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The Solovetsky Museum today
NATURE The Solovetsky Archipelago is situated in the northern part of the Onega Bay of the White Sea, 165 km south of the Polar Circle. The Archipelago consists of more than one hundred islands, six of them — Bolshoi Solovetsky, Anzer, Bolshaya and Malaya Muksalma, Bolshoi and Maly Zayatsky — are quite big. The general area of the Archipelago is 300 sq. m.; the Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, the biggest in the White Sea, is 219 sq.m. The highest points of the Solovki are Verbokolskaya Mountain (86 m) on the Anzer Island, Sekirnaya Mountain (74 m) on the B. Solovetsky Island, Golgotha Mountain (64 m) on the Anzer. The unique nature of the Solovetsky Islands very much depends on the geographical position and on a very special microclimate — winters are mild, springs are colder than autumns, summers are cool. Seasons change each other 2 or 3 weeks later than on the mainland. This is why the area of some tens of kilometers on the Solovki Islands of natural complexes could only be found in similar landscapes on the mainland but at a distance of many hundreds of kilometers from each other. Tundra takes 5% of the Archipelago area, forest tundra makes 10 %, taiga forests cover more than 60%, lakes and swamps are correspondingly 13 and 12%. Among the fishes of the White Sea the most acclaimed are salmon, herring, plaice, lumpfish. Other marketable fish in the White Sea are navaga, trout, smelt, northern wolfish. 190 species of birds are listed as visiting the Solovki much more than any other islands in the White Sea. Only half of the number is nesting here, the other half can be seen in spring and autumn traveling to and from their nests in other parts. The biggest populations on the sea shore are those of seagulls, sandpipers, guillemots, eiders, goosanders, terns. Mammals of the White Sea are presented with few species, only seals, bearded seals, white whales can be seen off shore all the year round. In the shadow of trees and in open spaces there are many varieties of bushes, lichens and mosses. In August and September one can see a huge number and variety of fungi at the roadsides, on the lake banks and on the sea shore: boletus, red boletus, rough-stemmed boletus, russula, chanterelle, white and black milk mushroom, honey agaric. In autumn tundra presents a bright coloured carpet spread on the ground. Major part of animals live under the cover of the forest; they are fewer here than on the mainland at the same latitude. Only hares, squirrels, foxes and mice managed to get to the islands. In summer bats appear. In the last century northern deer and musk-rat were brought to the islands. The only reptile on the Solovki Islands is a viviparous lizard. There are no snakes. The populations of birds that nest in the forests or near the lakes are much bigger on the Islands. They are mostly ducks, woodcocks, mallards, northern divers, ruffs, willow grouses. Solovki is a usual habitat of golden-eye. The forests in summer are abundant in hazel hens, thrushes, bramblings, long-tailed tits, woodpeckers, buntings, capercaillies. About 1500 species of animals and plants live in the White Sea. The number includes 460 species of plants, about 1000 species of invertebrates, 70 species of fish and 6 of sea animals. The sea is rich with benthic plants — seaweed and grass-wreck. Their resources are millions of tons. The White Sea seaweed have more than 190 species; the three are marketable — blade-kelp, Fucus and Ahnfeltia. THE SOLOVETSKY MONASTERY ARCHITECTURAL ENSEMBLE The central complex of the Solovetsky Monastery ensemble began to form in the middle of the 15th century. The first churches and brethren's cells were made of wood. Fires have destroyed the buildings, and we do not know how they looked like. In 1552 solid buildings made of bricks appeared, the bricks production was arranged at the Monastery brick factory. In five years' time the Novgorod masters and architects built the Uspenskaya (Dormition) Church, Trapesnaya (Refectory) and Kelarskaya (Bursar's) Chambers which made an architectural complex. The most impressive of these is the Refectory, it is the only chamber in the Russian monasteries built with a single supportive column in the middle. The area of the Refectory is 483 sq. m. Its vaults are resting on the walls of more than 2 m. thick, the central column is 4 m. in diameter and is made of white stone. On completion of the Dormition-Refectory complex, the next eight years saw the construction of the main church of the Solovetsky Monastery, Spaso-Pre-obrazhensky (Transfiguration of Our Saviour) Cathedral. It is 47 