The Kenozersky National Park in the Arkhangelsk Region is an outstanding example of the North European cultural landscape.
The unique character of its geographical landscape is conditioned by the allocation dividing the Belomorsk Channel and the White Sea (the Atlantic and the Arctic ocean). Kenozerye plays an important role in keeping the North European ornithofauna, that is why it is included into the “European Russian essential ornithological territories of the international meaning” list (2000).
The territory occupies a hilly glacier plain with many reservoirs (251 lakes, 67 brooks and rivers ) and various glacial forms of relief. Due to geological conditions, the plain forms a kind of uplift, surrounded by surrounded by spacious sloughs and taiga forests which predetermines the relative isolation and the high landscape mosaic. The territory itself received the name from Lake Kenozerye ( 350 kilometers coastline), which formed in the oldest fault of the Earth’s crust (the Proterozoic era) and has an up to 100 meters depth.
The system of peasant settlements that leaned towards the lake landscapes was formed here in the 12–16th centuries and basically exists nowadays. The harmonious combination of ancient villages with the traditional for the Russian Nord system of agricultural land, reflecting the practice of communal farming and individual trades of the commercial and agricultural economic structure that had been established many centuries ago, has been preserved.
On the Kenozersk land there are unique wooden temples — the church of Saint George the Victorious of the XVIII century in the village of Fedorovskaya and the temple ensemble “Pochezersky Pogost” of the 18–19th centuries in the village of Filippovskaya, which are monuments of Federal significance. A special place in the architectural heritage of the territory is occupied by chapels built by peasant architects in the 18–19th centuries. Hieratic buildings are distinguished by their authentic interior decoration — painted “Heavens” (the ceiling of chapels and churches painted on bible plots). Seventeen complexes of “Heaven” survived here, two monuments of monumental painting have the author’s signature. Many chapels and churches are located in the «holy» groves — the islands of especially revered forest that came down to us since pagandom times. Such a high concentration of “holy” groves (over 50), chapels (35), worship crosses (30) makes the territory a unique region, which has no analogues in Russia and other countries of the world.
Kenozerye is one of the main areas of the formation of Russian epic poetry, which became the treasure of world folklore. Researchers recorded about 3000 works of vocal folklore: epics, spiritual poems, historical songs, fairy tales, epic poems and song lyrics.
Kenozerskaya land is a special cultural space, representing the exceptional value as a phenomenon of living culture, recorded in the preserved knowledge and skills, in the organization of life and features of various festive traditions. Due to its outstanding universal value, the Cultural Landscape “The Kenozerye Reserve” in 2014 was included into the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The strategic direction of the Kenozersky National Park since its foundation in 1991 has been the comprehensive preservation of heritage, covering both the objects and the environment in which they exist, the spiritual culture of historical places and the individual as the bearer of tradition.
The most important task of preserving the architectural appearance of the Kenozerye is the restoration of architectural monuments of the 18–19th centuries, carried out by the national park with the support of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage of Norway (1998–2006), the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (2001–2018), the Ministry of Nature and Environment of the Russian Federation (2016–2018). The Kenozersky National Park is the only national park in Russia that has almost 100 architectural monuments in its operational management. Among them there are 11 churches and bell towers, 35 wooden chapels, 2 hewn fences of graveyards, 7 engineering structures, 2 water mills and other monuments.
During the years of activity, 23 hours of the XVIII–XIX centuries were completely restored, wooden and stone churches, ancient peasant houses, and outbuildings were rejected. For the first time in Russia, two existing water mills have been restored on the territory of the national park.
One of the best pages of wooden architecture in Kenozerye is the architectural ensemble of the Porzhensky pogost of the 18th – 19th centuries in the village of Fedorovskaya, located in a “holy” grove and surrounded by a rare wooden chopped fence. The silhouette of the Church of St. George the Victorious, which has a high v-shaped roof, combining the living environment of nearby villages and lake spaces, is unusually expressively perceived from various directions of the world. In the interior of the church — the altar and the temple there are painted “heavens” with the signature of icon painter Mikhailo Kirikov Skazyvaev. In 2016, a significant event took place in the Kenozersky National Park — the opening after the many years of restoration of the Porzhensky Pogost.
