From the "industrial zone" to the world heritage. Kizhi Island: Museum-Reserve of Wooden Architecture Interesting Facts about Kizhi Pogost

To izhi. 10 facts about the museum open air .

1. The ancestors of modern Kizhans are Novgorodians. A thousand years ago, people from Novgorod began to explore the harsh northern lands: they fished, sowed, and raised livestock. In the 15th century, the Kizhi lands became part of the Moscow principality and were first mentioned in the chronicles as the Kizhi Pogost - a union of villages.

2. Kizhi is a small island covered with carbonaceous shale. "Kizhi chernozem", "northern anthracite", or shungite, attracted artisans. Artillery pieces were painted with "slag stone" and were treated. It was believed that he brings back youth. In the second half of the 17th century, the first plant appeared in Zaonezhie. Semyon Gavrilov, a Novgorod merchant, became its founder. By the end of the 17th century, five small iron foundries and ironworks were already operating on the territory of the Kizhi and Shungsky graveyards.

3. The settlement could become famous ... with knives. Unique Kizhi knives, practically not rusting and not dull, were in great demand at the Tikhvin fair. But the local peasants were hostile to attempts at industrialization. They even raised an uprising. And worldwide fame for one of the 1369 islands Lake Onega brought two wooden temples and one bell tower.

4. Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Built three centuries ago. The 22-main temple was cut down by an unknown master on the site of the old church, which was burned down by a lightning strike. Legend has it that there is not a single nail in the 37-meter building. But even though the blockhouse was built according to Russian carpentry canons, there are still nails - in the domes.

5. Another one echoes the main attraction of Kizhi ancient temple Islands - Church of the Intercession. Graceful and slender proportions, domes with an openwork crown complement the grandeur of the Transfiguration Church. In the Intercession Winter Church, services are held from the Intercession to Easter.

6. The iconostases of the temples are painted according to northern traditions. The icons flow smoothly into the vaults. Heaven - ceiling icons from the Kizhi collection - were exhibited in an Italian museum. Part of the unique Zaonezh collection was presented in the Italian province of Potenza as part of the Year of the Russian Language.

7. The architectural echo of the ensemble is the tent-roofed bell tower. The building was rebuilt in the nineteenth century - "for dilapidation." The bell tower was silent for 60 years. Bell ringing has been banned since 1929. And only in 1989 all 12 bells sounded again - nine old and three newly cast.

8. Kizhi as an architectural monument came to the attention of specialists in the middle of the 19th century. A troop of artists and architects visited the island from the Academy of Arts. In 1911, landscape painter Yehoshua Schlugleit painted the painting "In the Far North". The image of the Kizhi churchyard was acquired by Emperor Nicholas II.

9. Open Air Museum. 68 buildings from all over Karelia are collected in Kizhi. Among them is one of the oldest wooden churches in Russia: the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus until the 16th century. In 1966, Kizhi became a museum, and then an open-air school. From May to September, schoolchildren and students come to the island to study ethnography.

10. A quarter of a century ago, the Kizhi Pogost was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, simultaneously with historic center St. Petersburg and the Moscow Kremlin. The architectural ensemble was named unique by three criteria at once: as a masterpiece of human creative genius, a structure in harmony with the surrounding landscape, and the pinnacle of carpentry skills.

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It is difficult to find an adult educated person in Russia who would not know about Kizhi island... Everyone knows that this is a fantastic monument of wooden architecture included in the UNESCO list of world cultural values.

The Orthodox are convinced that the islet in Lake Onega with its wooden churches is almost the most sacred place in the Russian North.

Linguists argue which of the northern peoples gave the name to the island of Kizhi - Vepsians or Finns. It is not even clear what it means. According to the Vepsian version, the name of the island comes from the word "kiz", that is, "moss". There is more than enough moss in these places!

Kizhi architectural ensemble. Around 1900

But the same Vepsians also have another word - "kizi", that is, "games, folk festivities." Opponents believe that the island was named by the Finns or Chud, Merya or Karelians who are close to them in language. And in fact, before it was called Kizha-saari, which again translates as "the island of merrymaking." But this does not mean festivities, but prayers in the sacred forests and on the sacred shores to the Finno-Ugric gods.

