Solovetsky Islands are a unique place. On a small archipelago in the White Sea, a unique natural, historical and cultural complex has developed, which has no analogues in the world. The largest and richest in sights is the island of Solovetsky, on which the famous Solovetsky Monastery has been operating for more than a century.
Nature
The islands arose 9000 years ago at one of the stages of the formation of the White Sea, when, after the melting of a large glacier, a compensatory lifting of the soil took place. 2/3 of the total area of the archipelago is the island of Bolshoi Solovetsky.
The archipelago is located in the taiga zone. The landscapes of the islands are unusually picturesque and diverse: high hills give way to lakes, flowering meadows to vast swamps. 70% of the area is covered by forests, mainly spruce-pine. About 5% of the area is in tundra complexes. Dry Voronich tundra is characteristic of the coastal zone, where they are followed by a strip of curved-leaved birch forests (sinuous birch). In the central part of the islands, birch forests and aspen forests appear at the site of felling and fires. Meadows on the coast and in the center of the islands occupy 0.1-0.2% of the total area and are characterized by a rich species composition of meadow vegetation. About 15% of the islands are swamps with a predominance of horse and transitional species. Such a wide range of landscapes, represented on an area of about 300 km², is one of the amazing natural features of the Solovetsky archipelago.
There are more than 550 lakes on the islands. They vary in size, shape, origin, color of water, but at the same time they are all very picturesque.
Where are the Solovetsky Islands
The Solovetsky archipelago, consisting of six large islands and over a hundred small ones, is located in the western part of the White Sea, 290 kilometers north-west of the city of Arkhangelsk, the center of the Arkhangelsk region. The total area of the islands is 300 km². They include islands such as:
- Solovetsky (Bolshoi Solovetsky) - 218.72 km²;
- Anzersky - 47.11 km²;
- Greater Muksalma - 18.96 km²;
- Malaya Muksalma - 1.2 km²;
- Big 3yatsky - 1.25 km²;
- Small Zayatsky - 1.1 km².
History
The history of the Solovetsky Islands begins with the development of their man in the era of the late Mesolithic. In the III millennium BC sea hunters and fishermen discovered the Solovetsky Islands and began their development, which continued until the Middle Ages. On Solovki, numerous traces of their economic, utilitarian and religious activities were discovered: more than 20 settlements, camps and workshops, four sanctuaries in combination with ancient campsites, many solitary stone labyrinths, thousands of artifacts.
The primitive inhabitants of Solovki were engaged in specific hunting for sea animals and island lake-forest game, fishing, coastal gathering, and the manufacture of stone tools. At the sites of their sites, collections of arrows, darts, hunting axes, stone anchors, ceramics, a unique cult drill ax and many other objects were discovered. The ancient inhabitants of the archipelago were engaged in the construction of stone labyrinths, in which they built shrines.
The foundation of the stauropegic male Solovetsky monastery
The Solovetsky island became the foundation site of a man’s monastery in the 30s of the 15th century by natives of the Kirillo-Belozersky and Valaam monasteries, the monks Savvaty, German and Zosima as the monastery of the Savior and Miracle Worker Nicholas. During the XV-XVI centuries. the monastery gradually expanded, acquiring large islands of the archipelago.
By the end of the 15th century, three wooden churches were erected by the monks: Uspenskaya, Nikolskaya and Preobrazhenskaya, numerous wooden cells and outbuildings surrounded by a wooden fence.
The spiritual stronghold of the Russian North
In the middle of the XVI century, the monastery entered a period of serious economic transformations associated with the name of Father Superior Philip (Kolychev), a reformer, architect, energetic and talented business executive. Roads were made here in the 1550s – 1560s, but the “milk yard” with deer and cattle was founded on the island of B. Muksalma. To provide the population with running water, 52 lakes of the Solovetsky Island were connected by drinking canals. For defense in 1582-1594. a stone fortress wall with towers and gates was erected. Blagoveshchensk (Gate) Church was built in 1596-1600.
