Solovetsky Islands: rich history and amazing nature. Solovetsky Island and its attractions

Basic moments

The Solovetsky Islands and the adjacent water area have the status of a specially protected area and a museum-reserve, the spiritual center of the islands - the Solovetsky Stauropegial Monastery - is included in the lists of the World cultural heritage UNESCO. Every year, tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims come to these holy places to get acquainted with their dramatic history, see the stronghold of Orthodoxy in the Far North of Russia, and enjoy untouched nature, harsh and peaceful at the same time.

The most significant historical, architectural and spiritual monuments of Solovki are located on the Big Solovetsky Island. The main places of worship, deserts and hermitages are concentrated here. Some other monastic shrines are located on neighboring islands.

Everything on Solovki impresses with its solidity and inviolability: the grandiose stone walls of the Kremlin, roads and a dam on a boulder foundation, which have not been repaired for hundreds of years, but still serve people. Dozens of kilometers of man-made canals are surprising, connecting hundreds of divinely beautiful lakes, endless meadows created by working monks. Here everything breathes with harmony, combining the beauty of nature and the fruits of human labor.

For its guests, the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve has developed more than 20 excursion routes: bus, boat, pedestrian, and each of them will bring you an unforgettable experience!

Solovetsky Monastery

History of the Solovetsky Islands

Human exploration of the Solovetsky Islands began as early as the Neolithic, when the aboriginal inhabitants of Pomorye appeared here - the Proto-Sami, who hunted sea animals and fished. It is known that in the II-I centuries BC. e. the proto-Sami buried their dead on the islands, erecting mounds over their graves - mounds of boulder stone, which eventually formed whole labyrinths. Both names of the archipelago - the Solovetsky Islands and Solovki - have Sami roots: in Sami "suollek" means "islands". Probably, in these places the Sami performed pagan rites until the Middle Ages.

Since the XI century in the water area White Sea Increasingly, sailing and rowing vessels of the Novgorod ushkuiniki began to appear - paramilitary squads that were also engaged in commercial fishing. Following them, these lands began to be explored by monks who settled in sketes in complete renunciation of the world. In 1429, the monks Savvaty and Herman arrived on the Big Solovetsky Island. Here, 13 km from the place where the monastery was later erected, they erected a cross and equipped a cell. Soon they were joined by Zosima, a native of Pomorye, who distributed his property to the poor and decided to renounce worldly vanities. The names of Savvaty, Herman, Zosima are connected with the foundation in 1436 of the Solovetsky Monastery, which eventually became one of the most revered in Russia.

From the middle of the 15th century, its first permanent residents began to settle in the archipelago - monks and novices of the monastery. Gradually, they organized a strong religious and economic community here. In 1548, the monastery monk Philip became the abbot of the monastery. This abbot, a descendant of the boyar family of the Kolychevs, proved to be an outstanding leader. Under him, instead of wooden places of worship, stone ones began to be built on Solovki, outbuildings were erected, roads were laid, lakes were connected by canals, their own fleet was created, and trade also developed. Near the monastery itself, ponds-cages were equipped, where fish were bred, and on the island of Bolshaya Muksalma spacious pastures were planted and a barnyard was placed.

In the second half of the 16th century, during the Livonian War, the Swedes, worried about the activity of the Solovetsky merchant shipping, sent their warships to the island waters more than once. In response, by decree of Ivan the Terrible, a fortress was erected on Bolshoy Solovetsky Island to protect the White Sea region, where a garrison headed by a voivode was stationed.

Tragic events took place in Solovki in the 17th century. The monastic brethren, who rejected the church reforms of the Moscow Patriarch Nikon, rebelled and resisted the tsarist army. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the governor Ivan Meshcherinov.

In 1854, during the Crimean War, the Solovetsky Monastery was subjected to a long bombardment from the cannons of English frigates. However, the attack resulted in only slight damage to individual structures, there were no human casualties. Such a miracle confirmed the authority of the monastery among believers.

In the middle of the 19th century, Russian hydrologists and biologists seriously engaged in research in the White Sea region. The first scientific expedition to the Solovetsky Islands was sent in 1876, and in 1881 a biological station was set up on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, the first on the White Sea. In 1912, a hydroelectric power station was built on a gravity canal near the Holy Lake, one of the first in Russia.

The measured and creative life of the pious islanders was destroyed by the revolution of 1917. The new government liked the strong monastic walls, behind which in the 1920s a prison was built at no extra cost. Even before the advent of the Bolsheviks, criminals and heretics were kept in the monastery premises. But, if over the previous four centuries a little more than three hundred prisoners were imprisoned here, then in just a couple of decades, about a hundred thousand people stayed in the dungeons of the SLON (Solovki Special Purpose Camp), and later a correctional institution subordinate to the Gulag. In 1941, the penitentiary structure on the Solovetsky Islands was disbanded.

In the 50s of the last century, Solovki became accessible to the public, and information about the plight of the ancient buildings received public outcry. In the next decade, restoration work began here, and in 1967 the Solovetsky Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve began its activities. In 1989, a religious community was registered on Solovki, and a year later, for the first time since the “camp” era on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, the priests celebrated the Divine Liturgy. October 25, 1990 is considered the day of the revival of the Solovetsky monastery.

Lighthouse on Top Island

Nature

The landscape of the Solovetsky Islands was determined by an ancient glacier that “ironed” their surface about 13 thousand years ago. After the melting of a powerful ice cover, its traces remained on the islands - huge boulders of crystalline rocks, brought from afar by moving ice retreating to the north. Boulders line up in ridges, they are called moraines. The sand cover of the Solovetsky Islands is also of glacial origin. These are crystalline rocks worn by the mighty force of the glacier. On Solovki there are many deposits of semi-precious and ornamental minerals brought here - translucent quartz muscovite, red garnets, pyroxene, green jadeite, reminiscent of precious jade.

The relief outlines of the Solovetsky Islands are changeable and abound in gentle descents and ascents; there are no impressive elevations here. Highest point archipelago - Mount Golgotha, located on the island of Anzer. Its height is 200 meters.

The line of the gentle shores of the Solovetsky Islands, in some places covered with sparse herbage, entirely dotted with bizarre boulders, is clearly outlined by a forest, in some places approaching almost to the water itself, and somewhere receding from it for a couple of hundred meters. The ebbs and flows change the landscape. Twice a day, sea waters rapidly approach the island shores and freeze only at the edge of the forest, bringing with them algae, which then outline the coastline in a continuous strip. The low tide, in turn, exposes the sandy shore with scattered stones and orange-red boulders.

Most of the Solovetsky Islands are occupied by forests, pine and deciduous, birch groves. In the thicket there is a lot of windbreak, tree trunks, which have lain on the ground for many years, are almost completely covered with thickets of blueberries, lingonberries, blueberries, crowberries. By the end of summer, shrubs bloom with ripe berries, forest glades flash with crimson colors of willow-tea inflorescences and are filled with the delicate aroma of lungwort. Another decoration of the Solovetsky forests is heather. At the time of its flowering, it covers the ground with a continuous carpet of the smallest purple flowers, creating a delightful harmony with the rich green colors of the forest. In autumn, the Solovetsky forests turn into a mushroom kingdom.

