About the book: 2009 / The Sacred Riphean Mountains of the Hyperborean North, the Stone Belt, behind which the “unknown” expanses of the Yugra Lukomorie open. This is the Urals in ancient legends. Its history combines Viking sagas about the legendary Biarmia, chronicles about Russian explorers, and magical tales about the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. The Urals also appear on the pages of this book as the true center of secrets, the treasury of Russia. Its author, Yekaterinburg writer Lev Sonin, talks about the secrets of the ancient Perm miners and the Ural gems, about Ermak and the Stroganovs, about the pioneers of the harsh and beautiful mountain region…