Kizhi island in Karelia. ⛪ Kizhi, Kizhi, Kizhi... Tour of the museum-reserve Interesting facts about the wooden church of Kizhi

Museum under open air Kizhi is located on an island in Lake Onega. Tourists from Petrozavodsk are taken there by high-speed hydrofoil ships. The journey takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. This pleasure costs (round trip) - 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 specially timed the trip to coincide with the Estonian national holiday August 20, which this year fell on Thursday, and the next day I took a day off with the expectation that I would be in Petrozavodsk on Friday, i.e. on a weekday.

The large river station in Petrozavodsk does not work; tickets for ships are sold in a small booth at the pier. I arrived almost at the very opening, around 8 am, but the earliest time for which I was offered tickets was only at 14:15. Tellingly, there was no such time in the Meteors schedule. Well, that means there will be time to walk around the city.

At the appointed time I was on the pier. There weren’t very many people, many seats in the Meteor remained empty, and this despite the fact that the booth had been offering tickets for that exact time all day. I wonder where all the tickets for 11:30 and 12:15 went?

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

"Meteor" against the backdrop of the Petrozavodsk embankment

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

Yes, and using iGo on my smartphone, I was able to measure the average speed of the Meteor - about 57 km/h.

River pier in Kizhi

So, first of all, let’s read what the guidebook “Russian North” from the Polyglot publishing house, which I bought the day before at the House of Military Books 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 from time immemorial, as evidenced by numerous archaeological sites dating back to the Middle and Late Stone Age. 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 “game, fun, dance”, so “Kizhi” can be translated as “island of games” or “fun”.

By the time these lands passed to the Moscow state in 1478, the population was already Russian, although the culture of Zaonezhye was distinguished by its unique originality, representing a fusion of Slavic and Finnish cultures, while local residents clearly recognized themselves as descendants of the Novgorodians until the beginning. XX century In Zaonezhye, for centuries, ancient Russian tales and epics were preserved and passed down orally from generation to generation, and at the same time wooden architecture and folk crafts actively developed.

Kizhi. Postcard

Kizhi Island has traditionally been the center of the villages of Southern Zaonezhye and Unitskaya Bay - Spaso-Kizhi Pogost, a district that included about 180 villages, their description was first found in the Scribe Book of Andrei Pleshcheev for 1582-1583, and 20 years later “115 living villages” were noted here and 88 deserted.” The Kizhi churchyard united the surrounding peasants until the 30s. XX century

During the Time of Troubles, the churchyard was ravaged by the Swedes and Polish-Lithuanian troops, so after the signing of peace with Sweden, a fortress was built around the Kizhi churchyard to protect against attacks. The threat of foreign intervention weakened only with the advent of Peter the Great's era and the victory in the Northern War.

In the beginning. XVIII century the peasants of the Kizhi Pogost were assigned to the new ironworks, where they had to work to pay taxes, which ruined even strong farms. On the second floor. XVIII century A wave of riots swept across Zaonezhie after the tsar's decree on increasing taxes. The famous Kizhi uprising of 1769-1771. was shot by government forces. 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 Pogost was declared a state reserve, and in 1951 the first architectural monument was transported to the island - the house of the peasant Oshevnev. In 1990 architectural ensemble Kizhi Pogost is included in the List of World Monuments cultural heritage UNESCO.

Now in the Kizhi Historical-Architectural and Ethnographic Museum-Reserve, which occupies 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 Pogost, 26 unique archaeological sites, more than ten historical settlements of the Kizhi volost territory. The museum is visited annually by about 170 thousand tourists from Russia and abroad.

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

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

Kizhi Pogost

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1714) is the most famous building in Kizhi. The names of the creators are unknown, but 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 never will be,” is very widespread in the North in relation to many monuments of wooden architecture. Another popular belief that it was cut down without a single nail is also not very reliable - the aspen ploughshare (the scales covering the domes) is attached to the domes with the help of small nails.

The height of the church is 37 m, the basis of the structure is an octagon with four cuts, such structures are called “twenty-two walls”. On the figure of eight there are two more, smaller ones. The chapters vary in size from tier to tier in order to avoid monotony and create a unique rhythmic pattern. The system for protecting the building from rotting 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; the carved iconostasis (1770) was 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 Zaonezh 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 church, and next to it, half a century later, the “warm” cell church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary was erected (1764). 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 one can see the initial “subordination” to the dominant Church of the Transfiguration - a powerful octagon on a quadrangle, which could carry a huge tent, crowned with a modest nine-domed dome with small, graceful domes; the silhouette expanding upward emphasizes the upward-pointing pyramid of the main building of the ensemble. However, some researchers believe that the Church of the Intercession was originally built as a tent church. Currently, the four-tiered iconostasis with 44 icons of the 17th-19th centuries has been restored. In the entrance hall there is an exhibition “The History of the Kizhi Orthodox Parish”.