There are no rivers on Solovki, but the local lakes, glorified in folk legends and described more than once in Russian literature, are simply stunning with their beauty. It seems that the mirror reservoirs are scattered randomly on the islands - sometimes in compact groups, sometimes stretched out in a chain, and sometimes scattered. However, in this picturesque mess there is a certain system built by nature itself. The shape of the reservoirs is also varied. Some lakes are perfectly round, others are ellipsoid, others are curved in the shape of a horseshoe. Many of them are unnamed, and the names of others have changed repeatedly over the centuries.

How many lakes on the Solovetsky Islands is not exactly known. According to one data, there are 492 reservoirs here, in other sources there are 562 lakes. Perhaps the reason for this is the flowering of some reservoirs, at the later stage of which they turn into swamps. The swamps themselves occupy a large part of the Solovki (the exception is the Zayatsky Islands, where they do not exist).

A significant part of the territory of the Solovetsky Islands is meadows, mostly man-made. The quality of herbs here is first-class, in some places they reach human height.

The fauna of Solovki is not distinguished by diversity, but this is compensated by the abundance of animals. In the forests you can meet reindeer, foxes, squirrels, hares. There are no large predators here, however, local mosquitoes are quite deservedly nicknamed bloodthirsty ghouls by the islanders. Seals, beluga whales, bearded seals, harp seals, herring live in coastal sea waters, perches, pikes, burbots, and roaches are found in lakes. The world of birds is rich, as the migration route of migratory birds runs through the Onega Bay and the Solovetsky Islands.

Climate

The proximity of the Arctic Circle and the breath of the Arctic, of course, leaves its mark on the local climate. but climatic conditions The Solovetsky Islands are different from the mainland coast of the White Sea and are distinguished by unexpected softness.

The microclimate in Solovki is characterized by some delay in the change of seasons. July-August are the summer months. The period from 1 to 20 September is considered late summer. Then autumn begins, which lasts until the end of October, when frosts come. Winter reigns here for four months. The coldest month is February, but there are years when March temperatures are lower than February.

Quite mild winters on the Solovetsky Islands are due to the fact that the sea, gradually cooling down, gives off heat to the land. Until the end of January, the average air temperature rarely drops below 10 ° C below zero. In February, when the warming effect of the sea is leveled, it becomes colder. The average temperature this month is about -12°C. There are also 30-degree frosts on Solovki, but this does not happen often.

In winter, the Solovetsky Islands are surrounded by a continuous strip of immovable ice for several kilometers. It completely melts only at the end of March, so spring here is always colder than autumn. In April-May, the icy sea intensively gives off cold to the land, the daytime temperature rarely exceeds +12 °C.

Summer on Solovki cannot be called hot. The thermometer during the day here fluctuates around +20 ... +23 ° С and never rises above +27 ° С, it is always cool at night. Precipitation is rare during the summer months. The weather is clear, only sometimes pinkish clouds can fly in the evening, which, however, do not linger in the sky for a long time. In the summer months, the sea water near the Solovetsky coast warms up, and in July-August its temperature can reach +18...+20 °C.

In June, the sun hardly sets over Solovki. The longest day here lasts 21 hours 56 minutes - exactly the same as six months later, in December, the longest night lasts.

Big Solovetsky Island

Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, resembling a triangle with its outlines, is the largest island in the White Sea. Its capriciously indented coastline creates picturesque headlands, bays, peninsulas. The distance between the extreme northern and southern points of the island is 24.7 km, the west-east line is 15.8 km. The central part of the island is replete with hills and elevations, which are called mountains here, although their height does not exceed 60 m. This ridge is punctuated by a dense network of lakes. The highest point of the Big Solovetsky Island is Mount Sekirnaya (73.5 m). At its top is the Voznesensky Skete of the Solovetsky Monastery, founded almost two centuries ago. The southern region is a depression, most of which is occupied by peat bogs and half-grown lakes. Surrounding the island, a forest stretches along the entire perimeter of the coast. Northern and eastern shores- the kingdom of luxurious pine forests, protecting with a powerful wall central regions wind islands. On the south coast deciduous forest grows.

On a narrow strip of land between the Holy Lake and the Bay of Prosperity, open sea and almost 2 km deep into the island, the Solovetsky Kremlin is located - the core of the Solovetsky Monastery. From his visit, thousands of pilgrims and tourists begin their acquaintance with Solovki. Not far from the architectural and historical complex is the administrative center of the archipelago - the village of Solovetsky. Here flows the ordinary worldly life. The village has shops, a post office, a bank, a small airport, and a factory for the production of canned seaweed.

Slender silhouettes of ancient buildings, gradually emerging as you approach the island, amaze with their grandiosity. From the east, the Holy Lake adjoins the ancient walls, which is an integral part of the magnificent architectural composition. It is hard to believe that the fortification walls, built of huge stone blocks, are the result of human labor, and the Holy Lake is a foundation pit formed during work to connect the Solovetsky lakes into a single hydraulic system.

The appearance of the Solovetsky Kremlin combines the architectural traditions of Russian military-defensive architecture and the architectural features inherent in Scandinavian fortifications. The unique originality of the appearance of the Kremlin is given by its towers protruding beyond the line of walls, each of which has its own name and a special history. The construction of the fortification lasted 11 years and was mostly completed by 1594.

The main entrance to the monastery property is called the Holy Gate. They are located in the western part of the fortress wall and represent a wide arched span. The territory of the architectural complex is conditionally divided into zones. In the center is a cathedral complex surrounded by residential and outbuildings, in the south is a courtyard with a mill, in the north are former prison buildings.

The heart of the Kremlin is the cathedral complex, which, together with the fortress towers, determines its unique silhouette. It was created over almost three centuries, but the main buildings date back to the 16th-17th centuries. The dominant structure is the three-tiered Transfiguration Cathedral, which is a symbol of the greatness of the Solovetsky Monastery. This five-domed temple was erected in the 16th century and with its severe appearance resembles a fortress. The thickness of its walls in some places is about five meters, and the corner aisles are similar to fortress towers. On the first tier of the cathedral there are vaulted rooms, used mainly for household needs, on the second - the premises of the temple itself, on the third - four chapels.

An outstanding attraction is the Assumption refectory complex, with the construction of which stone construction began on the Solovetsky Islands. It includes the Assumption Church, the Refectory and the Kelarskaya chambers. IN holidays in the Refectory even today tables are laid for guests and brethren, and in the monastery bakery they still bake delicious monastery bread.

The complex of ancient buildings also includes the Church of the Annunciation, built in the best traditions of domestic temple architecture. Also on the territory of the monastery you can see the stone water mill built in the 17th century, the oldest in Russia.

During the tour you will also see religious buildings built in a later period - the Holy Trinity Zosima-Sabbatiev Cathedral, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Cathedral of Metropolitan Philip, the bell tower. Overview hiking in the Solovetsky Kremlin lasts about three hours. The cost is 400 rubles (in Russian), 650 rubles (in another language).

Hermitages and deserts

Not far from the monastery walls, on the picturesque shore of Lake Igumenskoe, is the Filippov, or Jesus, hermitage. Back in the 16th century, Abbot Philip retired here, spending time in silent prayers. According to the chronicle, one day Jesus Christ appeared to him, after which the abbot built a wooden chapel by the lake with his own hands. In the middle of the 19th century, the chapel was rebuilt into a temple named after the Icon of the Mother of God, and later a stone cell building was erected. In 1935, Pavel Florensky, a famous religious figure, philosopher and scientist, worked here in prison.

