave the Palestinians (not pictured) in an underground tunnel that leads from Gaza to Egypt. The Egyptians and the Palestinians carry out reconstruction of the tunnel network, which in former times served as a vital exit Gaza for his single export channel.

The Cave. December 26, 2010. Cavers of the Lebanese Association of speleological research down the path to the cave, about to celebrate Christmas with their children and friends in the village Rweiss, located at an altitude of about two thousand feet above sea level in the Lebanese mountains north of Beirut.

The lights in the cave. Cavers of the Lebanese Association of speleological research lit fires during the celebration of Christmas with their children and friends in a cave in the village Rweiss, December 26, 2010.

Metro train driver. December 30, 2010 goda.Mashinist train that follows the recently opened subway line in Beijing. Once opened five new lines, the total length of Beijing’s subway has reached 336 kilometers. Construction of underground purports to stimulate business growth and promote social development in the Chinese capital.

An underground fire in a coal mine. The photo was taken January 6, 2011. People near the source of the underground fire in a coal mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. Live and work here community of illegal miners of coal. Gotthard base tunnel

May 23, 2011. Miner near the huge drill, which completed the laying of the section “Sedrun – Fayd” at the construction site Gotthard base tunnel. The tunnel consists of two parallel shafts, each 57 kilometers in length. Each of them will run single track.

Sinkhole. Community services workers peering into the hatch to inspect the place where education was sinkholes. Part of Friendship Boulevard, located in Chevy Chase, Md., received significant damage due to broken water pipe, which occurred December 3, 2010. During the incident no man postradalMetro

April 5, 2011. U.S. Senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley had a preference on foot climbing stairs rather than ride in a subway car from the office building, “Dirksen” in the Capitol. Pakistani miners

March 20, 2011. Pakistani miners emerge from the tunnel during a rescue operation in a coal mine in the Sorange province of Baluchistan. Explosions have caused the collapse of a coal mine, which killed at least seven miners, and another forty one person was under the rubble.

Believers in the cave. January 14, 2011. Believers march to the cave Minas de Nuestro Senor de Esquipulas, where according to legend, there was a so-called Black Christ at Esquipulas, Guatemala. “Black Christ” – the name of the crucified Jesus painting in the Basilica of Esquipulas, which is revered by millions of believers in Central America.

Steel valve. August 13, 2010. Steel valve that regulates one of the locks the canal system near Frankfurt, Germany, was photographed during an excursion into the ground. The system of canals in need of constant review and should be in a state of full readiness because of the risk of flooding.

Excavations. June 25, 2010. Archaeologist studying the skeleton, the age of about five thousand years, during excavations at the Atapuerca mountain range in Burgos, northern Spain. The skeleton belonged to a young woman, buried in the cave of El Mirador in the Bronze Age

Illegal earner. July 15, 2010. Illegal gold miners descend into the mine in search of the precious metal miners in the camp near El Callao in Bolivar State, Venezuela south. Local emergency service worker informed the agency Reuters, that during the collapse of the cave in an illegal gold mine in southern Venezuela lost their lives seven people.

Underground prison. March 4, 2011. The man lit a torch to explore the dungeon, which was used by representatives of troops as Muammar Qaddafi’s headquarters in Benghazi.

Construction of the subway. February 13, 2007. Builders in the tunnel of the new underground metro station “Brandenburger Gate” of the same name near the attractions in Berlin

Tunnel smugglers. November 25, 2010. Mexican soldier looks into the tunnel, which was discovered in Tijuana. Authorities discovered the tunnel smugglers, connecting the northern border city of Tijuana and the U.S.. Tunnel equipped with a ventilation system, electrical and railway track and is used to transport drugs.

The descent into the mine. October 6, 2010. Rescuer descends through the tunnel in a coal mine Pingyu No.4, located in the city Yudzhou Henan Province, China. The explosion at Chinese coal mine in central Henan province killed twenty miners working there.

Construction of the road tunnel. July 15, 2010. Workers erect road tunnel in the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. The tunnel is part of the unfinished highway length twenty-three kilometers, which connects the city of Taiyuan and Gujiao.

Metro in Beijing. A man down in the Beijing subway, early morning of November 26, 2007.