First published: 29/08/24.

Alexander Barabanov 4.0

Cultural Landscape Of Kenozero Lake

Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake (Inscribed)

Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake by Alexander Barabanov

Visited Kenozero in July 2024 during the days, when it was inscribed (and the news was read out by the guide).
Kenozero National Park is a remote place requiring 1,200 km drive (including 80 km of gravel roads) from Moscow or flight to Arkhangelsk and still 470 km drive by rail / car. This seclusion resulted in the preserved mix of cultural, ethnographic, spiritual and architectural heritage coupled by natural landscape and rich biodiversity of the region. Cultural landscape is integrated with the pattern of lakes and adjacent agricultural and forest lands.
The park is divided into two sectors: Plesetsk sector (northern part) and Kargopol sector (southern part). Plesetsk sector with the visit center in Vershinino is culturally more interesting and provides broader coverage.    
The unique local feature of the religious monuments – is “heavens” or “skies”, painted wooden ceiling in the form of celestial sphere with the stars, sun, moon and the kingdom of God. There are 17 complete “heavens” complexes in Kenozero (dating to 18-19th centuries), including 7 in situ in the churches and 10 in the museums. Special museum space with dome-shaped pavilions will be constructed in 3 years to host these 10 “heavens” as ceilings like they were placed originally. A number of churches were restored in 1996-1998 with the generous support of Norwegian specialists and use of their “lifting” technology, when the whole construction is lifted by special jacks and each log is changed / restored staring from the bottom. 
Visit center in Vershinino is quite well organized and provides all required services, including park fees, accommodation, three meals a day (there is only place to eat in the village) and excursion. Accommodation is quite limited and quickly booked for the summer season, we were lucky to get big traditional wooden house with 4 beds on the lake shore with modern toilet facilities.
Typical tour requires 3 full days in Vershinino (plus 2 days to get there and return). The tour includes: 3 museums; 2 cruises on a Soviet-era boat to the different villages (including 7 churches and reconstructed watermill), full-day expedition (including 14-km forest hike and a tasty traditional fish soup cooked over fire for lunch) to a distant Porzhensky church-yard; quick bus ride to fully restored Pochezersky church-yard. A number of specialized tours, like mushroom gathering and gastronomical, white nights tour, photo tour, art tour exploring local crafts, etc. is also offered.    
I liked this atmospheric region, after busy and noisy city and long difficult road you suddenly submerge into a sleepy rural world with a great number of wooden churches and “heavens”. 

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