Approximately 4 km from the Solovetsky Kremlin, on the shores of Lake Lower Perth, there is Makarievsky Pustyn. This corner of the Solovetsky Islands, surrounded by hills, is often called the dacha of Archimandrite Macarius, the Gorka farm, the Botanical Garden. The local unique microclimate has long been loved by the monastic abbots. At the beginning of the 19th century, one of them, Archimandrite Macarius, built a wooden chapel and two cells here: for his own solitude and for the monks to live. Then a modest two-story house was built here, and the surrounding land began to be cultivated. Gardens appeared here, on the slopes of the hills the monks arranged terraces, where they planted flower beds, planted berry bushes, cedar trees, apple trees, and in heated greenhouses they grew melons and watermelons.

Today, the Botanical Garden of the Solovetsky Islands is equipped here, where gardens with bird cherry, lilac, apple trees, and roses are in bloom just 160 km from the Arctic Circle. More than 700 species of plants planted in different historical periods are presented in the Botanical Garden.

Hiking and bus tours. Walking tour with an overview picturesque surroundings takes about three and a half hours, bus - an hour and a half. The cost is 400 rubles per person.

At 11 km from the monastery, on Sekirnaya Hill, there is the Holy Ascension Skete, founded in the 19th century. A stone three-tiered church was built here, on the dome of which there is a lighthouse. Since ancient times, at sunset, the monks lit a lantern to show the way to sailors and fishermen. They say that its light was visible for 100 km. The lighthouse is still in operation today.

Savvatievsky Skete is located 13 km northwest of the Solovetsky Kremlin. Until the 18th century, hermit monks retired in these places, after which monastery fishermen and hayfields lived here in the summer. In the middle of the 19th century, a stone church and a cell building were erected here. In the post-revolutionary years, the skete served as a place of imprisonment for the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, and in the 40s of the last century, the school of the Navy Jung was located here. Today, divine services are held in the restored church on holidays.

One of the most ancient deserts on the Solovetsky Islands is Isaakovskaya. It is located in a beautiful area, surrounded by lakes rich in fish. It is known that already in the 17th century there was a wooden chapel dedicated to Isaac of Dalmatia, later a cell building was built. In the XVIII century the desert became the center of fishing. In the "camp" era, logging was carried out here. Today, the meadows surrounding the skete are the most important monastic hayfields on the Solovetsky Islands.

Lake travel

Anyone who goes on a journey along the Solovetsky lakes and the canals connecting them will never forget these silent shores overgrown with forests, golden sandbanks, water lilies that form a continuous carpet in the backwaters, crystal clear water where flocks of fish frolic, and funny ducklings, chasing the boat and begging for food. The lakes are especially beautiful in the morning hours, when fog mysteriously hides their mirror surface. The water in the canals is flowing, purest, you can drink it without fear, like hundreds of years ago.

On Bolshoy Solovetsky Island you will have the opportunity to go through the lakes and man-made canals on a small rowing boat, which you will manage on your own. Excursions run along two routes: the Small Circle (5-6 lakes) and the Big Circle (11-12 lakes). Each traveler is given an inflatable vest, there is a life buoy in the boat. The boat station is located on the island of Middle Perth, but tickets must be purchased at tour desk museum-reserve (the distance between the points is about 3 km, you have to go on foot). Traveling around the lakes takes from 3 hours, the cost is from 550 rubles per person.

At the western tip of the island there is one of the rare places on our planet where you can watch beluga whales right from the shore - northern whales, whose color, depending on age, smoothly changes from dark blue to white. It is better to watch them in June-July, when they swim very close to the shore.

Anzersky island

Anzersky Island, or Anzer, is the second largest island of the Solovetsky archipelago, its territory is 24 km². From other islands located compactly, Anzer is separated by the Anzerskaya Salma Strait. The coast of the island is completely dotted with coves, especially picturesque. west coast, dotted with boulders covered with soft moss, among which lingonberry bushes and wild rose hips lurk. The central part of Anzer is similar in its landscape to the Big Solovetsky Island. Here, luxurious forests give way to spacious meadows with tall fragrant grass, they are bordered by lakes with a mirror-like surface of still water, along the roads there are flower carpets woven from willow tea, lungwort, bluebells, buttercups, violets, forget-me-nots, dandelions.

Among the other Solovetsky Islands, Anzer is perhaps the most conducive to hermitage. It is 22 km away from the mainland coast, and sometimes, in bad weather, the message is interrupted for a long time. From the Big Solovetsky Island, excursions on a boat depart here, which departs from the pier in the Long Guba Bay. The journey lasts about 12 hours, the cost is from 1600 rubles per person. Tours around the island are pedestrian, there is no service here, so take care of food in advance.

During the trip, you can enjoy the view of the magnificent landscapes of the island and visit its two main shrines - strict prayer sketes: Holy Trinity (XVII century) and Golgotha-Crucifixion (XVIII century). Both sketes are active today. Formally, they are part of the Solovetsky Monastery, but housekeeping and the internal way of life are the prerogative of the inhabitants of the sketes. They are mostly recluses, and devote most of their lives to solitary prayers.

Very close to the main island of the archipelago is the island of Bolshaya Muksalma, they are separated by two straits: the Southern Iron Gates and the Northern Iron Gates. The islands are connected by a kilometer-long dam built by monks from stone boulders. You can get to Bolshaya Muksalma by boat or go on an exciting, but rather extreme journey along the dam. If you decide to go on foot, wear rubber shoes and warm clothes, and if you prefer to go on a bicycle, keep in mind that you will have to carry it on yourself part of the way, as many sections of the dam are swampy. The width of the dam allows a truck to drive over it, but motor vehicles are a bad option, as it is very easy to get bogged down.

In the morning hours, the dam, wrapped in a whitish haze, looks completely mystical; no less charming landscapes will open up to you here in the pre-sunset hours. At the end of the dam, where Bolshaya Muksalma begins, local fishermen sell delicious smoked fish.

The territory of the island itself is slightly more than 17 km², it is the third largest among the Solovetsky Islands. Here you will not see any forests or lakes, most of the island territory is covered with small forests, among which picturesque groves stand out with low, bizarrely shaped Karelian birch trees.

At the dawn of the existence of the Solovetsky Monastery, these lands were used for grazing monastery cows and horses. Later, a cattle yard was equipped here, and then hayfields appeared. In 1876, a stone temple was built on the island in the name of Sergius of Rodonezh, and 20 years later, a skete with the same name. In the 20th century, all buildings fell into decay, but today restoration work is underway here.

Malaya Muksalma

The rocky islet Malaya Muksalma, the smallest of the Solovetsky Islands, occupies an area of only 0.57 km². It adjoins Bolshaya Muksalma Island from its southeastern side and is separated from the latter by a narrow strait, which can be forded at low tide.

Apart from the wooden barn, which is a typical outbuilding of the 19th century, there is only one interesting attraction here - the chapel of the Nativity of Christ. Some historians consider it the most ancient building on the Solovetsky Islands.

Zayatsky Islands

Right opposite southwest coast On the Big Solovetsky Island are the Zayatsky Islands - Big and Small. Both are small. The first occupies an area of 1.25 km², and the second - 1.02 km², and a narrow strait separates them. You can get here from the main island by boat in 45 minutes. The tour will cost you from 750 rubles per person. Walking route runs along a specially equipped ecological path, from which it is forbidden to go.