Throughout the XVII century, the Solovetsky Monastery continues to be formed as the administrative, economic, spiritual, military-political and cultural center of the White Sea. In the XVIII-XX centuries. he was one of the places of exile and imprisonment of state criminals.
Soviet time
After the 1917 revolution, a new Russia began to form. The Solovetsky Islands ceased to be a spiritual center, and the monastery was abolished. In April 1920, the Arkhangelsk Provincial Commission began the nationalization of monastic property. The Solovetsky Islands Administration was organized and at the same time the Solovki state farm was organized, which lasted until 1923. The establishment of a state farm did not mean the elimination of monasticism. About 200 monks were civilian workers, a religious community was organized, the activities of which were controlled by the Solovetsky Islands Administration.
Gulag Archipelago
From 1923 to 1939, the territory of the islands and all the buildings of the former Solovetsky Monastery were occupied by the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camps of the OGPU-NKVD (ELEPHANT). Organized on the basis of Kholmogorsky, Pertominsky and Arkhangelsk, Solovetsky camps were one of the largest in Russia. The composition of prisoners in the elephant changed at different times. Among them were representatives of the Russian aristocracy, church, intelligentsia, all pre-revolutionary political parties, criminal elements convicted of domestic affairs, representatives of national parties and many others.
Among those exiled to the Elephant were figures of science and culture, writers, poets, religious figures of Russia: professor, art critic A.E. Anisimov, historian I.D. Antsiferov, inventor B.A. Artemyev, professor S.A. Askoldov, historian B. B. Bakhtin, artist I.E. Braz, a descendant of the Decembrists A.B. Bobrishchev-Dushkin, poet M.N. Voronoi, ethnographer N.N. Vinogradov, writer 0.B. Bolkov, historian G.O. Gordon, poet A.K. Gorsky, Academician D.S. Likhachev, priest, encyclopedic scientist D.A. Florensky and others.
Sights of the historical and cultural complex
The historical and cultural complex of the Solovetsky Islands is one of a kind, unique in its integrity and completeness of the ensembles and complexes that remained in it, cult, residential, defensive, economic, hydraulic structures, the network of roads and irrigation systems of the Middle Ages, as well as archaeological complexes, monuments, reflecting ancient and medieval monastic island culture. They are concentrated in different parts of the large islands of the archipelago, but, interconnected geographically and historically, make up a single, inseparable whole. Its various components represent all periods of the history of the archipelago and the Russian North as a whole.
The constituent parts of the historical and cultural complex of the Solovetsky archipelago are:
- The monastery-fortress of the XV-XX centuries, the former monastery village of the XVI-XX centuries, the monasteries and deserts of the XVI-XX centuries;
- Fishing huts, island hydrotechnical and irrigation systems;
- Complexes "sanctuary-parking" III-I millennia BC on B. Zayatsky and Anzersky islands;
- Groups of memorial buildings of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp 1923-1939 on the territory of the village and on the site of a brick factory;
- Natural landscapes.
The center of the historical and cultural complex of the archipelago is the Solovetsky Monastery - a holistic unique architectural ensemble. Its structures are distinguished by a rare monumentality, a bright individual appearance of many structures and at the same time the integrity of all its parts.
Other attractions
Almost all Solovetsky Islands are famous for archaeological and architectural monuments, historical places and amazing objects. Attractions worthy of special attention are located on the following islands:
- Anzersky: Trinity Monastery (XVII), Trinity Church (1880-1884), Calvary-Crucifix Monastery (XIX).
- Big Zayatsky: Zayatsky (Andreevsky) monastery (XVI), boulder harbor, Stone harbor (XVI), Church of St. Andrew the First-Called.
- Bolshaya Muksalma: Sergiev Skit (XVI), a boulder dam that connected Muksalma with the big Solovetsky island (XIX).
