Detail
The tourist season at
Solovki is from late May
to early September
when the number of
storms on the White
Sea is few. From midMay to late July, one can
witness 'white nights’
at the archipelago.
Direction: North
The monastery hidden from the whole world on remote islands amid the White
Sea was founded in the 15th century by Orthodox monks seeking solitude and
peace. Today, the Solovetsky Islands still serve the same purpose. Many tourists
come here to cleanse their souls.
T
he history of the Solovetsky Monastery
is reflected in a 500 ruble banknote. The
banknotes issued before 2010 show the
Monastery’s churches topped with simple roofs rather
than domes and crosses. The banknote captured
an image of the Solovki Special Purpose Camp, one
of Gulag’s locations. The sacred land with ancient
monastery walls is a chance to embark on a journey
to an alternative reality. It takes a couple of hours by
plane to reach Solovki from Moscow; a motor ship runs
from Belomorsk to the archipelago every day but even
now unpredictable weather conditions regularly cause
breakdowns in its communication with the main land.
During the times of Ivan the Terrible, the archipelago
was a mysterious world living by its own rules. The
distance to the Solovetsky Islands lost in the far north
was measured in weeks of traveling off roads and on
the cold sea.
The Solovetsky Monastery was founded in the 15th
century on the land owned by the Novgorod Republic.
The missionaries, Herman and Sabbatius, arrived
at the Bolshoy Solovetsky Island in 1429 and built a
wooden village. By the end of the 16th century the
Monastery grew so big that its territory had to be
protected by strong walls with gates and towers.
The monks bred fish and grew vegetables (even
water melons); since then, the Island has one of the
northernmost botanic gardens with many a rare
plant. In the beginning of the 20th century, those
who arrived at the Solovetsky Monastery were
surprised to see a telegraph office, a radio station,
and a power station. The powerful stronghold
withstood several Swedish attacks. In 1854, the
English shot the Monastery with thousands of
cannonballs from their steam frigates but withdrew
empty-handed after a nine hours’ cannonade.
Thick walls were efficient for containing criminals;
therefore, rebels, heretics, and conspirators were
sent here for decades. The Bolsheviks turned
Solovki into a camp for political prisoners.
Fortunately, the monastery walls are no longer
a prison today. In 1990, the camp officially
regained the status of a spiritual center. Today, the
Solovetsky Museum Preserve is a peaceful village
living on summer ecotourism and extreme tourism.
Solovki are worth visiting to feel the island silence,
smell the northern seas, and experience the
atmosphere of the history.
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