m. high. Two upper tiers house the main altar and six chapels, in the lower part of the building there are burial-vaults of locally worshipped saints. The 17th century is the time when many of the Monastery's living quarters and household buildings were constructed. The exterior and interior of the brethren's cells can be seen in one of the restored cells which are situated along the northern facade of the Svyatitelsky (Hierarch's) Chamber. The original appearance of the Portnaya (Dressmaker's) and Chobotnmaya (Bootmaker's) Chambers (1642) has been restored in the northern yard. The most interesting of all the household constructions is the stone mill in the southern courtyard, it was built on one of the underground canals running from the Svyatoye (Holy) Lake to the Blagopoluchiye (Prosperity) Bay. Among the 18th century monuments the three-tiered bell-tower, the highest in the Kremlin (52 m), is the most remarkable. The Filippovskaya (Philip's) Church was dedicated in 1798, it is situated across the southern facade of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky (Transfiguration of Our Saviour) Cathedral. In the 19th century to replace the ruins of the Nikolskaya (St.Nicolas's) Church (1583) a five-domed Nikolsky (St. Nicolas's) Cathedral was built, in the place where Zosima and Savvaty Chapel inside the Transfiguration of Our Saviour Cathedral used to be there appeared the Troitsky (Trinity) Cathedral with one cupola. In the middle of the 16th century during the Livonian War the Swedish navy appeared at the Solovetsky Islands. The Monastery strengthened its fortifications and ammunition to become the oldest fortress on Solovki. In the 1580-ies the Solovetsky Monastery financec the erection of several wooden forts — ostrogs — Sumsky, Kemsky, Kolsky, Rinozersky. The ostrog: housed garrisons of monastery soldiers, strelets. At the end of the 16th century, in 1582-1596, the Solovetsky Monastery was surrounded with a wall of wild stone, since then the fortress wall has been one of the most magnificent in Russia. The Solovetskaya Fortress belongs to the class of regular fortresses, the main characteristic features of which are straight lines of walls, regular intervals between towers and their standing out the line of the walls, possibility of cannon fire from the ground floor. The general length of the Solovetskaya Fortress walls is 1200 m, they are 7 m wide at the bottom, up to 10 m high, and its towers are up to 17 m high. The lay-out of the Fortress is a pentagon extended from north to south, in the corners there are round war towers — the Arkhangelskaya (Archangel's), Nikolskaya (St.Nicolas's), Korozhnaya (Shallow), Pryadilnaya (Spinner's), Belaya (White) Towers. The western wall which faces the sea is strengthened with the Uspenskaya (Dormition) Tower. The part of the wall (called'Pristenok') with the two towers, Povarennaya (Cooker's) and Kvasovarennaya (Kvas-Brewer's), faces the Svyatoye (Holy) Lake. Towers and walls have eleven passages: three in the corner towers of Nikolaskaya (St.Nicolas's), Korozhnaya (Shallow) and Belaya (White); seven gates are built in the walls themselves: they are called Seldyaniye (Herring), Svyatiye (Holy), Sushilniye (Drying) (closed at present), Povarenniye (Cooker's) and Kvasovarenniye (Kvas-Brewer's), as well as Nikolskiye (St.Nicolas's) —these were built in the place of a gun-slot at the beginning of the 20th century. The defense system of the Solovetsky Monastery also included two dry moats dug on the southern and northern sides, the most accessible for enemy. The northern moat has survived in a good state till our days. In its long history the Fortress of the Solovetsky Monastery has been tested for invincibility several times. In the 17th century, in 1674-1676, the strelets (soldiers) of the Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich stormed the Monastery — the brethren rose in rebellion against the church reforms initiated by Patriarch Nikon. During the Crimean War, in July 1854, the Monastery was bombarded by 120 guns of two British frigates for nine hours. The Solovetskaya Fortress proved invincible in both attacks. For three centuries, from the middle of the 16th to the end of the 19th, the Solovetsky Monastery was a state prison where numerous enemies of Faith and State served their sentences. Famous statesmen and church notables, such as Hegumen of the Trinity lavra Artemy,Tsarevich of the Kasimov Khanate Simeon Bekbulatovich, the Chronicler of Time of Trouble, the burser of the Trinity lavr Avraamy (Palitsin),the last ataman (Cossack chieftair) of Zaporozhskaya Sech Petr Kalnishevsky, the head of the Secret Office in Peter the Great's times the count