Kizhi – a Wooden World

The Kizhi architecture ensemble is well-known in a lot of countries and behind the limits of Karelia. It is situated on one of numerous islands of the Onega

lake.

The ensemble consists of 2 churches:

Preobrazhenska and

Pokrovskaya.

There are a lot of wooden

complexes, which are well-

known in northern Russia, but among them Kizhi is the most picturesque and beautiful with lots of domes.

The ensemble formation

orrured for the period of 265 years. It was created with

the principle of ‘a lot of cupolas next to lots of

domes’

Kizhi is one of the 1369 islands in

the north-easten part of the

Onega lake. It is about 5,5 km long and 2,4 km wide.

The history of Kizhi begins in the remote past. It is well-known that

these lands were settled by Baltic and Finn tribes. Since the 11th century Kizhi and the nearest islands were

under the power of Novgorod. Thanks to Novgorod, Christianity became very

popular in the northern region.

Novgorod lands were divided into provinces, the latter divided

into districts or Pogosts. Since

16th century Kizhi island has become the centre of the

Spass Pogost.

The whole island – is a museum of wooden architecture under the open sky. Here the historical architectural and ethnographical museum-reservation

Kizhi is situated.

In 1990 this national part was

inscribed in UNESCO

Heritage list.

There are some gorgeous churches in Kizhi. The most precious is Preobrazhenskaya

church.

Preobrazhenskaya church is 37 metres high and it has 22 domes. The sizes of these

domes are different at every level of the church. They are crowned with a huge centre

dome. The symmetrical structure of the cupolas gives the church the shape of a high pyramid. This pyramid looks

alike from every side.

Next to Pokrovskaya Church there is a wooden tent Bell Tower which was built in 1874.

All the territory of the museum

composes more than 10 thousand

hectares! It includes the Kizhi

island, the surrounded

islands, and also a part of the

mainland.

Every year more than 170

thousand visitors and pilgrims from

Russia, Europe, America and Asia visit Kizhi island.

Don’t miss the chance to visit Kizhi and step back in time!!!