Voronya Cave, the closest point to the center of the Earth.

 Voronya Cave, the closest point to the center of the Earth.

One of Jules Verne's most desired dreams, published in his 1864 AD, novel, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was to enter the interior of the Earth. Although Veryovkina Cave does not take us to these depths, it does allow us to reach the closest known point to the center of the planet.

Veryovkina Cave, approximately 2212m deep, is the deepest cave in the world. It is located in the pass between the Krepost and Zont mountains in the Abkhazia region, an independent state officially declared part of Georgia. In 1968, the cave was discovered by some speleologists from the city of Krasnoyarsk, who managed to reach a depth of 115 meters.

In 1986, a new group from Moscow led by Oleg Parfenov reached the remarkable depth of 440m. Since 2015, a series of new raids by the Perovo-Speleo group have determined that the cave was deeper, repeatedly reaching new and better marks until reaching a record 2212m in March 2018 and recording an underground tunnel system of more than 6000m.