Simply put, Kizha-saari was the center of a pagan cult. With ritual dances, chants and sacrifices. In ancient times, they were bloody.

This non-Russian land

The island became relatively Russian only in the 11th century, when these northern lands came the Novgorodians. They themselves, of course, did not live on the island, but they held the "attached" population with a firm hand. Kizhi, like other islands of Lake Onega, and the shores of this lake, were part of the Obonezhskaya pyatina - one of the administrative-territorial units of the Novgorod Republic.

Of course, Christian Novgorod strove to bring the light of the new faith to the lost Finno-Ugric souls. So the local people got on sacred place their games to the Orthodox Church. It was in this unobtrusive way that Orthodoxy was introduced in the lands of the pagans.

True, no one knows what this church was. It is clear that it is wooden (with a stone on Kizhi it is not very good), but we do not know how it looked and whether it looked like the present temples. Baptized local residents (probably, as well as in other places) willingly went to church and prayed no less fervently to the pagan gods. That is, the "kizha" continued for quite a long time, even in the 17th century.

This, however, did not prevent the island from becoming a stronghold of Onega Orthodoxy. In 1478, the independent Novgorod Republic fell, and the Moscow princes became the new masters of the northern lands. To consolidate their power, in 1496 they made Kizhi the center of a new administrative unit - the Spaso-Kizhi churchyard.

Now about 130 villages and villages on other islets and on the mainland, Unitskaya Bay and the entire south of the Zaonezh Peninsula were subordinate to Kizhams.

Local authorities settled in Kizhi, popular meetings took place here, trade was conducted and litigations were resolved. The scribes of the late 16th century mention 12 villages on the island and two wooden churches: "Spassky churchyard in Kizhi on Lake Onega, and on the churchyard the Church of the Transfiguration of Spasovo, and another church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God."

There were also two parish churches: on Velikaya Guba and on Lychny Island of Lake Sandal. Both island churches were built on the so-called Maryanina Hill, where pagan games were previously held.

According to one of the legends, once they were struck by lightning and burned down the buildings. The legend probably did not arise from scratch. It is known that the Finno-Ugric peoples contrived to perform pagan rituals in Orthodox churches!

The fate of the metropolitan

At that time, a pilgrimage route from Moscow to the Solovetsky Monastery lay through Kizhi. The legend about the young years of Metropolitan Philip (Kolychev), famous for his dramatic confrontation with Ivan the Terrible, is also connected with Kizhi.

During his northern wanderings, Philip (then not yet a metropolitan and not even a monk yet) was allegedly hired as a worker for a rich peasant named Sidorko Saturday in the village of Zharenskoy. The peasant assigned him to graze the sheep. Local residents suffered greatly from snakes that year, they were even afraid to graze cattle near the village. The future saint drove away the serpent.

He also set up a fence that the wolves could not overcome. And once he caught a sturgeon in the lake waters and brought it to a peasant for an Orthodox holiday. But he was a modest man, and when people around began to say that he works miracles, he immediately set off again on the road to Solovki.

Two more legends are associated with the name of Philip - about Svyat-navolok and Smol-navolok. These are two capes that look at each other. One is on the southern tip of Kizhi Island, the other is on the northern coast of the Bolshoy Klimenetsky (Klimetsky) Island. Between them lies the never-freezing strait.

According to legend, when Kolychev approached the strait to cross to the mainland, he was transported by a local resident, nicknamed Smolya for his hair color. The cape where Kolychev stood was called Svyat-navolok, and the cape where Smol stood became Smol-navolok. The strip of non-freezing water was named Saint Salma or “holy polynya”.

The name of Philip, who suffered from the ruthless Tsar Ivan the Terrible, was very beloved in the Russian North. It is not surprising that the pilgrims who flocked to the Solovetsky Monastery also linked it with the islet of Kizhi, which is gradually acquiring an aura of holiness.

Without a single nail

In the 17th century, after the reign of Ivan the Terrible and the end of the Time of Troubles, the island's churches fell into some decline. Local legend even says that they were desolate and began to collapse. It was then that lightning burned them to the ground. However, a century later, Peter the Great ordered the restoration of the temples.

