OLONETS REGIONsights

Historical and cultural area “Southern Karelians of Central Olonets”

Lisya Selga village

Lisya Selga village (selka, selga means hill, ridge) has preserved its near-original look of the late XIXth century and the historic landscape. This small village is situated 5 km west of Olonets-Petrozavodsk highway. It is located on uneven terrain with houses built on hills and banyas in lowlands. You can’t really trace any pattern in placing houses which definitely makes the village more picturesque. Houses were usually built with the dwelling part facing the south to create a favorable microclimate for living.

There are large complex houses traditional for Southern Karelians, barns and banyas in the village. When you enter the village you can see a small chapel (early XXth century). A good state of the historical layout of the village and traditional constructions are of great architectural and ethnographical interest. Several buildings – a house and barns – are on the lists of monuments of folk architecture.

Historical and cultural area “Southern Karelians of Central Olonets”

Lisya Selga, Myatchozero and Sappavaara villages are unique for their` architectural and building techniques.

Bolshaya Selga village, a unique complex monument of wooden architecture of the Southern Karelians

Bolshaya Selga is situated 10 km from Olonets in the southwest of Olonets plain at the watershed of the Olonka and Megrega rivers. Officially, Bolshaya Selga is part of one big village called Selga which comprises three parts – Bolshaya Selga, Malaya Selga and Kamenny Ruchey. The village is recognized as a historic settlement and belongs to one of the oldest (late XVIIth century) settlements in Olonets region. It was first mentioned in 1707 in the census book of this area. At that time there were 10 homesteads in the village. The remaining buildings and the layout are dated the second half of the XIXth century.

Bolshaya Selga village

The village is located on uneven terrain mainly on the hill (called selga) which stretches from northwest to southeast. In the lowlands on the shore of a small lake and in the southern part of the village banyas are built between the rows of houses.

In the past the village boasted the Chapel of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin with the belfry, now destroyed. Unfortunately, two production areas with threshing barns located at the southern end of the village which were still there in the 1920s have not remained either.

Bolshaya Selga village

The village layout mainly comprises large complex houses of the late XIXth — early ХХth centuries typical for the Karelians living in Olonets area. The village boasts several monuments of architecture. A row of old houses that form a street has also remained.

Bolshaya Selga village

Bolshaya Selga village

In the peasant’s house

Bolshaya Selga village

One of the most interesting sites in the village is Dubrovin’s house. He was a local craftsman. His house presents a unique original piece of folk wooden architecture with splendid carvings on many decorative details.

The interior of the living quarters shows some of Dubrovin’s works such as tables, chairs and cupboards.

Typical-for-Olonets-region gardens in front of the rows of houses and special fences around ploughed fields, hayfields and pastures add coziness and liveliness to the village area.

Bolshaya Selga village

St. Ilya’s Day on August 2 is widely celebrated in the village

Bolshaya Selga village

Today, Vazheozersky monastery is the only active monastery in Olonets region. It is situated in Interposelok village which was built in 1935 on site of the Zadne-Nikiforovskaya hermitage founded in the XVIth century.

The Transfiguration Vazheozersky Monastery

The Church of All Saints and the Chapel of

Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

The Transfiguration Church

The monastery on Vazhskoe Lake was initiated by Gennady, the first disciple of St. Alexander Svirsky, who set out to these lands in search of solitude. His other disciple Nikifor became the first abbot of the Zadne-Nikiforovskaya hermitage. February 22, the day of his death, is remembered as the Day of the Patrons of the Karelian land – saints Nikifor and Gennady of Vazheozero.

The Transfiguration Vazheozersky Monastery

The history of the monastery is very complicated. It suffered from the devastating forays in the early XVIIth century, went through difficult times and was even destroyed. In 1885 there was a great fire which destroyed all wooden buildings forcing the community spread to other monasteries of the eparchy. Under the auspices of John of Kronstadt, who became the patron of the monastery, the Church of All Saints (where the relics of the monastery founders are located) was restored. And in 1892 father John consecrated a new 5-cupola wooden Church of the Transfiguration.

The Transfiguration Vazheozersky Monastery

After the Revolution the cloister shared the fate of many other monasteries. In 1920 a state farm (sovkhoz) was established there and in 1935 the building of Interposelok village began. The Transfiguration Church was turned into a gym and the Church of All Saints became a club. Following 1945 there was a settlement for juvenile criminals and then a psychiatric hospital. On March 14, 1992 the Zadne-Nikiforovskaya hermitage revived for the third time – now as a convent (a monastery for women).

The Transfiguration Vazheozersky Monastery

In 2000 the relics of its former resident, blessed monk Vladimir were transferred to the convent. In the same year the hermitage acquired its original status – a monastery for men.

The Transfiguration Vazheozersky Monastery

Olonets plain is the largest migration site of gray geese in Northern Europe

In 2001 the first eco festival was held in Olonets with support from the Baltic Fund for Nature and the World Wildlife Fund in order to attract attention to the problem of preservation and protection of geese. Today, this annual festival brings together ornithologists, scientists and representatives of the Baltic Fund for Nature and the World Wildlife Fund.

