museum under open sky Kizhi is located on an island in Lake Onega. Tourists from Petrozavodsk are transported there by high-speed hydrofoil boats. The journey takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. This pleasure is worth (there and back) - 1950 rubles. And I also thought that trains in New Zealand were expensive ...

Bearing in mind that there were always some problems with these ships, expressed in the chronic lack of tickets, I specifically timed the trip to the Estonian public holiday on August 20, which this year fell on Thursday, and the next day I took a day off with such a calculation, to be in Petrozavodsk on Friday, i.e. on a weekday.

Large River Station does not work in Petrozavodsk, tickets for motor ships are sold in a small booth at the pier. I came almost to the very opening, around 8 am, but the nearest time for which I was offered tickets was only at 2:15 pm. Tellingly, there was no such time in the Meteors' schedule. Well, then it will be time to walk around the city.

At the appointed time I was at the pier. At the same time, there were not very many people, many seats in the "Meteor" remained free, and this despite the fact that all day in the booth they were offering tickets for this particular time. I wonder where all the tickets for 11:30 and 12:15 went?

A few words about the Meteor itself. Its interior, apparently, has not changed since Soviet times. The foam chairs were so crushed that they had to sit on almost bare metal tubes. However, the toilet was quite decent :)

"Meteor" on the background of the embankment of Petrozavodsk

There are no open decks on the Meteors, but in the middle of the cabin there was a smoking area from which you could lean out with a camera and take pictures of some of the landscapes passing by. It was from here that I managed to photograph the Kizhi churchyard before we moored to the island.

Yes, and with the help of iGo on a smartphone, I managed to measure the average speed of the Meteor - somewhere around 57 km / h.

river jetty in Kizhi

So, for starters, let's read what the Russian North guidebook from the Polyglot publishing house, which I bought the day before in the House of the Military Book on Nevsky, writes about Kizhi:

Kizhi Island (length 7 km, width - from 1.5 to 0.5 km) is located in the south of the Zaonezhsky Peninsula among a picturesque cluster of islands called the Kizhi skerries. Since ancient times, the island was covered not by forests, but by arable land and hayfields. The Kizhi skerries and the south of Zaonezhye have been inhabited for centuries, this is evidenced by numerous archaeological sites dating back to the era of the middle and late stone. About 9-6.5 thousand years ago, tribes belonging to the eastern branch of the Caucasians lived here, and those who came here in the 10th century. Novgorodians met with the Sami population and the whole. The name of the island comes from the language of the Karelian people - the word kiza meant "play, fun, dance", so "Kizhi" can be translated as "island of games" or "fun".

By the time these lands were transferred to the Muscovite state in 1478, the population was already Russian, although the culture of Zaonezhie was distinguished by its unique originality, representing a fusion of Slavic and Finnish cultures, while locals clearly aware of themselves as descendants of the Novgorodians up to the beginning. 20th century In Zaonezhye, for centuries, ancient Russian legends and epics were preserved and passed down orally from generation to generation, and at the same time, wooden architecture and folk crafts were actively developed.

Kizhi. Card

Kizhi Island has traditionally been the center of the villages of Southern Zaonezhye and the Unitskaya Bay - the Spaso-Kizhi Pogost, a district that included about 180 villages, their description is first found in Andrei Pleshcheev's Scribe for 1582-1583, and 20 years later "115 villages of living and 88 abandoned ones. The Kizhi churchyard united the surrounding peasants until the 1930s. 20th century

During the Time of Troubles, the churchyard was ravaged by the Swedes and the Polish-Lithuanian detachments, therefore, after the signing of peace with Sweden, a fortress was cut down around the Kizhi churchyard to protect against attacks. The threat of foreign intervention weakened only with the onset of the Petrine era and victory in the Northern War.

In the beginning. 18th century the peasants of the Kizhi Pogost are attributed to the new ironworks, where they had to work off taxes, which ruined even strong farms. On the second floor. 18th century a wave of riots swept across Zaonezhie after the royal decree on raising taxes. The famous Kizhi uprising of 1769-1771. was shot by government troops. It is believed that the most beautiful Assumption Church in Kondopoga was a kind of monument to the victims of the massacre of the rebels.

During the Second World War, Zaonezhye was under Finnish occupation for about three years, but already in 1945, the Kizhi churchyard was declared a state reserve, in 1951 the first architectural monument was transported to the island - the house of the peasant Oshevnev. In 1990, the architectural ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

Now in the Kizhi Historical, Architectural and Ethnographic Museum-Reserve, covering an area of ​​about 10 thousand hectares, there are 87 monuments of traditional folk architecture of the 14th-20th centuries, including the ensemble of the Kizhi churchyard, 26 unique archaeological sites, more than ten historical settlements on the territory of the Kizhi volost. The museum is annually visited by about 170 thousand tourists from Russia and abroad.