The bell tower of the Kizhi Pogost (1863) was erected already at a time when Russian wooden architecture was in decline, and yet, despite the apparent simplicity and details alien to tradition, the building surprisingly harmoniously blended into the ensemble. The scheme is traditional - an eight on a four. The heavy quadrangle, two-thirds the height of a log house, surprises connoisseurs of religious wooden buildings with its disproportion, but one can notice that it is raised exactly to the height of the abutments 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 in the bell tower of the Kizhi Pogost. There are 12 bells in the pendant on the remote control (9 ancient and 3 modern).

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

By the middle of the 20th century. All that remained of the churchyard fence was a stone ridge. The appearance of the original fence was restored by restorers using engravings from the 18th century. in the book by N. Ozeretskovsky “Journey to Lakes Ladoga and Onega.” The reconstruction project was based on the preserved fence of the Vodlozersky-Ilyinsky graveyard, as well as the Pochezersky graveyard Arkhangelsk region. The modern fence is a high stone embankment, on which is laid a wall of powerful logs, tied together in rows. On top of the wall is a gable plank 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 buildings under a common roof. The log fence was reconstructed according to the design 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, with eastern shore Lake Onega. This small cage church has given rise to many legends among believers and hypotheses among scientists. The dating of the construction of the temple has been a subject of debate for almost a century. The church was first mentioned in the will of the Byzantine monk, founder of the Murom monastery, Lazarus of Murom, who died in 1391, but the document of the Olonets spiritual consistory speaks about it rather contradictorily: “... in the name of St. Lazarus, a cemetery, built in 7086. from the Universe (1578), wooden, built by the founder of this monastery, the Monk Lazarus.” Analysis of architectural details does not clarify this issue. The church has preserved an iconostasis consisting of 17 icons from the 16th-18th centuries. It represents the oldest type of two-tier iconostasis, consisting of local and deesis rows, including the royal doors and northern sexton doors.

House of peasant Oshevnev

Not far from the Kizhi Pogost there is the architectural and ethnographic complex “Russians of Zaonezhia”. The exposition “village” began in 1951-1959. from the House of the Peasant N. Oshevnev brought from the Big Klimenets Island (1876). The building is built in the form of a “wallet” - the courtyard-barn is adjacent to the side wall of the dwelling 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, an upper room, a light room in the attic, a storage room and a canopy. An izba was a room with a stove; it is believed that the owners spent the winter in the hut on the first floor, and in the summer they settled throughout the house. Now the interiors of the huts, upper room, barn, and stables have been restored in the house, and ethnographic exhibitions are held in the hall. Along the second floor there is a walkway - an open gallery, the windows of the side gables are decorated with balconies. Previously, window frames were painted orange-yellow, and roof overhangs were painted red, which was very enlivening. appearance Houses.

In addition to the main house, the peasant estate is also separate outbuildings. Fires have always been the main disaster of peasants, and barns located away from the main house could save the most valuable things - grain and flour, and prevent them from dying of hunger. Near Oshevnev’s house there are several outbuildings: a two-story barn from the village of Yuzhny Dvor (XVIII century), a barn from the village of Lipovitsy (beginning of the XX century) and a bathhouse from
villages of Mizhostrov (early 20th century).

House of peasant Elizarov

The house of peasant Elizarov (late 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 using black heat. This method of heating a room was in many ways more convenient for peasant families - less firewood was consumed, wood-boring beetles were not infested, and it was warmer in the hut. The smoke collected above the “raven” shelves, and the walls below this level and the ceilings were thoroughly washed and scraped every week. Elizarov's house is one-story, it is made of powerful logs and is modestly decorated, although side balconies and a “walking lot” are present here too. In the utility room there is an exhibition telling about the secrets of creating the “kizhanka” boat. On the shore near the house there is a bathhouse (early 20th century) from the village of Ust-Yandoma.

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

Windmill

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

House of peasant Sergeev

In the central part of the island there are two historical villages: Yamka, mentioned for the first time in 1563, on the eastern shore and Vasilyevo, mentioned in 1582, on the western shore. In these villages, buildings have been preserved, which are now included in the museum collection; many architectural monuments were brought from other places in Zaonezhye: 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 the island of Kizhi.

House of peasant Yakovlev

Three large peasant houses and several outbuildings make up the Russian Pudozhye exhibition sector, where the architecture of the inhabitants of the eastern shore of Lake Onega is presented, and further north you can see houses typical of the Karelians and Vepsians. The Karelian estate here is represented by the house of the peasant Yakovlev (1980-1990s) from the village of Klesheyla, a worship cross and barns, and among the monuments of northern Karelians and Karelian people, the Chapel of the Three Saints from the village of Kavgora (second half of the 18th century) is interesting. . Two barns and a bathhouse make up the outbuildings of the Vepsians.

Visitors are introduced to the monuments of the island by routes offered by the museum’s excursion service. An “Ecological Trail” has recently been laid out, giving an idea of ​​the nature of the island, and an interactive family route to Yakovlev’s 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, and guest houses. You can also ask local residents to stay overnight in villages.

