Kizhi
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Wooden miracle in Kizhi. |
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View of two main churches. |
Kizhi () is an
island on
Lake Onega in the
Republic of Karelia (
Medvezhye District),
Russia with a
beautiful ensemble of
wooden
churches, chapels and
houses. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia and a
World Heritage Site.
The island is about 7 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is surrounded by about 5,000 other islands, most of which are very smallâ€"some of them are about 2x2 meters, though some are as big as 35 km long. Kizhi pogost, as the whole area is known in Russian, is an old settlement which united more than 100 villages in the
16th century.
The jewel of its architecture is the 22-domed
Transfiguration church (
1722), with a fine baroque
iconostasis. The 9-domed
Intercession church was built nearby in
1764, and a belltower was added in
1874. The most impressive thing about these structures is that they were erected without any nails or other metal ties.
A museum of Russian wooden architecture was created in Kizhi by Soviet authorities in
1960. Minor wooden structures were transported here from various parts of Karelia, notably the
14th century St. Lazarus church from the Muromsky Monastery, which is the oldest wooden church in Russia.
*
Kondopoga*
Kem*
Official homepage*
Orthodox shrines in Kizhi*
Russian page on Kizhi*
Satellite picture by Google Maps