Schematic representation of the location of the exhibits on about. Kizhi
(in fact, the distances between buildings are much greater)
kizhi.karelia.ru

The basis of the collection of architectural monuments of the museum-reserve, its semantic center is the temple ensemble of the Kizhi churchyard (XVIII-XIX centuries), consisting of the 22-domed Church of the Transfiguration, the nine-domed Intercession Church, a hipped bell tower and a chopped log fence.

Kizhi churchyard

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1714) is the most famous building in Kizhi. The names of the creators are unknown, and beautiful legend about the master Nestor, who, having finished his work, threw an ax into the lake with the words “there was no such church and there will not be”, is very widespread in the North in relation to many monuments of wooden architecture. Not very reliable is another popular belief that it was cut down without a single nail - an aspen plowshare (scales covering the domes) is attached to the domes with small nails.

The height of the church is 37 m; On the eight are two more, smaller ones. Chapters vary in size from tier to tier in order to avoid monotony and create a kind of rhythmic pattern. The system for protecting the building from decay is no less thought out, even decorative elements often serve to drain water and properly ventilate the air. Inside the temple, the vertical volume was covered with a sixteen-sided ceiling - the “sky”, lost during the war, a carved iconostasis (1770) has been preserved. It is composed of 104 icons, the oldest of which, typical of the northern school of icon painting, date back to the end of the 17th century.

Church of the Transfiguration

The Church of the Transfiguration, a perfect work of Zaonezhsky masters, is a kind of "swan song" of Russian wooden architecture, which at that time reached the pinnacle of its development. It was built as a "cold" summer temple, and next to it, half a century later, the "warm" Kletskaya Church of the Intercession of the Virgin (1764) was erected. The builders managed to create a work that was a harmonious part of the ensemble, and not just a separate building. In the Church of the Intercession, the original “subordination” to the dominant Transfiguration Church is visible - a powerful octagon on a quadrangle, which could carry a huge tent, is crowned with a modest nine-domed with small, elegant domes; the silhouette expanding upward emphasizes the pyramid of the main building of the ensemble directed upwards. However, some researchers believe that the Intercession Church was originally built as a hipped roof. At present, the four-tiered tablo iconostasis with 44 icons of the 17th-19th centuries has been restored. In the entrance hall there is an exhibition "History of the Kizhi Orthodox parish".

The belfry of the Kizhi Pogost (1863) was erected already at a time when Russian wooden architecture was in decline, and yet, despite the seeming rusticity and details alien to tradition, the building blended surprisingly harmoniously into the ensemble. The scheme is traditional - an octagon on a quadrangle. Heavy, two-thirds of a log house high, the quadrangle surprises connoisseurs of cult wooden buildings with its disproportion, but you can see that it is raised exactly to the height of the piers of the Transfiguration Church and the height of the quadrangle of the Intercession Church, which once again emphasizes the unity of the three buildings. Currently, a remote control for the bell ringer is installed on the bell tower of the Kizhi churchyard. There are 12 bells in the pendant on the console (9 ancient and 3 modern).

Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, bell tower and Church of the Intercession of the Virgin

By the middle of the XX century. only a stone ridge remained from the fence of the churchyard. The appearance of the original fence was restored by restorers according to engravings of the 18th century. in the book of N. Ozeretskovsky "Journey through the lakes of Ladoga and Onega". The reconstruction project was based on the preserved fence of the Vodlozersky-Ilyinsky churchyard, as well as the Pochezersky churchyard of the Arkhangelsk region. The modern fence is a high stone embankment, on which a wall of powerful logs, tied in rows, is laid. On top of the wall is a gable roof. On the western corner of the fence there is a small turret covered with a hipped roof - epancha. Gates with openwork door panels lead to the churchyard from the north and east. The central entrance in the western wall is limited on both sides by two log cabins under a common roof. The log fence was reconstructed according to the project of the architect A. Opolovnikov in 1959.

Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus

Another of the main attractions of the museum-reserve is the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus, brought from the Murom Monastery, from the eastern shore of Lake Onega. This small Cletian church gave rise to many legends among believers and hypotheses among scientists. The dating of the construction of the temple has been a subject of controversy for almost a century. The church was first mentioned in the testament of the Byzantine monk, the founder of the Murom monastery, Lazar of Murom, who died in 1391, but in the document of the Olonets spiritual consistory, it is rather contradictory: “... in the name of St. Lazar, the cemetery was built in 7086. from the Universe (1578), wooden, built by the founder of this monastery, St. Lazar. Analysis of architectural details does not clarify this issue. The iconostasis, consisting of 17 icons of the 16th-18th centuries, has been preserved in the church. It represents the oldest type of a two-tiered iconostasis, consisting of local and deesis rows, including the royal doors and the northern ponomarsky doors.

Peasant's house Oshevnev

Not far from the Kizhi churchyard is the architectural and ethnographic complex "Russian Zaonezhie". The exposition "village" began in 1951-1959. from the House of the Peasant N. Oshevnev (1876) brought from the Bolshoi Klimenets Island. The building is built in the form of a "purse" - a yard-shed adjoins the side wall of the housing and is covered with a gable asymmetrical roof. The outbuilding included a barnyard, a hayloft and two storerooms. The residential part faces the lake and is richly decorated, it includes 2 huts, a hall, a room, a light room in the attic, a pantry and a canopy. The hut was called a room with a stove, it is believed that the owners spent the winter in the hut on the first floor, and settled throughout the house in the summer. Now the interiors of the huts, the upper room, the shed, the stables have been restored in the house, ethnographic exhibitions are held in the hall. Along the second floor there is an open gallery, the windows of the side gables are decorated with balconies. Previously, the window frames were painted orange-yellow, and the roof overhangs were painted red, which greatly enlivened the appearance of the house.

In addition to the main house, the peasant estate also includes separate outbuildings. Fires have always been the main disaster for the peasants, and the barns taken away from the main house could save the most valuable thing - grain and flour, and not let them die of hunger. There are several outbuildings near Oshevnev’s house: a two-story barn from the village of Yuzhny Dvor (XVIII century), a barn from the village of Lipovitsy (early XX century) and a bathhouse from
the village of Mizhostrov (beginning of the 20th century).

House of the peasant Elizarov

The house of the peasant Elizarov (end of the 19th century) from the village of Potanevshchina is somewhat smaller. The interiors of both buildings are similar, but unlike Oshevnev's house, Elizarov's house was heated in black. This method of heating the premises was in many ways more convenient for peasant families - less firewood was consumed, the wood-boring beetle did not start, it was warmer in the hut. The smoke collected above the voronets, and the walls below this level and the ceilings were carefully washed and scraped every week. Elizarov's house is one-storey, it is made of heavy logs and modestly decorated, although the side balconies and the “ambulance” are also present here. In the utility room there is an exhibition that tells about the secrets of creating the Kizhanka boat. On the shore near the house there is a bathhouse (beginning of the 20th century) from the village of Ust-Yandoma.

A little further south of the Kizhi churchyard is the most modest Shchepin's House (1907). The type of building here is a "beam", when residential and utility rooms are stretched in a line under one roof. In the interior you can see items related to cooperage craft (making barrels, buckets, jugs and other wooden utensils).

Windmill

The exposition sector "Russian Zaonezhie" also includes a water mill (1875) from Berezovaya Selga, a windmill (1928-1929) from Nasonovshchina and the chapel of the Archangel Michael (early 18th century) from the village of Lelikozero.

Chapel of the Archangel Michael

The Klet Chapel of the Archangel Michael belongs to the common type of northern chapels. This is a three-part log cabin, consisting of a vestibule, a refectory and a chapel proper. The building is richly decorated with carved elements, it has preserved a two-tiered iconostasis with icons of local writing and a “sky” - a painted ceiling of 12 segments. From the western shore of Lake Onega, the House of Sergeev (1908-1910) and a forge (beginning of the 20th century) from the village of Suisar were brought to Kizhi.

House of the peasant Sergeyev

In the central part of the island there are two historical villages: Yamka, mentioned for the first time in 1563, on east coast and Vasilyevo, mentioned in 1582, on the western one. In these villages, buildings have been preserved, which are now included in the museum fund, many architectural monuments were brought from other places in Zaonezhie: peasant houses, stables, barns and barns. Near the village of Yamka, the chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands (XVII-XVIII centuries) from the village of Vigovo has been preserved, and the architectural dominant of Vasilyevo is the local chapel of the Assumption of the Mother of God (XVII-XVIII centuries), which is the oldest building on Kizhi Island.