Despite the proximity to the Big Solovetsky Island, covered with lush vegetation, "Hares" or "Bunnies", as the islanders affectionately call them, show completely different landscapes. The local nature reminds of the proximity of the Arctic Circle. The area here is deserted, reminiscent of the tundra: rocky land, rare shrubs, trees in the forests are small and stunted, there are no lakes, swamps, plowed meadows here. However, this corner of Solovki is filled with its own charm.

Bolshoy Zayatsky Island is famous for the fact that there are megalithic structures dating back to the II-I centuries BC. e. They are boulder mounds laid out in the form of a labyrinth. The question of their purpose is still open, but most scientists believe that stone labyrinths are associated with the pagan funeral cult of the Sami. The fact that similar structures can be found in Ireland, the countries of Scandinavia, in the north of France may indicate that a single civilization once lived in the north of Europe.

On Bolshoy Zayatsky Island there is the first stone harbor in Russia, built in the 16th century from a local boulder. Another famous attraction of the island is the perfectly preserved St. Andrew's Church, built at the behest of Peter I.

Where to stay

The Solovetsky Islands cannot boast of excellent tourism infrastructure, and in order to be in the realm of virgin nature, tourists have to sacrifice a certain amount of comfort. Hotels and tourist complexes are concentrated on the Big Solovetsky Island. They offer both rooms with all amenities and common rooms where toilets and showers are located on the floor. A double room with private facilities will cost you from 4500 rubles per day. There are several guest houses on the territory of the reserve, where the price for a double room starts from 3000 rubles.

In the village of Solovetsky, almost every family willingly rents out housing. You can rent a room for 1,500 rubles, an apartment - from 2,550 rubles a day.

Many nature lovers come to Solovki with their own tents. For such guests, on the outskirts of the village there is a platform for tent city. In order to get a place here, you will need permission from the local administration. Additionally, you will have to pay a fee of 250 rubles / day per person. To the services of the inhabitants of the town there is a field kitchen and a bathhouse.

Souvenirs

In memory of the Solovetsky Islands, you can buy illustrated books or photo albums with views of the museum-reserve, Pomeranian souvenirs - animal figures made of wood. Popular local gingerbread, which is called "roe".

In the monastery shops you can find interesting icons.

Where to eat

Cafes and restaurants are mainly located on the territory of tourist centers and in hotels, but from time to time they serve groups, therefore they are closed to individual tourists. The menu in Solovetsky establishments is quite diverse, the dishes are mainly prepared from local products - fish, mushrooms, berries.

You can eat in the refectories. On average, it will cost 400 rubles per person, in a cafe - a little more. Non-alcoholic hearty dinner in a restaurant - from 1500 rubles per person.

Transport

Public transport on the Solovetsky Islands is represented by PAZ museum and hotel buses, designed for 25 people. Private transportation is also common here (mainly jeeps and minibuses). Prices must be negotiated with the driver. You can rent a car from a private person (usually about 5000 rubles / day). Since there are no paved roads on Solovki, the speed of transport is no more than 25 km per hour.

Popular transport is boats and motor ships, on which you can travel around the islands and get to the mainland. The cost of the trip is from 600 rubles per person (depending on the distance).

Tourists often rent bicycles, preferring mountain models, as the terrain here is hilly. At rental points you can rent a bike for an hour (80-150 rubles), and for more long term which will be much cheaper.

Regardless of what time of the year you go to the Solovetsky Islands, take warm clothes, a windbreaker, a waterproof raincoat and shoes with you. To visit places of worship, women must have a long skirt and a scarf.
In monasteries and sketes, you need to behave modestly and quietly, you can take pictures only with the blessing of the abbot of the monastery. Mobile phones should be turned off.
During excursions, you can not walk around the bus, drink alcohol, throw garbage out the windows.
There are no ATMs on Solovki, so you can't do without cash here.
To get a complete picture of the Solovetsky Islands, you will need at least 3 days, but when planning a trip, keep in mind that your stay here can be delayed at any time due to storms, fog, wind, when communication with the mainland is interrupted.

How to get there

There is a small airport on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island. From Moscow and St. Petersburg you can fly here with a transfer in Arkhangelsk. In general, it will take about 5 hours. The cost is from 25,000 rubles round trip. The airport is often closed due to weather conditions.

During the shipping season, it is convenient to get to the Solovetsky Islands from the cities of Kemi and Belomorsk, located on the mainland. Arriving in Kem, you need to take a minibus to the pier of the village of Rabocheostrovsk (about 20 minutes). From here in the summer, regular and private boats, motor ships depart twice a day. A two-hour trip will cost from 1,500 rubles for an adult, a ticket for a child from 3 to 10 years old - from 750 rubles. Younger children can travel for free.

From Belomorsk (from the port of Rybny) it takes longer to get there - about 4 hours. Ticket prices are similar to the previous route.

My friend Tanya, with whom I have been friends since first grade, suggested that I go on vacation to the Solovetsky Islands. Where these islands are, I knew only approximately - in the North. I also knew the expression "exile to Solovki". This means that "somewhere far away, and in a very unpleasant place."
And suddenly, there, - on the Solovetsky Islands, - on vacation?!
Well, how can you miss such an adventure?! Of course let's go!

Study of the Solovetsky Islands in theory and practice

Before the trip, we read about the Solovetsky Islands. An archipelago of six large and hundreds of small islands in the White Sea. All of them belong to Far North and included in the State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve. The relief of the islands is formed by a glacier. Despite the northern latitudes, the climate there is quite mild due to the influence of the sea. Winters are not very cold; but in the summer northeast winds blow, often cloudy and foggy. The vegetation is not rich, bordering between the northern taiga and the forest-tundra. In the coastal strip, there are rich plantations of algae (kelp, fucus), which are used for the manufacture of cosmetics.

Actually big island archipelago is the Solovetsky Monastery, founded in 1436. It also served as a military fortress, a place of exile and a prison. Since 1923, there was one of the most terrible camps - SLON (Solovki Special Purpose Camp), in which tens of thousands of people died from hunger, cold and torture. But this is too heavy a topic, not for an article about amateur gardening, but rather about professional sadism.

We went to this dark place. It takes about three hours to sail to the Solovetsky Islands from the mainland by boat. The ship, designed for 300 seats, accommodated about 800 tourists and pilgrims, who sat and stood everywhere: on the decks, in the aisles, on the steps. I thought about civil war and the evacuation of whites from the Crimea. I figured out how to survive in the White Sea, if this vessel starts to sink from overload ... But - it worked out, we sailed.

Coastal walk

Immediately, on the very first evening, we went for a walk on the coast. The local vegetation turned out to be not that poor, but very strange. The plants in the forest were small and stunted, though familiar. Many .

On the shore grew "dancers", all bizarrely twisted. Guidebooks call them “dancing”, and irreverent tourists called them “drunks”. Such curved trees are called crooked trees.
The reason for the emergence of forests with twisted trees is unknown. There are such trees on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Everywhere, local residents note the bad energy of these places and bypass the crooked forests...

In the photo: "dancing" birches; kelp on rocks at low tide

And it is true, on the shore we were creepy. The sea was drowning in mist. The low tide exposed glacial boulders covered with algae (kelp, or fucus).
From this phantasmagoric picture, we wanted to run away to the hotel as soon as possible, which we did - rightly judging that the morning of the evening, if not wiser, then certainly more fun.

