First published: 17/11/21.

Alexander Barabanov 3.5

Petroglyphs Of The Lake Onega And The White Sea

Petroglyphs of the Lake Onega and the White Sea (Inscribed)

Petroglyphs of the Lake Onega and the White Sea by Alexander Barabanov

Visited Belomorsk cluster in October 2021. Logistics – flight to Karelia’s capital Petrozavodsk, then 370 km by rented car via surprisingly good road to Belomorsk. Petrozavodsk’s national museum of Karelia has dedicated room with a couple of original stone petroglyph stelas and description.
There is also museum in Belomorsk, but unfortunately it’s closed on Sundays and I didn’t visit. There are two main areas in this cluster – Zalavruga and Besovy Sledki (translated as Demon’s footprints). Between them a number of minor sites are also inscribed, but they require very detailed map to be identified among the forest and river shores and the glyphs are faded.
Zalavruga – is the largest concentration of rock art with over 2,000 figures. A brand new road was completed in 2021 to the site, located on the outskirts of Belomorsk, but from the parking you still have to cross pedestrian bridge and then walk for approximately 2 km. During my research new wooden floorings were in process of installation, so I carefully walked over stone plates. Visibility of petroglyphs was not great due to wet cloudy weather, however, I still was able to identify all “iconic” figures, like whale hunting scene, big deer, 3 skiers, etc. Unfortunately, on Sundays it is difficult to arrange excursion here due to museum closure, but it would probably worth it in order not to miss anything important.    
Besovy Sledki – is a covered pavilion (recently renovated) open daily from 10 to 19 with entrance fee of 30 Rubles. It is located just next door to hydropower station 5 km away from Zalavruga parking. Inside there is tiny photo exhibition and some information of the site in the context of World Heritage listing. Pavilion covers a piece of rock containing approximately 400 figures, basically animals. The most famous here is anthropomorphic image of Bes (Demon) and his 8 footprints along the rock.
It’s very good that inscription has boosted improvement of local tourist infrastructure and site protection. This rock art site in Belomorsk and the Lake Onega) is unique in Russia and later or sooner it was supposed to be inscribed.   

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