Postcard. Bird's eye view of Kizhi

A few words about how the museum exhibits are arranged. Most of them are located in a small area, in the part of the island south of the pier. The three hours allotted for the excursion are quite enough for a leisurely inspection. But the villages of Yamka, Vasilyevo and all other buildings that are from the pier to the north are not included in the regular excursion. How to get to them is not entirely clear. I saw a bus on the road, but while I was thinking, it drove away. Perhaps it was precisely intended for movement around the island. Walking here on foot is quite tiring. But I still had almost an hour left before the ship’s departure, and I still went to that part of the island that is not included in the official route. I reached the windmill that stands there on a hillock, and 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 I didn’t go to the village of Vasilyevo, I was afraid of being late. I wonder if there are any bike rentals here?

Another one windmill. On the left you can see the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands

The question also remained unclear: is it possible to come here on one ship and leave on the next. The fact is that upon 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 lag behind their ship and do not disrupt the well-functioning conveyor for serving tourists.

View of the bow of the Meteor and the Kizhi Pogost

Now let's summarize. Well, what can we say about Kizhi. Overall I liked the museum, although my expectations were certainly higher. The cost of an entrance ticket of 130 rubles for citizens of the Russian Federation (and those equated to them, gee :)) is quite reasonable. 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 show off in front of their clients. And here everything rests, one might say, on one exhibit - the 22-domed Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Meanwhile, it is clearly not eternal, and the metal plates on its rickety walls speak about this. Well, it’s difficult for wooden buildings to stand for 300 years in our climate! When it collapses, what then? And then Kizhi will simply turn into a “vabayhumuuseum”, of which the world is full.

I wonder if there really aren’t craftsmen now who could build something like that? Is it really that difficult with modern technology? Take something old as a basis, make a project on the computer, turn the logs to size and assemble them. Of course, at first it will be a “remake,” but all antiquity was once a remake! And most of the local exhibits were reassembled in their current location from scratch. I think in such a place new buildings could fit into the overall ensemble. In a word, we must somehow develop the museum further, the world does not stand still!

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

Discovered and inhabited since ancient times, Kizhi Island is huge museum architecture.

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

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

Once there were 14 villages on the island, but only two have survived - 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 stop tourists from all over the country from coming here all year round to admire the amazing landscapes and extraordinary beautiful monuments architecture

Excursions to Kizhi take place on Meteora from Petrozavodsk and as part of river cruises.

But you don’t have much time on the island, much less than when visiting the island of Valaam.

Therefore, you need to set your own priorities: What is interesting, what to see, what attractions 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, a bird's-eye view of which separates the temple from other architectural monuments of the island. The temple is designed in such a way that, together with the cuts on the four cardinal points, it forms a cross.

The altar faces 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 view.

The interior decoration of the temple creates an indelible feeling of peace. Inside there is an altar made in four tiers and lined with 102 icons, and the entire 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, the unusual shape of which gives the temple some lightness and airiness. The outside of the temple is decorated with wooden pillars.

Of course, the Church of the Intercession is inferior to the Church of the Transfiguration and is rather a complement 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 that immediately attracts attention is 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 of St. Basil the Reverend, Bishop of Novgorod, to Lazarus.

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, thereby strengthening people's faith in Jesus Christ.

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

The Chapel was once a landmark of the village of Lelikozero, but in 1961 it was moved to the island of Kizhi.

The Chapel looks very picturesque.

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

A vestibule is attached to the chapel on the north side, and a window faces west.

In some places near the chapel you can see a double roof, when one roof seems to emerge from the other, surprising viewers with the skill and virtuosity of the architect. Above the entryway one can see a wonderful bell tower, which ends at the top with a lush tent.

The outside of the chapel is decorated with towels carved with diamonds and circles. The roofing board is red and ends in the form of a peak.

Inside the chapel there is a “sky”.

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

While exploring the island, your gaze will certainly fall on Tent 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 support a tent ending with a dome with a cross. The quadrangle from north to south is cut through by a passage with large arches.

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

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

Kizhi... they are like that.

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

In addition to ancient temples, there are others on Kizhi island, no less interesting places.

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

They are collected from all over the region and brought to the island museum to be recreated.

Among similar buildings, what stands out is Oshevnev's house.

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

Example of an outbuilding - barn, brought from the village of Kokkoyla.

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

Do you think a simple life is not interesting? You're wrong... :)

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

But Kizhi is famous not only for its monuments.

The nature of the island is so stunning that it is simply impossible to take your eyes off such splendor.

Already approaching the island, you can see the fabulous outlines of the island’s relief; a strip stretches along the shores rare forest, meadows are visible 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. To preserve the unique heritage of Karelia, the Kizhi Museum-Reserve was created.

The museum has about 50 thousand various objects telling 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, women embroidered warriors, made toys and much more.

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

Kizhi is constantly evolving.

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

Take part in performances (but if you’re lucky, they are organized “on occasion”, for some holidays.

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

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

But this doesn’t 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 excursion schedule should be built evenly to make the trip rich and interesting.

Why Kizhi?

Why did Kizhi become the place where they began to bring monuments from all over Karelia?

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

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

Industrialization bled Karelian villages, people moved to 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.

Amazing and mysterious Kizhi island- this is a place that has become a real symbol of the skill and talent of the architects of the Russian North. Today there is a museum-reserve included in the List of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites.

The island is located in the northern part, 68 kilometers from, and is the most popular attraction in Karelia after. Tourists come here from all over Russia, from the nearest Scandinavian states, from the Baltics and countries Western Europe, from Asia and even from overseas.