Flora
Labyrinths of the Solovetsky Islands became home to 500 species of plants. Among the natural-territorial island complexes there are habitats of endangered and rare plant species. Scientists are engaged in their study, conservation and augmentation. Arriving on the island, you must carefully treat the local flora, because a torn unusual flower can be a rare species. The following representatives of the flora need special protection: pink radiola, common daphne, two-leaved loving, spotted orchis, male thyroid, broadleaf orchis, Siberian pine, northern gyrchus, laupeleuria recumbent, Arctic sea mustard and others.
The coastal waters of the White Sea are one of the richest in algal flora and the most productive region of the basin (there are 160 species of bottom algae here).
Fauna
The animal world, due to the insular position of Solovki and the northern location of the archipelago, is not very diverse mammals. Two of their species appeared here thanks to man. This is a reindeer, introduced to the islands in the 16th century, and the muskrat, which appeared here in the 1920s.
It is richer in the number of species of avifauna of the islands. Birds on Solovki recorded almost 200 species. Among them there are “Red Book”: white-tailed eagle, osprey, pegans, dead-end. Of exceptional interest is one of the largest colonies of polar tern in Europe and the largest colony of gull-whales in Russia. The greatest variety of species stands out on the island of Solovetsky.
Of marine mammals, ringed seal, beluga whale, sea hare and harp seal are common in coastal waters. On the coast of Anzer Island, massive pinnipeds are observed, and herds of belugas numbering up to several hundred individuals approach the western part of the Bolshoi Solovetsky Island.
Ecotourism
The archipelago is of great interest to people who love nature. Not only for visiting the famous monastery, tourists come to the Solovetsky Islands. Sights of nature are also noteworthy. Amazingly diverse landscapes will allow you to wander through the taiga on a compact territory, enjoy the greenery of meadows and the beauty of lakes, and observe the wildlife.
Unique bays of the archipelago. The beautiful Long Bay, with many small islands, is a unique body of water that is populated by relict Arctic forms of invertebrates, representing an almost closed ecosystem. The Trinity Bay is beautiful, almost in half dissecting Anzersky island.
The nature of the Solovetsky archipelago is of great value, since it reflects the main periods of the postglacial geological history of the North, the history of interaction with humans, contains amazingly beautiful landscapes and is a habitat for rare species of birds and large bird colonies. People keen on native nature are strongly advised to visit the Solovetsky Islands.
How to get to Solovki in winter
The direction of the route depends on the vagaries of the weather and the seasons. In winter, movement is very limited, an ordinary tourist can get to the islands only by air from Arkhangelsk:
- From the airport "Talagi" on Tuesdays and Sundays flies the airline "North Avia" (AN-24). Flight time is 45 minutes.
- From Vaskovo Airport on Fridays, the 2nd AAO JSC (L-410) operates flights.
How to get to the islands in summer
With the improvement of the weather, the number of possible options to visit the Solovetsky Islands significantly increases. How to get to the archipelago in the spring-autumn period, we consider in more detail. In addition to flights from Arkhangelsk, routes from Karelia are also opening at this time.
From the regions to get to Arkhangelsk is recommended by plane or train. For vehicles, local roads will be a real challenge. As in winter, you can get to Solovki by air. Flights from Talagi Airport (NordAvia) are operated on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. From Vaskovo (2nd AOAO) - on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The most romantic way is to get the ship to the Solovetsky Islands from the Karelian cities of Kem and Belomorsk. In directions from Moscow and St. Petersburg to these cities you can get on the Murmansk train. From the berth Rabocheostrovsk (Kem), the Metel and Vasily Kosyakov motor ships depart daily to Solovki. The motor ship Sapphire runs from Belomorsk. “River minibuses” also operate on the islands - small vessels delivering pilgrims and unorganized tourists. Airplanes and motor ships deliver passengers to the main island - Solovetsky.