Valaam

An artist's impression of the Valaam Island in the 18th century

Valaam is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area of its more than 50 islands is 36 square km. The largest island is also called Valaam. It is best known as the site of the Valaam Monastery, and also for its natural beauty.

In the 12th century the islands were a part of the Novgorod Republic. In the 17th century they were captured by Sweden during the Time of Troubles but Russia reconquered them less than a century later. When the Grand Duchy of Finland was set up in the early 19th century, Alexander I of Russia made Valaam a part of this puppet state. In 1917 they became a part of independent Finland, but were acquired by the USSR after the Winter War and Continuation War.

External links

http://www.valaam.karelia.ru/en/valaam/valaam2.htm
http://nordictravel.ru/page/valaam.html

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.