And the next morning we were rewarded: the sun came out. Previously, we were scared that we were provided with rain and fog for the whole trip, although it was July. But we got lucky with the weather.

Big Solovetsky Island

We began to explore the Big Solovetsky Island. A glacier passed through the entire archipelago, leaving behind boulders of all shapes and sizes, which make up a typical landscape of the forest-tundra zone (see title photo).

Stones are an indispensable element or, which are now present in many gardens. Which of the gardeners did not overstrain, dragging the found spectacular cobblestone to their favorite dacha? Ownerless boulders have become a rarity in the Moscow region.
That is why a walk around the Solovetsky Islands with an abundance is flour for fanatical summer residents who have a rock garden (such as my friend and I). As they say, "the eye sees, but the tooth is numb." Do not take with you from here at least something of the wealth you have seen, do not decorate your alpine hill with them ...

The monastery walls, buildings, dams are built from huge boulders. But they were built in the 16th century! It is incomprehensible to the mind how the monks could move giant blocks, and even raise them to the height of the monastery walls!

The forest on the Solovetsky Islands is full of picturesque glacial lakes and swamps with smooth round shores - just examples for a landscape architect.

In the photo: glacial lake; labyrinth on Zayatsky island

Big Zayatsky Island

The next day we sailed on a boat to Bolshoi Zayatsky Island. Hares have nothing to do with him. Some say that the White Sea seals were called “sea hares” (although, in my opinion, there is not the slightest resemblance between them). Others believe that the monks sailed to this island for eider eggs ("eggs").

Zayatsky Island, like the entire Solovetsky Archipelago, is included in the list world heritage UNESCO. No one lives on it; no one should even step on its soil, as the relict vegetation of the island can be damaged. On the tourist trail around Zayatsky Island, wooden decks have been laid, and it is strictly forbidden to go down from them to the ground.
There are no trees there, only low bushes and thickets of crows grow. Crow berries are not poisonous, but watery and tasteless.

But the main thing on Zayatsky Island is not vegetation, but labyrinths. These ancient religious buildings made of stones date back to the 1st-2nd centuries. BC. They are associated with the cult of the dead and are stone spiral ridges leading to the center of the labyrinth. In the center is a hill of stones, apparently symbolizing the mountain, in the depths of which the Kingdom of the Dead was located.
Each labyrinth has one entrance (it is also an exit). Having entered the labyrinth and following the hollow between the ridges, a person reaches the center of the labyrinth, goes further in a spiral and, without turning anywhere, comes to the exit. According to the assumptions of scientists, primitive people believed that from such a labyrinth the soul of the deceased could not get back to the Kingdom of the Living. Interestingly, the tops of the ridges of the labyrinths are overgrown with crowberry, but the hollows between them remain stony, untouched by vegetation. Although the human foot has not set foot in them for many centuries; and, moreover, no one weeded them.
Not far from the labyrinths lie piles of stones, under which ancient burials with utensils, stone products and human bones were found.

One could tell a lot about the history of Zayatsky Island. About Peter I, who built a small church of St. Andrew the First-Called on the island. About the monks who built economic chambers here. But our theme is local plants.

Botanical Garden

When we were offered to go on an excursion to the Botanical Garden, we were very surprised. It is hard to imagine the presence of a botanical garden much north of Arkhangelsk, not far from the Arctic Circle!
Of course, we went to the Botanical Garden. They just went, but they didn't. public transport there are no economic vehicles on the islands, there are few economic vehicles. Due to belonging to the UNESCO Monuments, they plan to completely abandon diesel fuel and switch to environmentally friendly energy sources. Therefore, it was strange to see solar panels near the church on the top of Sekirnaya Hill, the center of the most terrible camp of Solovki.
Even the roads on the Solovetsky Islands are not paved, but unpaved, sometimes sprinkled with gravel. We walked four kilometers along such a road - from the center of the island to the so-called Khutor Gorka or Makaryeva Desert, where the Botanical Garden is located.

The hermitage was founded by Archimandrite Macarius in 1822 so that the monks could retire for prayers. But then a wax factory was built here, the hot water from which was used to heat greenhouses and greenhouses. Cucumbers, melons, and peaches were grown in greenhouses.

By the end of the 19th century, the Botanical Garden was laid out here, in which yellow acacia and other plants settled.
The central larch alley leads up the hill, to the dacha of Archimandrite Macarius. The country house was built in the 60s of the XIX century from larch, which almost does not rot.
The archimandrite's dacha is very modest, simple and light, in exceptionally good taste. It forms a single whole with the surrounding nature and compares favorably with modern luxurious mansions of church hierarchs.

In the photo: larch alley; bergenia thickets; dacha of the archimandrite

The alley leading to the archimandrite's dacha is abundantly overgrown with bergenia planted in the 19th century. Since then it has grown greatly. And larches were planted later (in the 30s of the 20th century) by prisoners of the camp: after all, then the camp authorities lived on the territory of the Makaryeva Desert, who wished to decorate their lives with these majestic trees.

Further in the Botanical Garden, we saw the usual ornamental plants and flowers that grow beautifully in our dachas in the Moscow region, but we did not expect to see them in these harsh regions. And how do they grow here? Cheerful flaunts against the backdrop of an ancient glacier cellar made of huge boulders. Blossom, tiger, - everything is so dear and familiar!

In the photo: a flower garden in botanical garden; cedars planted by monks; sweet raspberry

Our guide decided to test our group and at the same time fill in the gaps in our botanical knowledge. But he underestimated us! To his question: “Do you know what kind of plants these are?”, - Tatyana and I, like school crammers, vied with each other shouting: “!”, “!”, “Western thuja!”. And only once we had doubts, not immediately recognizing a sprawling plant with huge leaves on very long petioles. It turned out that this is normal.

And then we watched the pharmacy garden with medicinal herbs: St. John's wort, tarragon,. Again, everything is so dear and familiar ...

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“Yesterday I walked a little along the snowy field. Under the setting sun, the snow was as if showered with rose petals ... The snowy surface was dotted with traces of living beings - footprints of some birds, with trailing grooves from the tail, dimples of hares, foxes, and some other then animals. The sky, as often on Solovki, burned with all colors. " (Florensky Pavel. Letters from Far East and Solovkov. 1937.IV.4 No. 97. M.: Thought, 1998.)

The nature of Solovki is threatened by chemical weapons

Lev Fedorov: "In the Baltic Sea in 1947 was flooded... chemical weapons that ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation... It was really flooded in the Baltic Sea, near the Danish coast... It's 100 m deep, where it was flooded in the Baltic Sea And our, Russian chemical weapons, created by our own hands and flooded by our own hands near Solovki at a depth of 50 m, so not a single person asks, no one ever, because the Ministry of Defense hides this from us. Lev Fedorov, Professor. Radio "Echo of Moscow", 8.08.2001).

Sensation! Solovki!

