Kizhi
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View of two main churches.Kizhi (Russian: ) is an island on Onego lake 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 small—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.
See also
External links
- [Official homepage]
- [Orthodox shrines in Kizhi]
- [Russian page on Kizhi]
- [Satellite picture by Google Maps]
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