House of the peasant Yakovlev

Three large peasant houses and several outbuildings make up the Russian Pudozhya exposition sector, where the architecture of the inhabitants of the eastern shore of Lake Onega is presented, and even further north you can see houses characteristic of Karelians and Vepsians. The Karelian estate here is represented by the house of the peasant Yakovlev (1980-1990s) from the village of Klescheyla, a bow cross and barns, and among the monuments of northern Karelians and Karelians-Lyudiki, the chapel of the Three Hierarchs from the village of Kavgora (second half of the 18th century) is interesting. . Two granaries and a bathhouse make up the outbuildings of the Vepsians.

Visitors are introduced to the monuments of the island by the routes offered by the museum's excursion service. Recently laid " ecological trail”, which gives an idea of ​​the nature of the island, an interactive family route to the Yakovlev house has been developed, where you can take part in traditional peasant household processes. During museum holidays, a folklore ensemble often performs.

On the territory of the museum there are several cafes and shopping kiosks, guest houses. You can also ask for accommodation in the villages to the locals.

Card. Kizhi from a bird's eye view

A few words about how the exhibits of the museum are located. Most of them are located in a small area, in that part of the island that is south of the pier. Those three hours that are allotted for the tour are enough for a leisurely inspection. But here the villages of Yamka, Vasilyevo and all other buildings that are from the pier to the north are not included in the usual excursion. How to get to them is not entirely clear. I noticed a bus on the road, but while I was thinking, he left. Perhaps it was just designed to move around the island. Walking here is quite tiring. But I still had almost an hour before the ship's departure, and I still went to that part of the island that is not included in the official route. He reached the windmill that stands there on a hillock, at the same time looked at the village of Yamka and at the chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which towered in the distance. But he didn’t go to the village of Vasilyevo, he was afraid to be late. I wonder if there are no bike rentals here?

Another one windmill. On the left is the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

Also, the question remained unclear whether it is possible to come here on one ship and leave on the next one. The fact is that when boarding, everyone is given badges around their necks, and when selling a ticket, they also ask for a phone number. All this is done, apparently, so that people do not get lost on the island, do not fall behind their ship and do not violate the well-established conveyor for serving tourists.

View of the nose of the "Meteor" and the Kizhi churchyard

Now let's sum up. Well, what can I say about Kizhi. I liked the museum as a whole, although my expectations were certainly higher. The cost of an entrance ticket of 130 rubles for citizens of the Russian Federation (and equated to them, gygy :)) is quite sane. But 625 rubles for foreigners, or almost 15 euros, is already too much. For that kind of money, even Western European museums already have to spin in front of customers. And here everything rests, one might say, on one exhibit - the 22-head of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Meanwhile, it is clearly not eternal, and the metal plates on its rickety walls speak of this. Well, it is difficult in our climate for wooden buildings to stand for 300 years! She collapses, what then? And then Kizhi will simply turn into a "wabaihumuuseum", of which there are plenty in the world.

I wonder if there are really no craftsmen who could build something like that now? Is it really that difficult with modern technology? Take something old as a basis, make a project on a computer, cut logs to size and assemble. Of course, at first it will be a "remake", but all the old times were once a remake! Yes, and most of the local exhibits were collected at the current location, in fact, anew. I think that in such a place, new buildings could fit into the overall ensemble. In a word, it is necessary to somehow develop the museum further, the world does not stand still!

18.01.2018

Kizhi Museum-Reserve on islands of the same name in Lake Onega - the most famous attraction of the Russian North, where they are collected (brought from different places) wooden architectural monuments. The pearl of the Kizhi churchyard is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior with 22 domes. What interesting facts and details can you tell about Kizhi?