Reporter's notes

"... the population of the islands did not always exist in harmony with the environment, but natural factors were taken into account in their life activity. Nature not only organically entered the rhythm of monastic life, but also sheltered hermits from worldly bustle ... Here it was possible to survive only by finding a fundamentally different ... way of managing. Even the traditional crafts of the White Sea region needed a significant restructuring ... so, saving the forests, they stopped on the islands. The monks, who did not know such words, were well aware of the vulnerability of the island ecosystem. Everything Solovetsky was given special value. Even purely mercenary the measure of collection by the monastery of a tenth of the crafts carried out on Solovki by the inhabitants of the mainland can be considered as an environmental measure that limits the withdrawal of natural resources ... ( Asef Jafarli. Feature of the Solovetsky hunting. Journal "Culture". Moscow. 04/16/1998)

Which for forty years was the history of the Solovetsky camp.

Solovetsky fox

The Russian writer Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn in his novel The Gulag Archipelago gave a brief description of the nature of the Solovetsky Archipelago. There is no doubt that the four inaccuracies contained in this short passage of text play absolutely no role in reading a great novel. We mention them only as an interesting episode from Solovetsky life.

"Natural" inaccuracies in the text of the great novel

Alexander Solzhenitsyn:“Without us, these islands rose from the sea, without us they filled with two hundred fish lakes, without us they settled with capercaillie, hares, deer, and foxes, wolves and other predatory animals were never here.

Glaciers came and went, granite boulders crowded around the lakes; the lakes froze on a Solovetsky winter night, the sea roared from the wind and was covered with ice slush, and where it seized; auroras blazed in half the sky; and again it got brighter, and again it got warmer, and spruces grew and grew thicker, birds cackled and called, young deer trumpeted - the planet was spinning with all world history, kingdoms fell and arose, - but here there were no predatory animals and there was no man.

This text of the novel "The Gulag Archipelago" about the nature of Solovki contains four inaccuracies:

(a) ... foxes ... and another predatory beast has never been here ...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was wrong - there is a predator on the islands, and this predator is a fox. Here is how the great Russian poet Nikolai Klyuev describes the morning in Solovki: “And I lived in Solovki twice ... I lived for a long time in a hut by the lake, ate what God sent: blueberries, mushrooms; wild swans swam right under the window, took bread crusts from their hands; the fox got into the habit of running under the window, it would wake up every dawn, there was no need to wait for the bell.

"Across the lake is the road to Golgotha. A shady road, a lake through every verst, in the lake - a sky-dove or a reddish sunrise-sunset. Sunrise-sunset. Namely: sunrise-sunset. tentacles of the tops of the forest and the belly of flying birds. On the lakes, in the green thicket, friable duck "cree" rushes. Here a fox ran across the road, waving the ore plume of a huge tail. And there, in the distance, in these endless curls of greenery, with a white, demanding finger on the top of the mountain, giving himself up to snowstorms and storms, - Golgotha Monastery... And in the greenery near the white walls, people swarm like lice. ( Zvibelfish. On an island in Anzère. Magazine "Solovki Islands", No. 7, 07.1926. C.3-9).

"In 2002, when I was on the Big Hare Island, I kept dreaming of photographing a hare. There are many of them, and they are very large - noble animals. However, although I saw them, I failed to photograph a single one. Imagine my surprise when on the path leading to the Holy Spring I ran into a fox nose to nose.The fox was also apparently surprised quite a lot, because for a long time we stood and stared at each other.and the fox darted to the side, but I managed to take one more picture before it disappeared in the bushes." (Travel notes for the very leisurely. Report on a trip to Solovki in September 2006. Part 6. "In the animal world", Chapter 5. "Foxes, horses". As a manuscript. livejournal. New York, USA. 2006)

(b) ... wolves and other predatory beasts have never been here ...

Records have been preserved that until 1429 there were wolves on the Solovetsky Islands. Here's what happened next. An old legend tells that St. Zosima of Solovetsky imposed an eternal fast on the Solovetsky land - all forest creatures should not eat slaughter, and for wolves that they cannot be alive without hot blood, he indicated the way from the island according to his New City custom. The wolves obeyed the words of the Saint, sat down in the spring on the floating ice floes and swam away to the far Kemsky shore.

But the Saint did not cast a spell on the wolves, because for the most dangerous northern predator, one word of the Saint was enough. For 600 years now, wolves have bypassed Solovki, and when they happen to be on the islands against their own, free wolf will, they run away. They say that once on the island of Anzer "... they tried to settle a she-wolf to limit the herd of deer that had taken root only here since the time of St. Philip (Kolychev), in the winter she left and was found on another island, cut up by ice floes. The she-wolf left the island, On the island - an abundance of mushrooms, northern berries (cloudberries, lingonberries, crowberries, blueberries, blueberries, etc.), excellent fishing grounds, curious seals and no less curious hares, .. "but the abundance of food did not stop the beast from escape - she could not contradict the word of St. Zosima.

(c) ... without us these islands rose from the sea, without us they filled with two hundred fish lakes ...

Alexander Isaevich made a mistake in assessing the number of lakes - there are almost 2.5 times more of them on the islands, only about 500, and not 200, as the classic writes.

(d) ... without us, these islands rose from the sea ... without us, capercaillie, hares, deer settled ...

In this case, Alexander Solzhenitsyn made a mistake in listing the native animals. The deer did not inhabit the islands themselves, but were brought from the mainland and released by the monks during the reign of St. Philip (Kolychev). Reindeer meat was used as food by laborers and peasants, and skins were used to make winter clothing and footwear.

There is no data on the state of nature

The first inter-regional seminar on monitoring the nature of Solovki ended in Solovki. The Solovetsky Archipelago Monitoring Program was adopted. This is the first program for studying the nature of Solovki, developed by the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve and the Center "Natural Resources of the North" of Pomor University (Arkhangelsk).

"The need to monitor the natural environment of Solovki is obvious: at present, there is no complete data on the state of this unique natural complex. This means that it is now almost impossible to predict the development of the environmental situation, to determine the limits of anthropogenic loads on Solovki.

The purpose of monitoring is to create an adequate picture of the state natural heritage Solovkov. The first stage of the program is designed for 2003-2007... Together with the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve, scientists from Pomor University, Arkhangelsk Technical University, Northern Medical University, Arkhangelsk Hydrometeorological Center, Northern Branch of the Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (SevPINRO) took part in the discussion of the program , the Arkhangelsk Forest Inventory Expedition, the Solovetsky Branch of the White Sea Biological Station of Moscow State University, as well as representatives of the Solovetsky District Administration.

The workshop decided to share the results annually. Thus, each participant of the Program will have a complete picture of the progress of monitoring and the environmental situation in Solovki. The program will create a coordinating council. The Solovetsky Museum-Reserve has undertaken to form a unified database of research results... It is planned that students and young scientists will take part in the Monitoring Program within the framework of the work of the Educational Center "Solovki Islands." ( "MR-Prof". Weekly museum magazine. Issue 41 (304), 23.10.2003)

Islands, villages, farms, hills, swamps, streams, lakes, bays, etc.
: Solovki in the texts of the novel "The Gulag Archipelago".

You definitely heard their name and held their image in your hands. We are talking about Solovki, islands with a bright history and unique nature. They seem close and familiar to us, but we can’t even say for sure where the very word “Solovki” came from.

Geography

1. Solovki are fairly young islands. They appeared after the glaciation receded 12 thousand years ago. The glaciers are gone, but the stones, sand and soil they brought have remained.

2. There are no rivers and almost no springs on Solovki. All fresh water found in numerous relict lakes. There are more than 600 of them in the archipelago.

3. Approximately 1/8 of the territory of Solovki is occupied by a real swamp.

4. The Solovetsky Islands are the largest archipelago of the White Sea. Its area is 347 km², which is more than the territory of the Maldives.

