Russian North

Russian North is a traditional generalized name for Northern regions of the European part of Russia including Murmansk Region (Kola), the Republic of Karelia, Arkhangelsk Region and Vologda Region.

The territory of Russian North is mostly covered with taiga. Northern parts of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Regions are occupied with tundra. Water covers a significant part of the surface. Numerous rivers, lakes and coast shores of the Beloye (White) and Barents Seas, belonging to the Arctic Ocean, whimsically interweave with land and make magnificent scenery. White Nights in summer and Northern Lights in winter impart peculiar charm to this Northern area.

Climate of the Russian North is comparatively mild with short cool summer (average temperature in July +12…17îÑ, in tundra - from +8îÑ, though day temperature of +30oC is quite possible) and with long (snow cover lies 160…220 days yearly) moderately mild winter.

Special feature of Russian North is a significant quantity of memorials of Russian history and architecture, which are integrally entered in natural landscapes. Kyrillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov and Solovetsky Monasteries stand out among stone structures. A lot of age-old wooden secular and cult constructions are scattered in all region. A part of them is removed to museums of wooden architecture - Kizhi Pogost in Karelia and Malye Korely near Arkhangelsk.

Highlights

• Kargopol is the ancient Russian town in Arkhangelsk Region, founded in the 12th century. It is famous with memorials of original architectural style and with well-developed local handicrafts.
• Kenozersky National Park is situated in the South-West of Arkhangelsk Region. It embraces the Kenozero Lake with fancifully cut up coast and picturesque islands, the large oval-shaped Lekshmozero Lake and surrounding dense taiga. The Park is reach with diverse flora and fauna, including 534 species of plants, 50 species of mammals, 264 species of birds and 30 species of fishes. Numerous old-aged wooden churches, chapels and secular constructions in natural environment retain indelible impression.
• Khibinskiye and Lovozerskiye Tundras are not high (up to 1200m) mountain massifs in the Kola Peninsula. In addition to impressive landscapes of mountain tundra and good opportunities for trekking and skiing they are famous with great variety of minerals. Many of them are endemic. Reach collections of local minerals are kept in mineralogical museums of Kirovsk and Revda.
  
  
   
• Kizhi Pogost (i.e. the Kizhi enclosure) is located on one of many islands in Lake Onega, in Karelia. Two 18th-century wooden churches and an octagonal bell tower, also in wood and built in 1862, can be seen there. These unusual constructions, in which carpenters created a bold visionary architecture, perpetuate an ancient model of parish space and are in harmony with the surrounding landscape. The Kizhi Pogost is included into the UNESCO World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/sites/544.htm.
• Laplandsky Biosphere Reserve is situated in the Western part of Murmansk Region, mostly in Monche Tundras mountain massif, far beyond the Polar Circle. It was organized in 1930 for protection of wild reindeer. Elk, brown bear, marten, beaver, willow grouse, ptarmigan can also be met there. More than 140 lakes, 6 rivers with rapids and waterfalls decorate severe mountain scenery of the Reserve.
• Russky Sever (Russian North) National Park is situated in the North of the Vologda Region, on the watershed of the White, Baltic and Caspian Seas basins. The territory of the Park excels with rather a significant density of population. The Park is famous with its beautiful combined natural and cultural landscapes, which let us trace the history of economic and cultural assimilation of the Russian North. We should mention Mariinskaya and Severo-Dvinskaya water transport systems with their channels and sluices as soon as such architectural, historical and cultural monuments of the global importance as Kyrillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov and Goritsky monasteries. The frescoes of the Ferapontov monastery, created 500 years ago by the celebrated Old Russian painter Dionysius, are included into the UNESCO record of the world cultural heritage http://whc.unesco.org/sites/982.htm.
  
  
   
• Solovetsky Archipelago (Solovky) comprises six islands in the western part of the White Sea with distinguished nature and with the ancient Solovetsky Monastery, founded in 1429. The Solovetsky Monastery was the center of ecclesiastical, economic and political power in this part of the Russian North. The cultural and historic ensemble of the Solovetsky Isles is included into the UNESCO World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/whreview/article6.html.
• Vodlozersky National Park occupies a territory of 500,000 ha in the South-East of Karelia and the South-West of Arkhangelsk Region. The territory is covered with a unique, the largest in Europe preserved taiga massive, full of expansive mires, rivers, large and small lakes. Vodlozersky forests are inhabited with typical taiga species of animals (brown bear, wolf, mink, otter, musk-rat, northern deer etc) and birds (white-tailed eagle, grouse hawk, black woodpecker etc). Reservoirs of the Park are rich in fish (zander, pike, bream etc). Numerous examples of wooden secular and religious architecture (Iljinsky and Prechistinsky Pogosts, Kevasalma, Kekozero etc) remind about the former Vodlozersky civilization.