1. Kizhi churchyard is often called the central architectural ensemble of the island. The word "pogost" in the 10th century denoted an administrative-territorial unit - part of the province, then moved to settlements with central functions, where there was a church and a cemetery, and from the 17th century it began to denote only a rural cemetery, although it was preserved in the names of some settlements .
2. The unique architecture of the island became known in the middle of the 19th century, when the study of the northern provinces of Russia began.
3. The beginning of the 20th century was a period of pilgrimage to Kizhi for creative people - architects and artists who aspired to learn and capture the local beauty.
4. The Kizhi churchyard acquired the status of a monument in 1920, and became a museum in 1966, after a long period of post-war restoration work and collection of exhibits on other islands.
5. Restoration and reconstruction of many objects was required due to dilapidation, disrepair and lost artistic elements - interior paintings.
6. During the war, the monuments on the island were not damaged, because they were in the zone of Finnish occupation, and Finland treated them very carefully, planning to include Kizhi in its territory and explore in detail.
7. One of the Finnish veterans of that war told a legend that they were still going to bomb the churchyard, but when they saw its beauty, the pilots dropped bombs into the lake. However, no written confirmation, for example, of orders to bomb the island, was found.
8. Two churches and an 18th century bell tower, the most famous buildings on the island, have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1990.
9. The walls and towers of the Transfiguration Cathedral (1714) were built without the use of nails, but when covering the domes with wooden “scales” (ploughshares), they were still used.
10. The plowshares of the temple are made of aspen - it is the wood of this breed that shimmers in the sun and changes color.
11. The main body of the temple was cut down from pine only with the help of axes.
12. In the 80s of the XX century, in order to preserve the monument, a metal frame was installed inside the Transfiguration Cathedral. At the same time, he damaged part of the structures, roughly crashing into logs, and the floor, the painted "sky" and the iconostasis of 102 icons were completely dismantled.
13. The last restoration began in 2010, and in 2018 it is planned to complete it and allow visitors to enter the temple.
14. To restore the structural elements, the temple was lifted on jacks by the method of lifting and divided into belts, which are removed and restored one by one so that the monument does not lose its integral appearance.
15. The Kizhi churchyard headed by the Transfiguration Cathedral is the hallmark of the island and the reserve. However, in total, the museum-reserve includes 10 sectors, some of which are located on other islands, on “ big land and even in Petrozavodsk.
16. In addition to churches and chapels, the museum's exposition includes residential buildings, outbuildings, workshops, bathhouses, mills, barns, rigs, a smithy and even a wooden building of a zemstvo hospital in Petrozavodsk.
17. Despite the fact that in colloquial speech there are two variants of stress in the name - Kizh and and K and zhi, linguists and philologists (however, as well as local residents) argue that the second option is correct with the stress on the first syllable, i.e. To and live.

At present, when the Kizhi churchyard finally fell into the hands of professional restorers. There is hope that in the near future it will be possible to see the monument in its historical form with restored interior decoration. It is planned to study it and improve the surrounding area, although even without this, the unique monument attracts tourists from all over the world.

Why are the monuments and sights of Russia unique and why do foreign tourists visit us with pleasure?

Because we have rich people in Russia cultural heritage, a lot of unique, a lot of things to see and "one yardstick cannot be measured." It is a sad fact that a huge number of monuments of history and Orthodoxy were destroyed and destroyed in the 20th century during wars and political troubles. And what we managed to save and collect bit by bit - causes doubly fair admiration and respect, and is rightfully ranked among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And let's be patient and indulgent to the fact that most of the historical sights are hidden by restoration scaffolding for many years.

One of these monuments is Museum-reserve "Kizhi". Kizhi Island is located in the center of many large and small islands-skerries of Lake Onega in the North of Russia. This is a lake, but its temperament is the most northern, marine. In a storm, waves can reach 5 meters, and in autumn, coastal fortifications can be blown apart. And the wind is not weak from 10 meters per second or more.

Kizhi Island is located 68 km from Petrozavodsk. From May to September, during the navigation period, tickets for "comets" and "meteors" are sold at the city's pier, which regularly make routes there. The journey takes from 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes. In winter, when Lake Onega is covered with a thick layer of ice, you can get there by boat "on air cushion". For lovers active rest and extreme during this period, ski trips are offered.

Pleasure, I must say, is not cheap. As, however, any trip to Russia. A round-trip boat ticket will cost 2,750 rubles + an entrance ticket to the museum. So for a family of three, you yourself can calculate how much everything will be, and you also have to pay for the tour, and save it for a memorable souvenir.

The Kizhi Museum-Reserve is a unique man-made architectural monument of wooden architecture and ethnography. They come here to see wooden structures made without a single nail! And we will not debunk these beliefs.

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord welcomes guests - the highest and most monumental building on the island.

The main attractions of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve- Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Church of the Intercession of the Virgin and the Bell Tower of the Kizhi Pogost.

And here you can also admire the real houses and ancient buildings of the northern Russian villages of the late 19th century, which were carefully collected and preserved in this beautiful place Russia, to see and get acquainted with everyday life, culture and traditional life, household items of our northern ancestors.

The main attractions of the Kizhi Museum, the center and calling card islands - are Orthodox shrines - the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin and the Bell Tower of the Kizhi churchyard.

A lot has been written about the history of the creation of this church, the information is the same and you can find it on other sites.