Most interesting objects open-air museum - the fabulous Transfiguration and Intercession churches, a bell tower with a hipped dome, a windmill with eight wings, the chapel of Michael the Archangel and the Oshevnev house-museum, as well as ancient huts and outbuildings brought here from other places and organically complementing the overall historical picture .

Our article is about the island of Kizhi and its attractions.

• It is believed that the island of Kizhi got its name from the Karelian word “kizhat”, which means “playground”. Archaeological scientists are of the opinion that pagan rituals and ceremonies took place here in pre-Christian times.
• Most of us are accustomed to pronouncing the word “Kizhi” with the emphasis on the second syllable, but philologists and local residents argue that the spelling correct option is to pronounce the name of the island with the emphasis on the first syllable.
• In addition to the historical and architectural museum, there are three villages on Kizhi Island - Kizhi, Vasilyevo and Yamka. Each of them has only two or three courtyards, but this does not prevent them from attracting tourists every year - such landscapes and such a unique peasant flavor cannot be found anywhere else on the globe.
• The ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost received the status of a historical and architectural monument in the 20s of the last century, but it became an open-air museum only four centuries later - in 1966.
• During the years of occupation of Karelia by Finnish troops, the ensemble miraculously was not damaged - it was saved only by the fact that the Finns treated it with care in the hope of including the island in their country and making it an object of research for Finnish scientists. Of course, these plans were not destined to be realized, but they managed to preserve unique monuments of Russian wooden architecture.

• There is a legend that the occupiers still planned to destroy the island of Kizhi and all its attractions, however, seeing the incredible, almost unearthly beauty of the Intercession and Transfiguration churches, the pilots flying the bombers dropped bombs into the lake. However, no documentary evidence of this fact has yet been found.
• The Transfiguration Church on the island of Kizhi is made of pine logs, and its domes and barrels are covered with the so-called “ ploughshare» - small plates cut from aspen. The use of such materials gives rise to an amazing combination of gray-brown shades of log church walls with the silver color of domes covered with aspen plates, reflecting all the colors of the surrounding nature. Against the backdrop of the cold northern sky, this picture takes on even greater beauty and mystery.

• It is believed that the island's churches were built without a single nail. This statement is only partly true - nails were not really used in the construction of walls and towers, but they were still used when covering domes with aspen scales.
• In the middle of the 20th century, the first large-scale restoration of the ensemble was carried out - it lasted 10 years. In the 80s, a metal frame was installed in the Transfiguration Church to prevent the building from collapsing. Unfortunately, it damaged some of the logs, so it was necessary to dismantle the iconostasis and the unique “sky” ceiling.
• The latest restoration of the ensemble began in 2010 and continues to this day. In order not to damage the overall historical appearance buildings and extend their life, master restorers also use techniques that were used 300 years ago during the construction of the Church of the Transfiguration.

Sights of Kizhi Island

Website of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve: kizhi.karelia.ru Entrance fee: 600 rubles, pensioners, students - 300 rubles, children under 16 years old - free.

The main attractions of the island are, of course, the “summer” Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the “winter” Church of the Intercession, the tented bell tower and the surrounding fence. All together they form a single ensemble “Kizhi Pogost”, the like of which is unique in the whole world. It is located in the southern part of the island, and tourists mainly come for it when visiting the island for the first time. Word " churchyard" V in this case means administrative District. It is the objects of the Kizhi Pogost that are included in the list World Heritage UNESCO.

There are other buildings on the island that are very interesting for both adults and teenage children.

Church of the Transfiguration on Kizhi Island

Church of the Transfiguration under restoration

The 38-meter-tall Church of the Transfiguration is the main monument of Kizhi island, probably known to every schoolchild. It is her photo that is published in history textbooks in topics about Russian architecture. The entirely wooden structure, topped with 22 domes, giving it the appearance of a royal palace from a Russian fairy tale, dates back to 1714. It is believed that it was built on the site of a church that burned down at the end of the 16th century.

There are two main legends regarding the creation of this greatest architectural masterpiece. The first is that the designer and builder of the Transfiguration Church was none other than Emperor Peter the Great himself. He sailed along Lake Onega, saw a fallen forest on the shore and ordered the construction of a miracle, which has no equal and never will be.

The second legend says that the Church of the Transfiguration on the island of Kizhi was built by a talented craftsman named Nestor. Having finished the work, he threw the ax into the waters of Lake Onega - this was done so that no one would ever dare to build something as great again. Be that as it may, the behest of both Peter and Nestor has been fulfilled - probably, a master has not yet been born whose talent could surpass the skill of the creators of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Even the shape of the church is atypical for religious buildings of that time - it is round. The creator chose the figure of eight as the main figure. There are three of them in the temple, each of them consists of two tiers and is lower in height than the previous one. Parishioners also took an active part in the construction of the temple. The temple is a “summer” building and is not open in winter.

