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Overflowing the banks of time in Belozersk
05.11.2013 14:52
http://rbth.ru/ Russia Beyond the Headlines
The Vologda Region lies to the northeast of the East European Plain, not far from the roads connecting Moscow (600 km distance) and St Petersburg. The region’s oldest city, and one of the oldest cities in the country, is Belozersk, which was founded in 862 – a full 300 years before Moscow.
It’s the Russian back country, a throwback from last century. You won’t find any smooth roads here. But life in the region is laid back, and the locals are welcoming and friendly.
Belozersk stands on the banks of Lake Beloye in the west of the Vologda Region, but is separated from the lake itself by a canal that runs along the entire shore, giving the city a particularly enchanting colouring.
Although the Belozersk lands were located along the Onezhsky trade route, the region has since ancient times been considered a distant wilderness. It’s no coincidence that husbands sent their annoying wives to the Goritsky Monastery – built in 1544 on the banks of the Sheksna – to remarry.
The land surrounding Lake Beloye is called Belozerye. It is part of the Russian North and is famous for its monasteries, including the Kirillov, Ferapontov and Goritsky monasteries. The majestic Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery has a very rich history: it was placed under state protection in 1919 and received the status of museum in 1924.
The Ferapontov Monastery has for 400 years been one of the Belozersk District’s most prominent cultural and religious centres. The monastery buildings, situated on a hill in between two lakes, are the only ones in the Russian North to have retained their original décor and interiors.
The church of Nativity of Christ was built in the end of 18th century in Krokhino settlement. In the beginning of the 60-s of the 20th century Krokhino got into inundation zone at the time of construction of deep Volga-Baltic water way. The level of water in lake Beloye rose to guarantee depth for ships, and ancient villages and their whole history had gone underwater...
Every town in the Belozerye continues to be heated by firewood. And there is no shortage of firewood on the banks of the Sheksna.
The Belozersky Canal, a part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway, which connects the river courses of the Sheksna and the Kovzha, runs through Belozersk, bypassing Lake Beloye from the south.
The Sheksna also used to be a rich source of fish. Sturgeon was caught here well into the 19th century. It would be carried on sleds in huge buckets to the royal court in St Petersburg.
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