Petr Tolstoy were among the prisoners. In the Kremlin there survived several prisons of the 16th —17th centuries — Korozhnaya, Golovlenkova, Sushilennaya, as well as the Icon-Paintin Chamber, which served as a regular prison at the end of the 18th century. At present the territory of the Kremlin is shared, two organization, the Solovetsky State Museum-Reserve and the Spaso-Preobrazhensky (Transfiguration of Our Saviour) Solovetsky Stauropegial Monastery. The churches are in common use: services are regularly held there, and in between them excursions are allowed to visit them. The Monastery has received monuments situated in the northern part of the complex to use, while the Museum departments are mainly located in the southern part of it. Many buildings house displays which are the result of cooperation of the Monastery and the Museum. The Solovetsky Monastery has resumed its work in 1990. It is a stauropigial which means that its head is the Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church. In charge of the daily life of the Monastery is Father Superior, the archimandrite Iosif (Bratishchev). The most remarkable events for the Monastery since 1990 have been the restoration of the holy relics of the Venerable Zosima, Savvaty and German in the Cloister, and three visits of the Patriarch Alexy II (in August 2001 the Russian President V.Putin joined him in the visit). THE BOLSHOI SOLOVETSKY ISLAND The Botanic Garden is situated 4 km from th Solovetsky Kremlin, on the Nizhny Pert Lake. Th Garden territory lies in a narrow gaily protected on its three sides with hills and forest. The southern side overlooks the Nizhny Pert Lake. Thanks to the relief and approaching forests there exists a special micro climate in the area of the Botanical Garden which is favourable for the plants brought here from othe latitudes and climatic zones. In 1822 the Makary's Hermitage of the Solovetsky Monastery was founded here. On one of the hilltops a wooden chapel was erected, at its foot, near the lake, two cells were built. Later years saw rapid development of the area. There is information that in as early as the first half of the 19th century they used to grow fruit and ber ries and herbs brought to these parts from the mainland. By the middle of the 19th century apple-trees were planted, dog-rose, shadbush were cultivated; two chapels, a cellar of wild stone filled with ice, some other household houses were built; on the top of the Krestovaya (Cross) Mountain a worship cross was erected. In 1862 a two-storey dacha (summer cottage) for the Archimandrite was built of larch brought from the mainland; it was to accommodate him on his short visits here. The wax bleaching plant at the Makary Hermitage helped to develop the garden as the hot water after being used to melt the wax was directed along the wooden pipes to the gardens to heat the soil and hot-houses. There the monks grew flowers and fruit and exhibited them to their guests as the Monastery marvels. As the Monastery legend goes, at the end of the 19th century the monks traveled to the Pamir where they were presented to Dalai-Lama; they brought dog-rose with especially big hips, lilac, marsh tea and other plants as a present from him to their Father Superior. Japanese rose, Hungarian lilac, Siberian tea have survived since the times of the Monastery and now make huge thickets. At a period when the concentration camps were functioning, the garden collection was enlarged with new plants, and the territory of former meadows and wax bleaching factory was used to grow edible plants. The central lane adorned with larch is a true focal point of the garden. Larches were grown in a nursery garden; they were planted in 1935 when they were 5-7 years old. In 1979 the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve resumed weeding in the Botanical garden and restoring the soils which had been used before. At present more than 500 plants grow there, 80 % of them were planted after 1989. Everywhere on the islands one can see hills with steep, almost vertical, slopes. One of the highest hill on the Solovki Islands has got the name of the Sekirnaya (Pole-Axe) Mountain. In the 1860-ies a monastery hermitage was built on top of the Sekirnaya Mountain. The main building of the hermitage architectural ensemble was a church built of stone in 1860 and dedicated to Our Saviour's Ascension. Above the church there was a bell tower, in 1862 a light-house was opened at the top of it, becoming the largest on the White Sea Adjacent to the church there is a wooden cell building surrounded with household buildings. An open space in front of the church has a breathtaking view to the north-west of