But I would like to talk about the uniqueness of the restoration work that has been underway since 1980 under the close attention of UNESCO. Initially, the question was, how could such a wooden building have been preserved since 1714, regularly watered with rain and blown northern winds and how to restore it now ?! They rushed all over the world to look for technologies for preserving and processing wood without the use of chemical compounds. And they are not, just as there are no specialists in this matter. I had to return to the experience of the ancestors, who created these structures and the great-grandchildren of local architects, hereditary carpenters and woodworkers work here. And the uniqueness is that the pines used in the construction of churches were cut down exclusively in winter, in a severe cold, exclusively with axes. Scientists believe that in this version natural preservation with resin took place, which allowed the tree to be so well preserved for many centuries in natural conditions. Withstood such trunks for 8 years and only then used in construction. There is also an opinion that in the period from the 14th to the 19th century there was an "Ice Age" and 1714 was the peak of cold weather, so the trunks have a very high density of rings. All this also makes the restoration process in modern conditions much more difficult.

You can visit and admire the interior decoration in the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin.

Church of the Holy Mother of God - one of the main buildings on the island

Here you can visit the service, listen to the ringing of bells and the chants of the monks. Local icons are interesting, most of which are painted by local residents.

The domes of churches amaze with their fine workmanship. Each dome consists of a small detail - a plowshare, naturally cut by hand from aspen. Therefore, the new domes after the restoration will shine with a golden color.

We recommend ordering a tour, because the story about the life and way of life of the northern inhabitants is quite interesting. The houses that were built by our ancestors and presented in the museum's exposition are large and usually they contained all possible amenities for life. Due to the cold climate, the ground floor also housed a barnyard, a barn for hay and firewood, and a place to store tools and equipment. The convenience of construction was that in the summer it was easy to repair and replace logs, clean the room.

There was also a living room on the first floor. The families were large, 20 people each, they all lived in the same room. Here they stoked the stove "in a black way", cooked food, slept, worked, raised children, wove fishing nets, led a normal life.

The stove in the living room was heated "in black", so the ceilings in the house had a dark color.

A story from the life of the northerners

Interestingly, wealthy families also had a second floor. But his functions were purely "representative". Here they received guests, kept luxury items and, sometimes, allowed the newlyweds to spend the night.

Second floor - "representative" room

Separately, perhaps, only the bath was located, for obvious reasons. Banya is a sacred place not only for northerners, but also for any Russian inhabitants. Here they bathed, gave birth and buried dead relatives in the fierce cold. Bath is a sacred place and many superstitions and rituals are associated with it. The bath was heated exclusively "in a black way".

In the museum-reserve "Kizhi" you will find many interesting objects that tell about the traditions and life of the northern peoples. Therefore, stock up on comfortable shoes and clothes. The weather in Karelia is very changeable, and within 3 hours you can get tired in the sun, get caught in the rain and freeze in the wind. But nothing can spoil the impression of the beauty of landscapes, the tranquility of the Russian north and the spirit of antiquity surrounding you. We have something to be proud of!

We wish you a pleasant journey!

Kizhi is beautiful island located in Lake Onega, in Karelia.

Open and inhabited since ancient times, Kizhi Island is a huge museum of architecture.

From time immemorial, Kizhi has been famous for its craft. Once upon a time, artists and poets lived here, passing their skills down through the generations. It was here that epics about Ilya Muromets and Vladimir the Red Sun were created ...

Having taken the first step on the island and inhaling the first breath of air, you begin to feel the spirit of bright antiquity and unlimited freedom.

Once there were 14 villages on the island, but only two remained - Yamka and Vasilyevo. One is located on the eastern shore of Lake Onega, the other is on its western shore.

The villages consist of several houses, but this does not prevent tourists from all over the country from coming here all year round to admire the amazing landscapes and unusually beautiful architectural monuments.

Excursions to Kizhi are held on Meteors from Petrozavodsk and within river cruises.

But there is little time on the island, much less than when visiting the island of Valaam.

Therefore, you must independently prioritize: What is interesting, what to see, what sights to visit and see.

Perhaps the most important attraction is Church of the Transfiguration(1714). The church was built without a single nail and has twenty-two gilded domes, the bird's-eye view of which separates the temple from other architectural monuments of the island. The temple is made in such a way that, together with the cuts from the four cardinal points, it forms a cross.

The altar is facing west, and on the east side there is a refectory with a huge porch, the view from which is more than beautiful. Villages, straits, settlements are open to the gaze.

The interior of the temple produces an indelible feeling of peace. Inside there is an altar made in four tiers and lined with 102 icons, and the whole space is filled with calm and pure light.

Another beautiful temple Church of the Intercession(1764). The temple is made of wood and has nine domes, unusual shape which gives the temple some lightness and airiness. Outside, the temple is decorated with wooden pillars.

Of course, the Church of the Intercession is inferior to the Church of the Transfiguration and is more like an addition to it.