In 1714, the construction of the Transfiguration Church began, but not on Maryanina Hill. One of the legends says that Peter personally designed this temple. Allegedly, he swam past Kizhi, saw how everything was desolate there, moored to the shore and drew a plan of the future temple with a cane on the coastal sand.

Another legend says that the project of the church belongs entirely to the carpenter Nestor - he both designed the church and built it himself. And without a single nail. And when the construction was completed, Nestor threw an ax into the waters of the lake and said: "Nicoli was not there, Nicoli will not be." That is, no one has ever built anything like this, and no one else will build anything like this.

Both legends have nothing to do with historical truth. And Peter had nothing to do with the construction of the Transfiguration Church, and the carpenter Nestor did not exist. And in general, six years before the construction in Kizhi, a similar wooden structure was erected in the village of Ankhimovo, which is located very close to Kizhi.

The legend that the many-domed northern churches were built without a single nail is also incorrect. Yes, the main structures were connected to each other using grooves, like parts of a designer. But the wooden scales on the domes had to be properly strengthened, otherwise the domes would “grow bald” and lose all their beauty in the very first year. They were fastened with iron pins, that is, they were practically planted on nails.

In addition to the Transfiguration Church, the Intercession Church was erected, as well as the tent-roofed bell tower. But the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin was built half a century later - in 1764. And the hipped-roof bell tower - and at all in 1863, on the site of a dilapidated and worn out earlier building.

In ancient times, the complex of church buildings was surrounded by a wooden fence, which was supposed to play the role of a fortress wall. The fence, of course, has not survived. The one that exists today is a modern reconstruction.

However, in ancient times the fence was of little use. The invaders did not need Kizhi for nothing. Even with the Swedes, there were no military clashes here. But behind this fence in 1769-1771, the Kizhi government was hiding from the rebel peasants.

Soldiers had to be sent to quell the riot. Perhaps this was the only serious action by the inhabitants of Kizhi against their superiors. Basically, life on the island was peaceful and quiet.

Since the 17th century, the island was mastered by industrialists for smelting copper, and then iron. Over time, the Spaso-Kizhi churchyard turned into the Kizhi volost. Neither two Russian revolutions nor two world wars touched Kizhi.

Kizhi was never blown up and never bombed. So the wooden buildings managed to survive in the form in which they were from the moment of construction. So they still delight our eyes today.

There is probably no such person in Russia who would not have heard about the island and the Kizhi Museum-Reserve. Without exaggeration, it can be called one of the most beautiful places in Russia.

Today I want to show the beauty of the island during the foggy June white nights and beautiful summer days... I will also tell you about the farthest corners of the island, which 90% of all tourists simply do not have time to visit.

Kizhi Island is located in Karelia, on Lake Onega, where it is ideally inscribed architectural monument- the world-famous ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost.

Geographically about. Kizhi is located 66 kilometers away from the city of Petrozavodsk and is lost among the Kizhi skerries - this is the name of the picturesque clusters of small islets. Kizhi is one of the most beautiful islands of our vast country.

By purchasing entry tickets, we headed to northern part islands to explore the local villages. It was decided to inspect the main part of the museum of wooden architecture in the late afternoon, when the bulk of the visitors would return to Petrozavodsk.

Having reached the penultimate Pudozh sector and having looked around, we returned to the central part of the island to the village of Yamka. The village of Yamka has one street and 10 residents. Despite such a universal scale, we managed to walk around it and its surroundings for more than three hours. Here we looked at life, everyday life and households local residents, saw real houses and bathhouses in which indigenous Karelian islanders have lived and rest for hundreds of years.

The Yamka has an indescribable atmosphere of silence, tranquility and tranquility. It was hard to believe that thousands of tourists from different continents were wandering behind the neighboring hill, and we were in one of the most popular places in Russia. That is why we came here, this is how I wanted to see Kizhi.

It was getting dark. We, following the plan, went to inspect the main attractions of the museum. The number of tourists did not decrease. The sailing ships filled the museum with new, mainly foreign groups. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised by such attention to Russia and its beauties from French, Italian and English-speaking tourists.

I wonder how fashion has changed over the past century. These mothers and daughters in clothes of different generations met on the way to the museum

On the island, you can rent a bicycle or use the services of such a horse-drawn carriage.