the Solovetsky Island, to enjoy it one has to climb 294 steep stairs. In the second half of the 19th century a bath-house of boulders, and stables were built. The Hermitage was a place where masses of pilgrims used to visit. At the time of the Solovetsky camps, in 1923-1929, on the Sekirnaya Mountain they arranged a penal isolation cell here. At the bottom of the hill mass executions took place. The Sekirnaya Mountain has become a symbol of prisoners'sufferings. In August 1992 the Holy Patriarch Alexy II dedicated a worship cross at the bottom of the mountain in memory of all who perished in the Solovetsky Camp. Two kilometers away from the Sekimaya Mountain there is the village of Savvatyevo. The place where the Venerable Savvaty and German prayed in solitude has been preserved with the erection of memorial hermitage. Originally, in the 17th century, there was the Reverend Savvaty's Chapel and several cells, the second half of the 19th century saw the flourishing of the place. In 1858-1860 the Church of the Virgin Hodegetria was made of stone; later adjacent to the antechurch, a cell building of two storeys was built; a hotel, new houses for brethren and other household constructions were erected. The Hermitage was surrounded with man-made meadows, drainage was built in the marshy area, kitchen gardens and hot houses were organized. Savvatyevo became a centre of the hermitage system in the north-west of the Island. When the concentration camps appeared on the Archipelago in 1923, here, in Savvatyevo, they arranged an isolation colony for political enemies of the Bolsheviks — members of Socialist Revolution party, Mensheviks, and Anarchists. In 1925 «politicians» were transferred to the mainland; instead a Soviet farm was organized in Savvatyevo. In 1942 a Sea Cadets School took its place here. The stone buildings housed classrooms, headquarters, and flats for teachers. Sea cadets made dug-outs to live to the east of the Hermitage. In three years of its existence the Sea Cadets School gave the Navy more than 4000 young specialists. The System of Lake Canals The road from the Kremlin to the Boat Station first crosses the settlement, then goes towards the Sekirnaya Mountain. The first fork to the right will take you round the Pityevoye (Drinking water) Lake. Here there is a device which regulates the amount of water coming to the Holy Lake from the canal system. The Boat Station is on the Lake Sredny Pert and offers visitors rowing boats day and night. When you start the voyage you should keep to the right shore of the Lake Sredny Pert. At the end of the Lake you will see the first navigable canal. The canals are 1.5 — 2 m deep, their walls are made of boulders. When the water is high, the beginning and tie end of a canal might be not visible, this is why it is advisable to be very careful entering and leaving canals and not to cut off the comers. If the boat is sandbanked, you should move it backwards. The first canal could be followed through the usual way, right in the centre of it. When navigating in the canals, one should try not to touch their sides or bottoms. The current in the lakes depends on the winds. So when experiencing head wind on a canal or lake it is important one should keep the boat facing exactly into the waves. Entrance to the canal from the Krugloye Orlovo (Round Orlovo) Lake to the Shchuchye (Pike) Lake is marked with a sign. This canal and the next one are comparatively narrow, one must go along them with much care taking owers out of the rowlocks and using them close to the boat sides. Try not to touch the canal boulder sides with them. In the end of the canal, at the very entrance to the Pike Lake, one can see remains of the dam built at the beginning of the 20th century. The boat routes divide on the Pike Lake. The Small Circle route continues through the left bay, you should follow the sign. The next lake called Plotichye (Roach) Lake is filled with water plants. One has to be careful not to damage the yellow water-lilies with the oars. The canal from the Plotichye Lake takes you to the last lake in this canal system — Bolshoye Karzino. From here there is a path specially made in the forest to get to the Botanical Garden. The Big Circle route at first coincides with that of the Small Circle. In the Shchuchye (Pike) Lake one should keep to the right shore to enter the Valday Canal; its walls are made of boulders and strengthened with logs. The remains of the bridge with a lifting mechanism can still be seen on its bank. The entrance to the Bolshoye Krasnoye (Big Red) Lake is very impressive — three canals follow each other in succession.
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