The interior decoration is very modest.

The first iconostasis was lost in the course of history. The current iconostasis was made in 1950 during the restoration of the temple.

The third attraction in a row, immediately attracting attention - Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus.

Tradition says that this temple was built by the Monk Lazar himself, who died in 1391.

They also say that it was built thanks to the appearance to Lazarus of St. Basil the Monk, Bishop of Novgorod.

This temple later became the first building of the Murom Monastery.

The construction of the monastery is dedicated to the biblical event of the resurrection of Lazarus from Bethany, in order to strengthen people's faith in Jesus Christ.

There are rumors among the local population that the temple has a healing power from ailments. Saint Lazarus was declared a saint, and his temple became a place of pilgrimage for believers from all countries.

Once the Chapel was a landmark in the village of Lelikozero, but in 1961 it was moved to Kizhi Island.

The Chapel looks very picturesque.

It consists of three parts and is presented in the form of a rectangle stretched from west to east.

On the north side, a vestibule is attached to the chapel, and a window is turned to the west.

In some places, a double roof can be seen near the chapel, when one roof, as it were, emerges from the other, surprising the audience with the skill and virtuosity of the architect. Above the vestibule you can see a wonderful bell tower, which tops off with a magnificent tent.

The outside of the chapel is decorated with towels carved in diamonds and circles. The tes of the roof is red, ending in the form of a peak.

Inside the chapel is the "heaven".

In the center of it is the icon of Christ the Temperant, and in the perimeter - the forefathers. In the four corners are images of the evangelists.

Studying the island, the eye will certainly fall on hipped bell tower, built in 1863 on the site of the old bell tower.

In 1874, the bell tower was rebuilt, since it was not possible to complete the octagon.

The bell tower looks like a quadrangle on an octagon. Above the octagon rises a belfry and nine columns that hold the tent, ending with a cupola with a cross. Chetverik from north to south is cut by a passage with large arches.

The inner space of the bell tower is illuminated by four windows made in the form of arches and a large window in the wall of the octagon.

No matter how you describe it on paper, to understand it, you just need to see it.

Kizhi ... they are.

A copy of the fence was recreated in 1959, in the likeness of the surviving fortifications.

In addition to ancient temples, there are other equally interesting places on Kizhi Island.

These are all kinds of mills, old huts and barns.

They are collected from all over the region and taken to the museum island to be re-created.

Among these buildings, the most notable is Oshevnev's house.

It was brought from the village of Oshevnevo and looks like Karelian houses before the revolution. This is a large, two-story building, decorated with various architraves and carvings.

An example of an outbuilding - barn brought from the village of Kokkoyla.

Svetelka, delivered to the island from the village of Oshevnevo, will tell us about the life of local peasants.

Do you think the simple life is not interesting? Wrong... :)

And here is wooden windmill, brought from Volkostrov to the island of Kizhi. There are no more such mills in Karelia.

But Kizhi is famous not only for its monuments.

The nature of the island is so amazing that it is simply not possible to take your eyes off such splendor.

Already approaching the island, you can see the fabulous outlines of the island's relief, a strip of rare forest stretches along the coast, meadows can be seen in the distance, the glare of the sun plays on the waves of the lake.

With the organization of dams on the Svir and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, many villages went under water. in order to preserve the unique heritage of Karelia, the Kizhi Museum-Reserve was created.

The museum has about 50,000 various items that tell about the life of the indigenous peoples of the region.

On the island, tourists can see how in the old days they wove pearl earrings, embroidered women warriors, made toys and much more.

For half a century, Kizhi Island has been a unique museum, striving to preserve all historical and architectural monuments Karelia.

Kizhi is constantly evolving.

Not only new expositions are opening, but the emphasis is shifting towards interactive: handicraft workshops where you can hold a master class and make an interesting Karelian toy yourself.

Participate in performances (but if you're lucky - they are arranged "on the occasion", for some holidays.

Be that as it may, on Kizhi you need to cherish every minute. There are no hotels here and you can’t go with accommodation for either 2 or 3 days.

Of course, you can buy a simple tour to Karelia - live in a hotel on the mainland, and visit Kizhi daily.

But this does not make much sense: there are other interesting places in Karelia that are worth seeing: the same Marcial Waters, Ruskeala. Kivach waterfall and even a trip to Solovki (it's not as far from Kizhi as it seems).

The schedule of excursions must be built evenly so that the trip is rich and interesting.

Why Kizhi?

Why did Kizhi become the place where monuments from all over Karelia were brought?

Kizhi Pogost was a rich administrative center back in Tsarist Russia. Life here was in full swing even before Peter the Great.

