It was dis­cov­ered at the begin­ning of the last cen­tu­ry by the French sci­en­tist Edouard Alfred Mar­tel. For many epochs, ancient peo­ple lived under­ground. The pres­ence of Nean­derthals and Cro-Magnons is evi­denced by the bones of cave bears, oth­er ani­mals and well-pre­served rock paint­ings depict­ing a moun­tain goat, bison, wild boar and wild cat. The tourist route for excur­sions is 150–160 m long and is equipped with a stair­case with handrails, wood­en floor­ing and light­ing. Vis­i­tors walk along cor­ri­dors and halls up to 10 m high. On the way to the attrac­tion there are excel­lent view­ing plat­forms, from where pic­turesque views of the Mzym­ta val­ley, steep cliffs, Akhshtyrsky Canyon and the Cau­ca­sus Moun­tains open up.