Kizhi Island

Kizhi - a miracle of architecture

Kizhi Island is a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians. The island is located on the beautiful Lake Onega near the capital of Karelia Petrozavodsk. The winter route to the island is laid by land, and summer - by water.

Kizhi Island is decorated with two churches. The construction of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the most important one, was built in the eighteenth century instead of the previously burned-out lightning strike. There is a legend about this church that this creation was erected with the help of an ax without a single nail by a master named Nestor. Although the name of the master is named in the legend, in fact there is no evidence of true builders of the church anywhere. It is impossible to look away from the building: it is so great. It really does not have a single iron nail, and wooden ones were used only to strengthen the domes.

The Transfiguration Church is famous for its iconostasis of one hundred and two icons. The Pokrov and the Transfiguration are two namolennye icons, especially honored and it is believed that they need to bow and share the most sincere desires. In this church they serve only in the warm season, because it is not heated, unlike the winter Church of the Intercession. From October 1 until Easter itself, services are held here. Pilgrims are amazed at the wonderful chants of monks and bell chimes, which, when combined with a tree, lead to amazement. The hipped belfry erected in the nineteenth century organically coincides with the rest of the buildings of the Kizhi pogost.

Kizhi - the prayed place of Russian Orthodoxy.
In the late sixties, the island began to create a wooden city. Everything: chapels, houses built for household work - built of wood. The city is unusual not only for exhibits, but also delights with its beauty. In any building you can see the icons. There are about five hundred of them on the island, and each of them is presented to visitors. In addition to the Kizhi churchyard, the island has a chapel of Lazarus, a modest construction compared to large churches. The legend tells that the Rev. Lazarus built it. The chapels of the Archangel Michael, the Dormition of the Mother of God and Saints Peter and Paul await pilgrims in the three neighboring villages of Lilekozero, Vasilyevo, Nasonovschina. The icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" pilgrims come to worship in the village of Eglovo. Since the end of the twentieth century, the Kizhi parish has been under the protection of UNESCO.

Kizhi Island amazes the imagination not only with the unique beauty of wooden structures, icons, but also with people, an atmosphere that makes you experience an incredible feeling.