Rich copper factories could afford to give money for the construction of the most unique churches. They sent ore to the arms factories of Olonets and Petrozavodsk.

Industrialization bled the Karelian villages, people moved to the cities.

However, the trail of History passed through the Kizhi Pogost so strongly that there was simply no other similar place on the route of river cruises.

Kizhi Island is unique in every way. It is an open-air museum - a monument to Russian wooden architecture in Karelia. He gave the name to the reserve, which in Vepsian means "moss growing at the bottom of a reservoir, lake."

In Zaonezhie it is called "Kizhi" with an emphasis on the first syllable

Therefore, when going on a trip, and before getting to the island, you should learn the correct pronunciation of the name of this amazing place.

Kizhi Island on the map includes the territory of the Kizhi Pogost, from which the formation of the museum began: back in 1945, it was declared a state reserve. Since 1966, the State Historical and Architectural Museum has been operating on its basis, conditionally divided into sectors:

• Russian Zaonezhie.
• Fossa.
• Vasilyevo.
• Veps.
• Pryazha Karelians.
• Pudozhsky.
• Petrozavodsk.
• Kizhi necklace.
• Kondopoga.
• Northern Karelians.

In the place where the island of Kizhi is located, their unwritten laws of harmony, peace and silence reign

Tourists in each of the sectors can see, in addition to the buildings that existed on the island, many residential buildings, chapels, utility and utility buildings, brought from various regions of Karelia and the Russian North, corresponding to the name of the sector.

An interesting fact is that since 1990, UNESCO has included in the List World Heritage Kizhi churchyard.

In 1993, the architectural collection of the museum was included in the list of especially valuable objects of the state.

The history of which began in the last century, is a unique reserve. Pilgrims are especially fond of the graceful, with openwork domes and crowns, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

It is about her that a beautiful legend is composed, which speaks of a master who managed to build a building without a single nail, only with the help of an ax

At the end of the work, the carpenter threw the tool into the lake so that no one could repeat his unique creation.

The legend is really beautiful, but on the island, in addition to the Church of the Transfiguration, you can see a huge number of other, no less beautiful, architectural monuments.

Kizhi Island, whose photos do not convey a real impression of the stunning architecture, has brought together many buildings that have been preserved in their original form. Them:

• Carefully understood.
• They were carefully transported.
• Installed in a new place in the open-air museum.

In different sectors of Kizhi, you can admire buildings with different purposes. There are houses here, and sheds, and baths, and beautiful churches, and chapels.

For example, in the Vasilyevo sector, you should pay attention to the Assumption Chapel, and in the Pryazhinsky Karelians, be sure to check out Yakovlev's house

Unique buildings located in picturesque places, their reflections in the water allow photographers to create pictures of rare beauty

You can, and bring hundreds of amazing photos with you.

Kizhi Island is equally beautiful in winter and summer. True, it is more difficult to get there from the moment of freezing, but the weather from spring to autumn provides tourists with the opportunity to enjoy the contemplation of rare and unique monuments of wooden architecture.

Be sure to visit Kizhi: a trip with Charm Travel guarantees you a lot of aesthetic pleasure. Take your kids with you and invite your friends - joint trips to the most interesting places Karelia is not forgotten.

Information about Kizhi: how to get there, what to see

How to get to Kizhi island? The map claims that the distance between St. Petersburg and the reserve is almost 356 km. But, since we are talking about visiting an island in the North of Russia, the path can be conditionally divided into a trip by land and water.

It takes almost 7 hours to get to Petrozavodsk from St. Petersburg

In a comfortable bus of the Sharm Travel company and in the company of experienced guides, you will not notice how you find yourself on the banks of the beautiful Onega. And you will cover the distance of 55 km to the island on the Meteor in a little over an hour: use this time for filming from the water. The unique views that open before the eyes of tourists are worthy of the most exquisite epithets, but you need to see such beauty with your own eyes.

Whatever season you choose for a trip to a unique open-air museum, with Charm Travel you will be guaranteed the success of the enterprise

Kizhi Island, Karelia and its sights are waiting for you:, Akhvenkos waterfalls, marble canyon. If you're lucky, you'll hear the unbelievably pure chimes of the temples in Kizhi.

Tourists are accompanied by experienced guides, travel takes place in comfortable buses, and the program is compiled taking into account the theme of the trip and the audience. Join, all information about the tour to Kizhi Island can be obtained on the Sharm Travel website. The reserve is waiting for guests, and everyone is ready to reveal its age-old secret and give a few hours of aesthetic pleasure.