The architectural sights of the Kenozerye are significant for another outstanding monument of Russian wooden architecture — Pochezersky temple complex of the XVIII – XIX centuries. The bell tower, two churches and a wooden chopped fence represent the rarest ensemble “tee”, which is specific only for the North of Russia(today only 6 out of 150 of such ensembles remain). The Pochezersky complex is distinguished from the existing monuments by the architectural and spatial planning, where all the buildings are combined into a single one. In 2001, the park, together with the Directorate for Cultural Heritage of Norway, began the restoration of the complex. For the first time in Russia, Norwegian and Russian carpenters-restorers carried out a unique operation to lift a 200-ton hip church using lifting technology and replacing crowns in the body of a monument without rolling a log house. The full-scale restoration of the ensemble, including the “Heavens” in the prayer hall and the altar, was completed in 2018. This was the first experience of financing work by the Ministry of Nature and Ecology of the Russian Federation. The restoration of two masterpieces of wooden architecture at once — the Porzhensky Pogost and the Pochezersky temple complex was carried out due to the personal support of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
The complex preservation of the cultural landscape of Kenozerye assumes systematic work on the representation of the heritage. The “object of the show” in the national park is the traditional historical environment, the display instruments are museum expositions, ecological paths, ethno-landscape theaters that provide interaction between nature and culture, illustrating the features of traditional nature management, revealing the secrets of local handicrafts and crafts, the way of life that has developed over the centuries. There are 17 museums, 5 information centers, 9 ecological paths, 7 excursion routes on the territory. As a part of the park, there is a museum fund where more than 11,000 items are stored (painted “Heavens”, icons, household utensils, rare books and other collections), that allows you create full-fledged expositions with authentic objects.
In specially protected natural areas the priority form of exhibiting is the location of the museum, organically incorporated into the landscape. The expositions “Merry knock of the wheels” and “Zekhnovskaya flour mill” in the villages of Guzhevo and Zekhnov are located in the restored buildings of water mills of the beginning of the 20th century. In the outbuildings of the 1930s, the Museum “Tinned Barn. Open demonstration of funds ” where are presented the subjects united by the theme“ The World of the Kenozero Peasant ”. The museum complex «Barn Series», opened in the construction of the XVIII century and recreated barns, demonstrates the skill of woodcutters, blacksmiths and potters. The exposition “Pochezersky Pogost: history, architecture, parish”, created in the monument of Russian wooden architecture, shows materials concerning the architectural changes in the appearance of the “pogost”, the life of the Pochezhersky parish and the fate of church keepers after they were closed. In the reconstructed old peasant house of the XIX century, the museum “In the Beginning was the Word” was organized, dedicated to Kenozersky epic poetry, accompanying human life from birth to death.
The monuments of historical and cultural heritage, located on the territory of cultural and landscape complexes, are the object of display on the equipped ecological paths. For example, the “Transkanozerskaya Trail” is a historical road where the development of the Kenozerye by the ancient Novgorodians in the XII – XIV centuries proceeded. The ecological route “The Path of the Elder Cyril” was developed at the site of the lost 14th century Kirillo-Chelmogorsk monastery. Traveling along the “Ancestral Trail” acquaints visitors with the traditions of peasant nature management.
Information centers also give information about the sights of the national park. The center “Forest Refuge” shows materials about the monastery cloister of the 17th century, peasant settlement, lakes, flora and fauna of the Naglimozhersky landscape complex. The Eco-class “Potmaton”, opened in the Visiting Center of the village of Vershinino, interactively tells about the natural world of Kenozero, united in three zones: water, air and land. New information center “Pocha. Lived, worked, loved ”is dedicated to the history of the village of Poch, the only non-historical settlement of Kenozerye, created for logging in the Soviet years. In the centers “Handicraft Compound”, “Handicraft Hut”, “Lyapachikha” Park guests can join the kenozero handicraft culture, hear song lyrics, take part in folk dances and enjoy national cuisine. The historical, cultural and natural heritage of the Kenozerye, with its rich potential, can be considered as the most important economic resource in the sustainable development of the territory.
The text was made by the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region, project “Study of the humanitarian-geographical images of the ethnocultural landscapes of the Russian North as a symbolic resource for forming the image of the northern and Arctic territories of the region”.
Marina Melutina, Head of the Department for the Study and Interpretation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Kenozersky National Park