Brief information about the cultural program
Island Valaam. Valaam Monastery
The island of Valaam within an archipelago of islands in the Ladoga Lake does deserve its world fame. The island hosts a functioning friary with its chronicle dating back to the X century, Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, the St. Peter and Paul Church and several skits that preserve spiritual values and are magnificent monuments of Russian architecture. Besides all this are combined with the island’s unique nature.
The monastery is under immediate jurisdiction of the Patriarch of All Russia.
Island Kizhi. Reserve of Kizhi
This small island is a unique quarter of the Russian land in the Onega Lake where the famous ensemble of Kizhi temples is located, including over 80 monuments of wooden architecture, created by old masters several centuries ago.The Church of the Transfiguration (1714) is a world masterpiece of wooden architecture. Five tiers of 22 domes, wonderfully changing color during the day, look magnificent from any point of the island.The iconostasis in the Church of the Pritecting Veil was selected from the richest collection of old icons from churches throughout the Onega region.
There is also one of the oldest monuments of Russian wooden architecture, the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus from Murom Monastery (2nd half of the XIV century). Since 1993 the museum of Kizhi has been under the auspices of UNESCO.
Mandrogy. Russian village
The village of Verkhnie Mandrogi is situated 320 kms from St. Petersburg between the lakes Ladoga and Onega (the taiga zone of Veps Heights), on the left bank of the River Svir.
Mandrogi’s origins go back centuries, to the era B.C., when a pagan forest tribe appeared on the banks of the Svir - the Veps. Later a successful trade route, «from the Varangians to the Greeks», ran along the river Svir and free peasants from Novgorod settled here. In the 18th century, by order of Peter the Great, shipbuilders and carpenters were settled here to build the Russian fleet.
Nowadays the village of Verkhnie Mandrogi with ensemble of wooden architecture, trading - craft outskirts, houses with carved ornaments, crafts and folklore festivals with bears and balalaikas is recreated on its historical site.