Unfortunately, in the 80s of the last century, during the installation of the metal frame, the iconostasis and the unique “heavenly” ceiling were damaged - they had to be dismantled and transferred for storage to various museums. Since 2010, the Transfiguration Church has been under reconstruction. It must be said that the very frame, due to which part of the interior decoration of the church was damaged, still played a positive role - only thanks to it the building has not yet collapsed under its own weight.

Attached to the Transfiguration Church is a refectory - an equally unique structure, the logs of which tend to shimmer in clear and sunny weather. In the past, local residents used it for public meetings, courts or various holidays.

Church of the Intercession

Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God, like the Church of the Transfiguration on the island of Kizhi - unique monument, testifying to the incredible skill and talent of the architects of the Russian North. Its architecture echoes the architecture of the Transfiguration Church and the tented bell tower - all together they form an integral composition and organically complement each other.

The Church of the Intercession has a more modest size and a strict appearance. It is topped with only nine domes, and the only decorative element of its facade is a patterned wooden pediment, the geometric shapes of which reach towards the heavens. This is the so-called “winter” type of church, intended for holding services in the harsh winter.

It is known that the Church of the Intercession burned and was rebuilt several times, and it acquired the appearance that we admire today only in 1764. The temple is equipped with a high porch and antechamber - this is a characteristic feature of churches being built at that time in the northern part of the Russian Empire. The interior decoration is represented by a high iconostasis, many elements of which were lost during the bloody events of the first half of the 20th century. In the 50s it was restored and today both parishioners and tourists can see it.

Tent bell tower

The tented bell tower is another building located between two churches, which is an integral part of the Kizhi churchyard ensemble and has retained the same style, despite the fact that it was built much later than the Intercession and Transfiguration churches. The melodious ringing of its bells still echoes throughout the area. It is known that 300 years ago there was a belfry in its place, which was demolished due to disrepair.

The bell tower, which has survived to this day, was built in 1863. It, like both churches, is clearly visible from Lake Onega.

Chapel of Michael the Archangel

The Chapel of the Archangel Michael is another part of the magnificent Kizhi ensemble. This is a small wooden building with a vestibule and a bell tower, built at the beginning of the 19th century. The building was brought to Kizhi Island from the village of Lelikozero, in the northern part of Onega.

This building, like many others on the island, has an appearance typical of the architectural masterpieces of the Russian North. It is crowned with a double roof and a high wooden dome with a cross. Its main distinguishing feature is the tented bell tower rising above the entrance hall. Also unique interior decoration- a high iconostasis, merging with the “heavenly” ceiling. It dates back to the 18th century.

The house of the wealthy peasant Nestor Oshevnev is another historical building dating back to the second half of the 19th century. This large house, intended for a large family, today is a museum of the life, way of life and customs of the wealthy peasants of Zaonezhie at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

The house has a typical shape for Zaonezhye - the residential part and outbuildings are under one roof. This allowed residents to carry out a lot of work without going outside, which was a big advantage in winter. The façade is decorated with patterned balconies and a gallery.

Every thing in the house is real, handed down to us from that distant and mysterious time. There is a stove, a baby cradle, dishes, a spindle, a large chest, and a samovar. All this creates a unique and inimitable atmosphere - when you come here, it’s as if you are moving through time and finding yourself in the past, which is so far behind.

Sergeev’s house has a square shape, so it seems that there are no outbuildings here, unlike Oshevnev’s house. But if you go around it from the other side, you can see that they have not gone anywhere, but have simply been moved back, but they are still under the same roof as the residential part. The facade of the house is richly decorated, the carved frames on the windows especially attract attention.

The interior decoration has not been reconstructed - there is a shabby wooden floor, and the same shabby furniture is placed in the corners and in the center. Today there are two exhibitions here: one is dedicated to Karelian applied art, the second - to the oral folk art of the inhabitants of Zaonezhye.

Baths

There are four baths on the island, which were also brought from other settlements Karelia. They are not difficult to find - they are located on the very shore of the lake near the water. These are simple wooden buildings, inside of which there are several soap houses and a stove.

The facade of the baths was not decorated in any way, because they were perceived simply as a way to maintain the purity of the body, and no sacred meaning was invested in them. Nevertheless, there had to be a bathhouse even in the most seedy village.

Eight-wing windmill

The Eight-Wing Mill is a relatively young structure, created in the 20s of the last century. It was brought to Kizhi Island from the village of Volkostrov.

There are two floors inside the mill - on the first there is a flour chest and a device for grinding flour, on the second there is a mill ladle, millstones and a shaft, at the end of which there are wings. What is surprising is that today the eight-wing windmill performs its original function - grinding grain and making flour.

The place where they are located attracts not only tourists, but also those who want to touch the centuries-old shrine. The wooden churches of Kizhi Island, built in 1714, keep ancient mysteries and secrets, conveying the atmosphere of their time. Kizhi Island, as well as the temples located on it, are considered a UNESCO heritage. And, although no one serves in them today, these architectural monuments continue to attract the attention of parishioners with their history. Here's what we learned today about this unique creation.

A little about the island and the temple

Admiring the beautiful wooden churches on the Internet, many wonder on which island the wooden churches of Kizhi are located and how to get there. The island, or more precisely, the churchyard on which the temple is located, is located on Lake Onega in Karelia. The closest city to it is Petrozavodsk, from where you can get to the territory of the museum-reserve, where it is located legendary temple Transfiguration of the Lord.