5. Of the 50 stone labyrinths found in Russia, 35 are located on the territory of the Solovetsky Islands. Their age is over 2000 years. Academician N.N. Vinogradov suggested that the labyrinths or, as the locals call them, "Babylons" are associated with the cult of the dead. The soul locked in the center of the labyrinth can no longer get out.

6. stone labyrinths on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, not far from the monastery, laid out already in the 20th century for tourists. The most ancient and well-preserved labyrinths are located on Zayatsky Island.

Biology

1. Solovetsky gulls - a symbol of the islands. These birds inhabit the territory of the entire archipelago and are considered spring messengers in the Solovetsky monastery.

2. More than 30 species of mosquitoes live on the Solovetsky Islands. They are quite sociable and love tourists, especially those who neglect long sleeves and repellents.

3. There are kelp plantations on Solovki. Local residents use these algae for food, as well as dry them, make cosmetics and medicinal preparations for sale.

4. Solovki is known for its "dancing" birches. If you look at such a tree at sunset, it may seem that these are the silhouettes of dancing people. In fact, thin northern birches, grown in a constant wind, acquire such bizarre shapes.

5. Despite the small territory, animal world Solovkov is diverse. lives here great amount birds (more than 200 species), and among the animals you can meet foxes, squirrels, hares and even reindeer.

History and Monastery

1. The first human traces on Solovki date back to the 3rd millennium BC.

2. The first monks settled in Solovki in 1429. These were the monks Herman and Savvaty, they erected a cross and a cell about 13 km from the future monastery. Gradually, after the death of Savvaty, other monks began to arrive on the island.

3. The Solovetsky Monastery was founded in 1436. It was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries, by the 17th century there were about 350 monks, 600-700 novices and peasants in the monastery.

4. The walls of the monastery are made of huge boulders, some of them are more than two meters in diameter. The thickness of the monastery walls in this case can reach 6 meters.

5. It is still not clear who actually built the Solovetsky Kremlin. The weight of some of the stones that make up the walls reaches 8 tons, and the lichen covering the boulders dates back 2-3 thousand years. There is a version expressed by V.A. Lekomtsev that the fortress existed on the island long before the arrival of the monks, who only completed and strengthened the centuries-old buildings.

6. In the 16th century, monks dug many canals, linking the Solovetsky Lakes into a single system. The large and small circles of the lake-canal system have survived to this day and are used for boat trips. To take a trip through big circle minimum 10 hours required.

7. Under the Solovetsky Monastery there is a system underground passages 1.5 kilometers long. It was used to provide the monastery with water, but if desired, it could be used as a back door behind the walls of the fortress.

8. The Solovetsky Monastery was besieged several times. The longest siege began in 1669 and lasted for 8 years. It was caused by the refusal of the monks to conduct divine services according to the new model introduced by Patriarch Nikon. This siege went down in history as the Solovetsky seat.

9. The Solovetsky sitting could last longer - the monastery was well protected and had large food supplies. But in 1676, one of the defectors helped the archery army to penetrate the territory of the monastery and open the gates. Of the 500 defenders, only 14 survived.

10. There is a dry dock on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, built back in 1801. He was one of the first in Russia.

11. There is a botanical garden on the territory of the Solovetsky Islands. It was founded in 1822. To provide plants with water, pipes made of baked clay were laid underground.

12. In the 19th - early 20th centuries, melons, watermelons and peaches grew in the Solovetsky Botanical Garden. These southern plants were grown in greenhouses, the heat from which came through pipes from the waxworks.

13. In 1854, as part of the Crimean War, the English fleet entered the White Sea and headed for Solovki. Having received a refusal from the monks to surrender the fortress, the frigates Brisk and Miranda fired cannons at the monastery. 120 new English guns bombarded the monastery for 9 hours. Heavy fire pierced one of the icons, killed a seagull and scared the locals away. The monastery itself remained intact.

14. The Solovetsky Monastery had its own hydroelectric power station. It was installed on the canal between the Holy Lake and the Dry Dock in 1911 and provided the island with electricity for a long time until it was destroyed during the Brezhnev rule.

15. Before the revolution, the Solovetsky Monastery acquired several motor ships to deliver pilgrims to the island. The ships were called "Vera" (began to sail from 1862) and "Hope" (launched in 1863) and could carry up to 500 passengers per voyage. Later, the monastery acquired two more ships: the steamer "Solovki" and "Mikhail Archangel".

16. The roads on Solovki were paved by monks in the 16th century. Since then, the masonry has been updated only a couple of times, the last one during the Gulag. For comparison, the paved road in the village near the monastery lasted 2 years.

17. Big Solovetsky Island and the island of Bolshaya Muksalma are connected by a dam. It was laid in 1827, the length of the dam is 1200 meters. The second dam was only 300 meters long and connected the islands of Bolshaya and Malaya Muksalma. Unfortunately, over time, the building collapsed and went under water.

Solovki as a prison

2. In the XVI - XIX centuries There was also a prison on the territory of the Solovetsky Monastery. She was considered especially reliable because of her location. Mostly political prisoners were exiled to Solovki.

3. In 1923, Solovki began to be exiled systematically. On November 2, SLON, the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp, was established.

4. Among the especially famous prisoners of the SLON and the Gulag were Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, ethnographer Nikolai Nikolaevich Vinogradov, Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Ivan Nikiforovich Lysenko (in the future - senior intelligence sergeant, hero of the Soviet Union).

5. There was a Railway. It was built in 1923 for quick access to Filimonovsky peat extraction. Despite the closure of the narrow gauge railway in 1932, some sections of it have survived to this day.

Pilgrimage and Solovki

1. More than 20,000 tourists visit Solovki every year. Most of them are pilgrims.

2. In Solovetsky Monastery Orthodox relics are kept, which are annually visited by thousands of pilgrims. Among them: the white stone cross of Savvaty of Solovetsky, the Bogolyubskaya icon Holy Mother of God, with the upcoming saints Zosima and Savvaty and the brethren of the monastery, the phelonion of St. Zosima, part of the wooden shrine of St. Savvaty and many other relics.

3. In pre-revolutionary times, the monks on Solovki lived not only in the monastery. There were many hermitages scattered all over the island, where hermits settled. Such monks were called “hermits of Solovetsky”, among them were the elder Ephraim Cherny, Alexy Kaluzhanin, Tikhon Moskvitin, Joseph I, Joseph II the Younger, Theodulus Ryazanets, Tryphon, Sebastian, monk Porfiry. Today these hermits are revered as Solovki saints.

4. Pilgrims are attracted to Solovki not only by the walls of the ancient monastery and icons, but also by numerous legends about the miracles of the Solovetsky saints. For example, there is a case when the Monk Irinarkh, the deceased hegumen of the monastery, appeared to the laity to save them from death in the ice.

5. On August 21, the transfer of the relics of the Monk Zosima, Savvaty and Herman, the Solovetsky wonderworkers, is celebrated in Solovki. Their tomb was damaged during a great fire in 1694, but the bodies of the saints were not damaged. In the same year, Solovki was visited by Peter I, who made a generous contribution to the restoration of the tomb of the saints.