In the southern part of the Museum of Wooden Architecture there is such a picturesque bay, where the house of Sergeev from the village of Logmorucha is located. It was built over a century ago.

The forge from the village of Suisar is nearby

The chapel of the Archangel Michael from the village of Lelikozero was built in the second half of the 18th century.

Chapel of the Resurrection of Lazarus in the Murom Monastery. The most old chapel in Kizhi, dates back to the XIV century.

The architecture of the wooden buildings and their scale are impressive. Foreigners there, in general, walk with round eyes and open mouths. It was very interesting to watch them. It seems that they did not understand where they got to and how this could be built.

In this frame, there are three objects in one: a bathhouse from the village of Ust-Yandoma, Kurnaya izba Elizarova from the village of Seredka, Klimetsky Island, and N.Ya. Bikanina from the village of Volkostrov.

Wealthy house of Oshevnev from the village of Oshevnevo. It consists of three huts, an upper room, a light-house over a two-storey entrance hall, a two-storey courtyard with a felling supported by logs in the corners. This design made it possible to change the rotting logs of the barns without dismantling the roof.

After 8 hours, tourists on the island can no longer be found. You are practically left alone in the midst of incredible beauty.

It was getting close to sunset and we, having rested a little, hurried to the hill near the village of Yamka. I really liked the view from there. Climbing to its top, I saw a haze and thought it was dust from a car passing along the road, it turned out that closer to sunset the whole island began to plunge into fog. This is how the windmill from the village of Voroniy Ostrov looks like at sunset, it was also in the very first photo.

And so - the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands from the village of Vigovo (17-18 centuries)

Climbing up to this chapel, a beautiful view of the Mozh Bay opened in front of us.

The sun was almost hidden behind the horizon and we hurried for a short rest. After all, in a few hours I was to meet the dawn.

After sleeping for about two hours, I went to meet the dawn. It was still forty minutes before sunrise.

The gray-blue, almost cloudless sky gradually turned into a red-orange dawn color. All the lowlands were filled with thick fog.

Climbing the hill to the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands, from which almost the entire island is visible, a very beautiful and not quite standard view to the Spaso-Kizhi churchyard.

The Assumption Chapel from the village of Vasilyevo looks like a ship sailing through endless foggy expanses.

The Chapel of the Three Saints from the village of Kavgora rises above the layered misty rivers.

I caught the first rays of the morning sun near the Pudozh sector, the fog over the bays of Lake Onega began to gradually dissipate.

The Pudozh sector is dedicated to the Russian village of Pudozhia and consists of one street on which there are 3 houses with outbuildings: Belyaev's house from the village of Kubovskaya, Potashev's house from the Pyalma village and Butin's house from the Pyalozero village.

On the opposite side are located: Belosheev's barn from the village of Pyalozero and Pakhomov's barn from the village of Ostrov-Zarechye.

Ringing silence all around. Sometimes from somewhere in the distance, from the side of the lake, one can hear the cry of seagulls, which at such an early hour had made themselves breakfast.

It feels like I'm on no inhabited island... I am alone among the incredible beauty, surrounded by ancient centuries-old buildings. These are the real Kizhi. I am sure that more than 99% of tourists have never seen the island like that. I must say we lost a lot.

It is a pleasure to walk around the main museum of the island in the morning. But yesterday we have already seen enough of everything here, we will see it this afternoon, so I will show you a couple of morning photos and go to sleep for a couple of hours, because today there is still a way back to St. Petersburg.

Everyone knows this place very well.

This concludes my photo story about one of the most beautiful islands in Russia. I hope you found it interesting.

The amazing Kizhi Museum-Reserve is rightfully considered a symbol of Russian architecture and a visiting card of the Russian North. This mysterious open-air museum attracts more and more visitors from all over the world every day.

Kizhi Island is located in the north of Lake Onega, not far from Petrozavodsk. The most comfortable and fastest way to get to the island from the capital of Karelia is a meteor on Kizhi, which will take tourists to the reserve in less than an hour and a half.
The most memorable objects of the island are the Transfiguration and Intercession churches, a bell tower with a hipped dome, and a windmill. Tourists will also be interested in the chapel and the Oshevnev House, and, of course, old huts and buildings brought here from different parts of Karelia.
Transfiguration Church
The most recognizable monument on the island of Kizhi, without a doubt, is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, or the Transfiguration Church. The unique wooden building 38 meters high is crowned with 22 domes. The temple was built in 1714. Services are held here only in summer.