It was built on the site of another ancient church, which once burned down from a lightning strike. New Temple Construction of the Transfiguration of the Lord began on June 6, 1714, and the prototype for the creation of this architectural masterpiece was the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vologda region. According to the traditions of Russian architecture, the church was built from wood, and, according to some sources, not a single nail was used during the construction process. In fact, there are nails in the temple even now, but they are located only in the domes. There are none in the room itself.

This temple was never heated, and services were served in it only in summer time. However, another, winter church was built on the graveyard, in which services were held from October 1 to Easter. The first building burned down, and in 1769 another temple was built in its place - the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. It is much smaller in size than the Church of the Transfiguration, it has fewer baths, but its architecture is just as amazing. Its graceful domes, very beautiful and delicately executed, especially attract attention. In the temple itself, at the entrance, there is a vestibule and a refectory. It was there that in pre-revolutionary Russia various meetings were held, orders were read out and public events were organized, because until the twentieth century the church was an integral part of the state system.

Nearby are a bell tower and an ancient cemetery with wooden crosses. The bell tower is also made entirely of wood and is made in the same style as the temples. Today it is also considered a museum attraction and is classified as a protected cultural monument.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when churches were being demolished throughout Russia, the Kizhi churches escaped this fate. And not only because even then not everyone knew on which island the wooden churches of Kizhi were located, but also because of the interest in the temple as a special architectural monument. Therefore, during the burning of the churches, not a single temple was damaged, and in 1945 one of them became a museum, to which today tens of thousands of people from all over the world come to admire the unique creation of Russian architecture.

At the end of the reign Russian Empire mass production of New Year and Christmas cards with images of Kizhi temples began, and in 1911 the famous painting by Schlugleit “On far north", the central part of which was a graveyard with wooden churches, was purchased by Emperor Nicholas II himself.

On October 2, 1945, the territory of the temples was recognized as a Kizhi nature reserve, and in 1991 it became protected by UNESCO as a cultural monument.

There is a legend associated with the temples, according to which they were built without a single nail. The builder Nestor even threw an ax into the lake with the words: “This has never happened and will never happen again,” so that no one else could build such a thing. unique temple made of wood. In fact, there are nails, but they are hidden in the domes, but the building of the bell tower and temples itself does not contain them. A special construction technique was used in the construction, the secret of which no one can unravel to this day.

The complex design of the Church of the Transfiguration was carried out only with axes. A very sharp ax did not cut wood like a saw, preserving its natural properties, which contributed to the preservation of the material. To decorate the domes of the temple, special scales of ploughshares made from aspen were used. Thanks to a special processing technology, they sparkled in the sun, casting different colors, depending on the lighting conditions. This can be seen even today in various photographs. Therefore, it is surprising that they shimmer with silver during the onset of white nights, reflect the gold of dawn at sunset and shimmer with a mysterious blue glow, like the sky in the north wind.

It would take a long time to describe what the wooden churches of Kizhi are known for today. But it’s better to see with your own eyes this wonderful creation of human hands on the Internet or decide to travel to Karelia. Maybe the ancient temples of the island will help you get in touch with man-made beauty, inspiring you to develop your own skills and talents.

I continue the story about my recent trip to Karelia. The first part was devoted to the sights of Petrozavodsk, in this one I will move on to the story about Kizhi. Yes, what Russian has not heard of Kizhi! But not everyone was there.

The Kizhi Open Air Museum is located on an island in Lake Onega. Tourists from Petrozavodsk are taken there by high-speed hydrofoil ships. The journey takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. This pleasure costs (round trip) - 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 specially timed the trip to coincide with the Estonian national holiday on August 20, which this year fell on Thursday, and the next day I took a day off with this in mind, to be in Petrozavodsk on Friday, i.e. on a weekday.

The large river station in Petrozavodsk does not work; tickets for ships are sold in a small booth at the pier. I arrived almost at the very opening, around 8 am, but the earliest time for which I was offered tickets was only at 14:15. Tellingly, there was no such time in the Meteors schedule. Well, that means there will be time to walk around the city.

At the appointed time I was on the pier. There weren’t very many people, many seats in the Meteor remained empty, and this despite the fact that the booth had been offering tickets for that exact time all day. I wonder where all the tickets for 11:30 and 12:15 went?

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

"Meteor" against the backdrop of the Petrozavodsk embankment

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

Yes, and using iGo on my smartphone, I was able to measure the average speed of the Meteor - about 57 km/h.

River pier in Kizhi

So, first of all, let’s read what the guidebook “Russian North” from the Polyglot publishing house, which I bought the day before at the House of Military Books 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 from time immemorial, as evidenced by numerous archaeological sites dating back to the Middle and Late Stone Age. 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 “game, fun, dance”, so “Kizhi” can be translated as “island of games” or “fun”.