For tourists

1. The origin of the name "Solovki" still causes fierce debate. The works on the toponymy of the White Sea indicate the origin of the name "Solovki" from the Finnish word "suol" - "island". English travelers of the 16th century. T. Southem and J. Spark call the Solovetsky Island "Abdon". Historians believe that this is either a distortion of the word "aidoni" - nightingale, or "abdon" - remote, hidden. There is another version, according to which the Solovetsky Islands are called so, because they fished together here, co-caught.

2. Directors love Solovki for the color and beauty of northern nature. Films such as The Island by Pavel Lungin or The Split by Nikolai Dostal were filmed here.

3. You can drive around Solovki by car. But not quickly - the cobblestone pavement in the village and the lack of a normal road outside it can break the suspension of almost any car. Therefore, the most popular vehicles on Solovki are off-road vehicles, bicycles and all-terrain vehicles, from factory-made to self-made ones.

4. There is a Maritime Museum on Solovki, in the dock of which, since 2003, work has been carried out on the reconstruction of the famous sovereign yacht "Saint Peter". In the summer of 2015, the yacht was launched.

5. There are two ways to get to Solovki: by sea and by air. There is an airport on the territory of the Bolshoy Solovetsky Island; it receives three flights a week from Arkhangelsk. Sea communication with the islands is regular, there are even flights from Moscow.

6. Of the thirty lighthouses located in Onega Bay, only four are functioning. One of them is Solovetsky, located on Sekirnaya Gora. This is not just a lighthouse, but a lighthouse-bell tower built on top of the Ascension Church. The temple was erected in 1862.

7. Solovki are depicted on the 500 ruble bill. Initially, until 2010, the banknotes depicted the monastery from the side of the Holy Lake and a small ship that sailed along it. In 2011, the banknote was changed, the ship was removed and the angle was slightly shifted, taking the modern view of the monastery as a basis.

8. At Cape Beluga, you can watch the games, oddly enough, belugas. Near Solovki lives the smallest (only 3 meters long) species of beluga whale - the White Sea. In the summer season, the animals come quite close to the shore, where they can be seen and photographed without much difficulty. Another thing is that it is not easy to get to the cape - the road is very swampy, part of it runs along a marshy beach, which is flooded at high tide. But enterprising locals can take you to the place on their all-terrain vehicle, not for free, of course, but brightening the road with a story about the habits of beluga whales.

The Solovetsky archipelago is located in the northern part of the Onega Bay of the White Sea, 165 km south of the conventional line of the Arctic Circle. The shortest distance to the mainland is 40 km (spit of the Onega Peninsula, Arkhangelsk region), to the nearest large locality– 60 km (Kem, Republic of Karelia). Solovki consists of more than 100 islands, including 6 large ones: Bolshoy Solovetsky (219 km 2), Anzer (47 km 2), Bolshaya (19 km 2) and Malaya Muksalma (0.6 km 2), Bolshoi (1.25 km 2) and Maly Zayatsky (1 km 2). The rest of the islands are corgis and luds. Luda is a small island with tundra or forest vegetation. Corgis are rocky islands, usually covered with water at high tide. The total area of the archipelago is 300 km2.

Big Solovetsky - the most large island in the White Sea, its circumference is 80 km, length coastline 181 km, the coast is heavily indented by capes and sea bays (this is how bays are called on Solovki). Dolgaya (Deep) Bay, the largest bay of Solovkov, and Sosnovaya Bay stand out for their size. It extends far into the sea in the south of Cape Pechak, in the north - Cape Treshchansky. The old monastic roads lead to all parts of the island, they all start from the Solovetsky Monastery.

The relief of Solovki is relatively flat, in the northern part of the archipelago there are large hills. The highest heights of the Solovetsky Island are the Volchi Mountains - 78 m. Anzer is the most big mountain throughout the archipelago - Verbokolskaya, 88 m high.

There are several versions of the origin of the name of the archipelago. "Solua" in translation from the Finno-Ugric dialects - "island", "land". Some researchers associate the name with nightingales and "Solovtsy" - sea lambs. An interesting version was proposed by the historian Sergei Morozov, designating Solovki as "a place for joint fishing of the beast" - "Solovki". Most of the names of other islands are Finno-Ugric: Anzer - "elongated island", Muksalma - "big strait".

The Solovetsky Islands are of glacial origin. The last glaciation took place 18 thousand years ago, which began to recede 12 thousand years ago, during this period the archipelago began to form. The basis of the islands is moraine deposits brought by the glacier, consisting of boulders, gravel, sand and clay.

Now most of the territory of the islands is taiga (60%), in which mainly pines and spruces grow. On the White Sea coast you can see the forest-tundra, represented by berries, mosses and "dancing" birch trees. Swamps on Solovki occupy 1/8 of the total area.

The species composition of mammals in Solovki is 4 times less than in mainland Karelia. In the Solovetsky forests one can meet squirrels, hares, elks, common foxes, European red mice. Bats appear seasonally. In the 20th century, the American musk rat, the muskrat, was brought to the Solovetsky Lakes. From reptiles on Solovki there is only a viviparous lizard, from amphibians - a common frog. There are more than 30 species of mosquitoes on the islands, 10 species of bumblebees, encephalitic mites are absent.

The waters of the Solovetsky archipelago are inhabited by seals, sea hare (beared seal), white whales, harbor porpoises, common seals, and sometimes killer whales. The species composition of fish is widely represented: White Sea herring, salmon, navaga, lumpfish, flounder, cod, catfish, smelt, goby. The water area of Solovki is declared a protected area, industrial fishing and fighting of the beast is prohibited.

Solovki are “islands of lakes”, there are more than 600 of them, they occupy 13.5% of the total area (in Finland - only 8%). Most big lake on the archipelago - Big Red (250 hectares), the deepest - Bolshe Gremyache (33.5 m), the most transparent - Svetloye Orlovo (water transparency 10 m). In summer, the lakes warm up to 18-21 C to a depth of 1.5 m. The lakes freeze in November and open up in May. 16 species of fish inhabit the lakes, of which the most common are perch, burbot, pike, roach, stickleback, ruff, sterlet, whitefish, ide, vendace, and crucian carp. There are only 6 indigenous species, the rest were brought in during the monastic period.

There are more than 200 species of birds on Solovki. The most numerous species is the arctic tern, there are from 4 to 10 thousand nesting pairs on the islands. Herring gulls, brown skuas, guillemots, oystercatchers, turnstones are widespread. In the forests you can meet cuckoos, woodpeckers, hazel grouse, capercaillie. In the swamps - sandpipers, ducks, common cranes. The white-tailed eagle, the largest predator of Russia, is also found in the archipelago.

Solovki has its own special microclimate, this should be taken into account when planning a trip:

- Winters here are mild, autumn is warmer than spring, summer is cold;

- High humidity level, frequent winds;

- Delay of the seasons by 2-3 weeks;

- Frequent weather changes.

The longest night on Solovki in December is 22 hours, the same is the length of the longest day - June 22. Summer on Solovki is the time of "white nights". The average annual temperature is +1.1 C. The most severe frost was recorded in 1893 - 36.5 C. On the hottest day, the temperature rose to +31 C. The coldest month in Solovki is February, its average temperature is 11 C. Average the temperature of the warmest summer month - July - +12 C.

Precipitation on Solovki falls from 400 to 600 mm per year, the average snow depth is 40 cm. There are more than 160 windy days a year, storms and hurricanes occur. The rainiest months are August-October. The average annual humidity is 82%.