Church of the Intercession of the Virgin

Together with the Transfiguration Church and the tent bell tower, the Intercession Church forms the fabulous composition of the Kizhi Island. Austere but beautiful, the church is adorned with nine domes. Its facade is complemented by an ornate wooden pediment, decorated with a high porch. The facility has been rebuilt many times. The pearl of the church is the high iconostasis. The Church of the Intercession is considered winter.
Oshevnev House
This large building belonged to the wealthy peasant Nestor Oshevnev, who lived here in the second half of the 19th century with his family. In this building characteristic of that time, it was decided to open a museum of the life of the peasants of Zaonezhie.

Mill

The mill, like many huts and houses on the island, was brought here from a Karelian village. This building of the 20s of the last century vividly illustrates the life of Russian peasants. The eight-winged mill has two floors, where you can see the flour chests, millstones for grinding and other household items.
Bell tower
The legendary tent-roofed bell tower is located between two churches. Erected much later than the temples, the building fits perfectly into the ensemble of the Kizhi churchyard. Previously, a dilapidated belfry stood on the site of the bell tower.

Chapel of Michael the Archangel

The chapel was brought to Kizhi from a village called Lelikozero many years ago. This interesting building with a vestibule and a hipped bell tower-belfry is decorated with a high wooden dome with a cross on a double roof. The iconostasis inside the chapel practically merges with its heavenly ceiling and gives a feeling of boundless freedom of spirit.
We have named far from all the attractions of the reserve, for example, the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus and the fence of the Kizhi churchyard also deserve attention. The unique color of Kizhi and the beautiful landscapes of the island at any time of the year will amaze the imagination of even the most sophisticated tourists.

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 translation from Veps means “moss growing at the bottom of a reservoir, lake”.

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

Therefore, going on a trip, and before getting to the island, it is worth learning 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 state reserve... On its basis, since 1966, the State Historical and Architectural Building has been operating, conditionally divided into sectors:

• Russians of Zaonezhie.
• Fossa.
• Vasilyevo.
• Vepsians.
• Pryazha Karelians.
• Pudozhsky.
• Petrozavodsk.
• Kizhi necklace.
• Kondopozhsky.
• Northern Karelians.

In the place where the island of Kizhi is located, its own 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 houses, chapels, ancillary and outbuildings 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 added the Kizhi Pogost to the World Heritage List.

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

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

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 indeed 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.

The island of Kizhi, the photo of which does not convey a real impression of the stunning architecture, has brought together many buildings that have survived in their original form. Their:

• Disassembled carefully.
• They were carefully transported.
• Installed in a new location in an open-air museum.

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

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

Unique buildings are 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, from the moment of freeze-up it is more difficult to get there, but the weather from spring to autumn provides tourists with the opportunity to enjoy the contemplation of rare and unique monuments wooden architecture.

Be sure to visit Kizhi: a trip with Sharm Travel guarantees you a lot of aesthetic pleasure. Take your children with you and invite friends - joint trips around 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 states 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 Sharm Travel bus and in the company of experienced guides, you will not notice how you will find yourself on the banks of the beautiful Onega. And the distance of 55 km to the island on the "Meteor" you will cover 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 refined epithets, but you need to see such beauty with your own eyes.

Whichever season you choose to visit the unique open-air museum, with "Sharm Travel" you will be guaranteed the success of the enterprise.

The island of Kizhi, Karelia and its attractions are waiting for you: Akhvenkos waterfalls, Marble canyon. If you are lucky, you will hear the sounds of the churches in Kizhi, incredible in their purity.

Tourists are accompanied by experienced guides, travels take place in comfortable buses, and the program is drawn up taking into account the topic of the trip and the audience. Join us, all information about the tour to the island of Kizhi can be obtained on the Sharm Travel website. The reserve is waiting for guests, and everyone is ready to reveal their age-old secret and give several hours of aesthetic pleasure.