By the time these lands passed to the Moscow state in 1478, the population was already Russian, although the culture of Zaonezhye was distinguished by its unique originality, representing a fusion of Slavic and Finnish cultures, while the local residents clearly recognized themselves as descendants of the Novgorodians until the beginning. XX century In Zaonezhye, for centuries, ancient Russian tales and epics were preserved and passed down orally from generation to generation, and at the same time wooden architecture and folk crafts actively developed.

Kizhi. Postcard

Kizhi Island has traditionally been the center of the villages of Southern Zaonezhye and Unitskaya Bay - Spaso-Kizhi Pogost, a district that included about 180 villages, their description was first found in the Scribe Book of Andrei Pleshcheev for 1582-1583, and 20 years later “115 living villages” were noted here and 88 deserted.” The Kizhi churchyard united the surrounding peasants until the 30s. XX century

During the Time of Troubles, the churchyard was ravaged by the Swedes and Polish-Lithuanian troops, so after the signing of peace with Sweden, a fortress was built around the Kizhi churchyard to protect against attacks. The threat of foreign intervention weakened only with the advent of Peter the Great's era and the victory in the Northern War.

In the beginning. XVIII century the peasants of the Kizhi Pogost were assigned to the new ironworks, where they had to work to pay taxes, which ruined even strong farms. On the second floor. XVIII century A wave of riots swept across Zaonezhie after the tsar's decree on increasing taxes. The famous Kizhi uprising of 1769-1771. was shot by government forces. 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 Pogost was declared a state reserve, and 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 List of World Cultural Heritage Monuments.

Now in the Kizhi Historical-Architectural and Ethnographic Museum-Reserve, which occupies 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 Pogost, 26 unique archaeological monuments, more than ten historical settlements territory of Kizhi volost. The museum is visited annually by about 170 thousand tourists from Russia and abroad.

Schematic representation of the location of exhibits on the island. 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 Pogost (XVIII-XIX centuries), consisting of the 22-domed Transfiguration Church, the nine-domed Intercession Church, a hipped bell tower and a chopped log fence.

Kizhi Pogost

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1714) is the most famous building in Kizhi. The names of the creators are unknown, but the 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 never will be,” is very widespread in the North in relation to many monuments of wooden architecture. Another popular belief that it was cut down without a single nail is also not very reliable - the aspen ploughshare (the scales covering the domes) is attached to the domes with the help of small nails.

The height of the church is 37 m, the basis of the structure is an octagon with four cuts, such structures are called “twenty-two walls”. On the figure of eight there are two more, smaller ones. The chapters vary in size from tier to tier in order to avoid monotony and create a unique rhythmic pattern. The system for protecting the building from rotting 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; the carved iconostasis (1770) was 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 Zaonezh 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 church, and next to it, half a century later, the “warm” cell church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary was erected (1764). 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 one can see the initial “subordination” to the dominant Church of the Transfiguration - a powerful octagon on a quadrangle, which could carry a huge tent, crowned with a modest nine-domed dome with small, graceful domes; the silhouette expanding upward emphasizes the upward-pointing pyramid of the main building of the ensemble. However, some researchers believe that the Church of the Intercession was originally built as a tent church. Currently, the four-tiered iconostasis with 44 icons of the 17th-19th centuries has been restored. In the entrance hall there is an exhibition “The History of the Kizhi Orthodox Parish”.

The bell tower of the Kizhi Pogost (1863) was erected already at a time when Russian wooden architecture was in decline, and yet, despite the apparent simplicity and details alien to tradition, the building surprisingly harmoniously blended into the ensemble. The scheme is traditional - an eight on a four. The heavy quadrangle, two-thirds the height of a log house, surprises connoisseurs of religious wooden buildings with its disproportion, but one can notice that it is raised exactly to the height of the abutments 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 in the bell tower of the Kizhi Pogost. There are 12 bells in the pendant on the remote control (9 ancient and 3 modern).

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

By the middle of the 20th century. All that remained of the churchyard fence was a stone ridge. The appearance of the original fence was restored by restorers using engravings from the 18th century. in the book by N. Ozeretskovsky “Journey to Lakes Ladoga and Onega.” The reconstruction project was based on the preserved fence of the Vodlozersky-Ilyinsky churchyard, as well as the Pochezersky graveyard in the Arkhangelsk region. The modern fence is a high stone embankment, on which is laid a wall of powerful logs, tied together in rows. On top of the wall is a gable plank 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 buildings under a common roof. The log fence was reconstructed according to the design 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, on the eastern shore of Lake Onega. This small cage church has given rise to many legends among believers and hypotheses among scientists. The dating of the construction of the temple has been a subject of debate for almost a century. The church was first mentioned in the will of the Byzantine monk, founder of the Murom monastery, Lazarus of Murom, who died in 1391, but the document of the Olonets spiritual consistory speaks about it rather contradictorily: “... in the name of St. Lazarus, a cemetery, built in 7086. from the Universe (1578), wooden, built by the founder of this monastery, the Monk Lazarus.” Analysis of architectural details does not clarify this issue. The church has preserved an iconostasis consisting of 17 icons from the 16th-18th centuries. It represents the oldest type of two-tier iconostasis, consisting of local and deesis rows, including the royal doors and northern sexton doors.

