Estonia
Sand Origin
Piusa Open Pit
Random Sand Fact
Are you searching for a sandy cathedral-like cave? Here’s one!
Sand-covered flours, high vaults, and pillars make the Piusa Caves look like something out of a fairy tale—a mix of a beach, a temple, and a mine.
The Estonian caves are technically a mine excavated by hand to collect quartz sand for glassmaking. Miners carefully hollowed out the sandstone for sand for about 50 years before the mining stopped in the 1970s. Today, some lit underground galleries and corridors are open for visitors.
Other parts are home to the biggest bat colony in East Europe.