During the festival such important issues as maintaining the number of geese flocks, keeping agricultural lands in biologically sound condition, attracting attention of local population to the problem of bird protection, development of tourism and as a consequence, development of crafts and folk groups are discussed.

“Olonia – the goose capital” festival

Nowadays suspension bridges look very unusual and definitely evoke amusement by the visitors.

Bridges of Olonets

Bridges are the only links between the banks of the Megrega and Olonka rivers. There are 8 bridges in the city. They are mostly wooden and stone but you can still come across pedestrian suspension bridges.

The city park is situated in the historic part of Olonets. It is 150 years old. The park boasts more than 50 kinds of trees and shrubs, some of which are rare for Karelia. A stone pavement, Mariinsky road and Kuttuev’s house are located in the center of the park. Merchant Kuttuev was one of the richest residents of Olonets who contributed a great deal to the development of the city and the region.

City park in Olonets

Smolensky Cathedral was built on site of the former wooden church in 1752. Emperor Alexander I himself prayed in this church when visiting Olonets in 1819. During the Great Patriotic war, when the region was occupied, the building was taken by the Lutheran church. After the war the Cathedral was turned into a movie theater and in 1974 a local history museum occupied the building. In 1992 it was returned to the church together with the icon of the Virgin Smolenskaya. Later this 17 th-century icon was stolen and has not been found yet.

Smolensky Cathedral

This is the only church which has never been closed since its foundation. It was built in 1788 under the auspices of Empress Catherine II and consecrated by Varlaam, archimandrite of Alexander Svirsky Monastery.

The Assumption Church

Sts. Florus and Laurus Church in Megrega

This is one of the oldest wooden churches in Karelia. It was built in 1613 in memory of the victories of Russia in the war with Sweden. The church is situated on the old road from Novgorod to the Northern lands 12 km from Olonets.

The church was consecrated as Sts. Florus and Laurus Church who were worshiped by peasants as the keepers of cattle and patrons of farmers. Although the church is on a small hill it is hardly visible from the road as it is hidden by the trees of the cemetery’s pine grove.

The church is quite small and is made of logs. Later on in the XIXth century it was planked from the outside.

Severe interior of the church has been almost fully preserved. There is a rare 3-tier iconostasis in front of the altar by the eastern wall. The church is active with services held occasionally.

In the church suburbs there is an old cemetery where people are still being buried.

Sts. Florus and Laurus Church in Megrega

St. George Chapel is situated 19 km from Olonets. It was built in the late ХVIIIth century and completed in the XIXth century.

The chapel comprises 2 log constructions of different height and built at different time. One is a chapel proper and the other is an inner porch. You can see a small belfry above the inner porch. The eastern wall of the chapel proper is three-cornered. On the roof ridge above the chapel proper there is a small octahedron with a small cupola. The original ceiling was made in the form of a pyramid (the sky-type ceiling) but in the XIXth century it was changed into horizontal.

Inside the chapel there is a big carved cross. The entrance to the chapel is from the north through the porch. An old forged handle on the inner door of the chapel is of great interest. The chapel is traditionally situated in the outskirts of the village in a cemetery’s big grove and can be noticed only at the immediate approach.

St. George Chapel in Pertiselga village

In 1617 Russia and Sweden signed the Stolbovsky peace treaty which put an end to the Swedish intervention in Russia in 1609-1617. As a result Russia ceded Izhora land and Karelian district which included the Northwestern Ladoga Lake area. In 1721 after the victory of Russia in the Northern war the border was moved to the west according to the Nistadt peace treaty.

Varashev stone

Varashev stone (the origin of the name is unknown) was the border site between Russia and Sweden in 1618 – 1721 starting with the Ladoga Lake shore and up north.

Varashev stone marks the frontierbetween Russia and Sweden in 1618 - 1721

(Pogrankondushi village)

Inscription on the stone

Roadside cross in Tatchelitsa village

The roadside cross in Tatchelitsa village (1 km from Olonets) dates the early ХIХth century and is one of the few wooden roadside crosses which have remained in Karelia.

On the right side of the cross there are carvings with the Bible text. The cross is made of massive timber.

Olonets Games of Santa Clauses

Every year in the beginning of December Olonets welcomes this winter festival.

Pakkaine is the symbol of the Olonets Games of Santa Clauses. He is a local national hero with a very interesting story. The legend says that Pakkaine was born in the beginning of severe winter in a merchant’s wagon heading home from the fair.

The newly born was named Pakkaine (a frost boy in the Karelian language). He grew up very fast and soon turned into a strong and cheerful guy. He was a young and successful merchant and a traveler.

PAKKAINE

Pakkaine has a female friend Luminaine (a snow lady in the Karelian language).

Ferezi means “a long skirt with bodice on straps” (in Karelian)

FEREZI Festival of National Costume

held annually in October

Maidon Päivü Milk Festival The festival was first held in Olonets in August 2004.

The cows’ procession

OLONETS REGIONsights