House of peasant Oshevnev

Not far from the Kizhi Pogost there is the architectural and ethnographic complex “Russians of Zaonezhia”. The exposition “village” began in 1951-1959. from the House of the Peasant N. Oshevnev brought from the Big Klimenets Island (1876). The building is built in the form of a “wallet” - the courtyard-barn is adjacent to the side wall of the dwelling 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, an upper room, a light room in the attic, a storage room and a canopy. An izba was a room with a stove; it is believed that the owners spent the winter in the hut on the first floor, and in the summer they settled throughout the house. Now the interiors of the huts, upper room, barn, and stables have been restored in the house, and ethnographic exhibitions are held in the hall. Along the second floor there is a walkway - an open gallery, the windows of the side gables are decorated with balconies. Previously, window frames were painted orange-yellow, and roof overhangs were painted red, which greatly enlivened the appearance of the house.

In addition to the main house, a peasant estate also includes separate outbuildings. Fires have always been the main disaster of peasants, and barns located away from the main house could save the most valuable things - grain and flour, and prevent them from dying of hunger. Near Oshevnev’s house there are several outbuildings: a two-story barn from the village of Yuzhny Dvor (18th century), a barn from the village of Lipovitsy (beginning of the 20th century) and a bathhouse from the village of Mizhostrov (beginning of the 20th century).

House of peasant Elizarov

The house of peasant Elizarov (late 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 using black heat. This method of heating a room was in many ways more convenient for peasant families - less firewood was consumed, wood-boring beetles were not infested, and it was warmer in the hut. The smoke collected above the “raven” shelves, and the walls below this level and the ceilings were thoroughly washed and scraped every week. Elizarov's house is one-story, it is made of powerful logs and is modestly decorated, although side balconies and a “walking lot” are present here too. In the utility room there is an exhibition telling about the secrets of creating the “kizhanka” boat. On the shore near the house there is a bathhouse (early 20th century) from the village of Ust-Yandoma.

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

Windmill

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

House of peasant Sergeev

In the central part of the island there are two historical villages: Yamka, mentioned for the first time in 1563, on the eastern shore and Vasilyevo, mentioned in 1582, on the western shore. In these villages, buildings have been preserved, which are now included in the museum collection; many architectural monuments were brought from other places in Zaonezhye: 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 the island of Kizhi.

House of peasant Yakovlev

Three large peasant houses and several outbuildings make up the Russian Pudozhye exhibition sector, where the architecture of the inhabitants of the eastern shore of Lake Onega is presented, and further north you can see houses typical of the Karelians and Vepsians. The Karelian estate here is represented by the house of the peasant Yakovlev (1980-1990s) from the village of Klesheyla, a worship cross and barns, and among the monuments of northern Karelians and Karelian people, the Chapel of the Three Saints from the village of Kavgora (second half of the 18th century) is interesting. . Two barns and a bathhouse make up the outbuildings of the Vepsians.

Visitors are introduced to the monuments of the island by routes offered by the museum’s excursion service. An “Ecological Trail” has recently been laid out, giving an idea of ​​the nature of the island, and an interactive family route to Yakovlev’s 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, and guest houses. You can also ask local residents to stay overnight in villages.

Postcard. Bird's eye view of Kizhi

A few words about how the museum exhibits are arranged. Most of them are located in a small area, in the part of the island south of the pier. The three hours allotted for the excursion are quite enough for a leisurely inspection. But the villages of Yamka, Vasilyevo and all other buildings that are from the pier to the north are not included in the regular excursion. How to get to them is not entirely clear. I saw a bus on the road, but while I was thinking, it drove away. Perhaps it was precisely intended for movement around the island. Walking here on foot is quite tiring. But I still had almost an hour left before the ship’s departure, and I still went to that part of the island that is not included in the official route. I reached the windmill that stands there on a hillock, and 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 I didn’t go to the village of Vasilyevo, I was afraid of being late. I wonder if there are any bike rentals here?

Another windmill. On the left you can see the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands

The question also remained unclear: is it possible to come here on one ship and leave on the next. The fact is that upon 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 lag behind their ship and do not disrupt the well-functioning conveyor for serving tourists.

View of the bow of the Meteor and the Kizhi Pogost

Now let's summarize. Well, what can we say about Kizhi. Overall I liked the museum, although my expectations were certainly higher. The cost of an entrance ticket of 130 rubles for citizens of the Russian Federation (and those equated to them, gee :)) is quite reasonable. 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 show off in front of their clients. And here everything rests, one might say, on one exhibit - the 22-domed Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Meanwhile, it is clearly not eternal, and the metal plates on its rickety walls speak about this. Well, it’s difficult for wooden buildings to stand for 300 years in our climate! When it collapses, what then? And then Kizhi will simply turn into a “vabayhumuuseum”, of which the world is full.

I wonder if there really aren’t craftsmen now who could build something like that? Is it really that difficult with modern technology? Take something old as a basis, make a project on the computer, turn the logs to size and assemble them. Of course, at first it will be a “remake,” but all antiquity was once a remake! And most of the local exhibits were reassembled in their current location from scratch. I think in such a place new buildings could fit into the overall ensemble. In a word, we must somehow develop the museum further, the world does not stand still!