The nature of the Solovki: flora and fauna of the Solovki. Founding of the stavropegic male Solovetsky monastery

Every year everything more tourists and pilgrims come to the Solovetsky Islands. The first to be attracted rich story and amazing nature northern region, pilgrims strive to join the great Orthodox shrine. So we decided to go on a trip from Monchegorsk and find out what attracts people so much in these northern islands.

From antiquity to the present day

The Solovetsky archipelago is located in the northern part of the Onega Bay of the White Sea. It includes more than 100 islands, the largest of which are: Bolshoy Solovetsky, Anzer, Bolshaya and Malaya Muksalma, Bolshoy and Maly Zayatsky islands.

The development of the Solovetsky Islands began in ancient times. In the I-II millennium BC. the ancient inhabitants of Pomorie, the ancestors of the Sami, buried their fellow tribesmen on the islands. In the Middle Ages, the archipelago turned into a place of pagan rituals, traces of which can be seen to this day. Religious pagan buildings - barrows and labyrinths - have been preserved here.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the first Orthodox monks appeared on the islands - the Monks Savvaty, German and Zosima. From that time on, the history of Solovetsky monasticism began.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery, annually visited by pilgrims and tourists different countries, was founded in the 1420-1430s. In the 16th century, it turned into the spiritual, economic and military center of Pomorie: scholarly monks worked here, who collected an extensive library, and their own household was run. In addition, the Solovetsky Monastery had its own army and was surrounded by an impregnable stone fortress.

Acquaintance with the Slovetsky Islands

Today there are many tourist routes... The tour of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery is one of the most popular, and we did not miss the opportunity to join it. But at first we decided to go around the inner territory of the monastery on our own and visited several expositions that were not included in the route, including the archaeological hall of the Solovetsky Monastery.

It turns out that the foundation of the walls of the monastery is made up of huge boulders collected all over the island, in size slightly inferior to the stone blocks of Stonehenge. It is hard to imagine how much work it took to transport and lay them in the base of the walls!

After walking around the grounds, we had a lot of questions and we joined the tour. As it turned out, the monastery had its own political and church prison, since the authorities considered it a particularly reliable place of confinement due to its remoteness. The conditions of detention of the prisoners were extremely harsh - in the summer the temperature in the premises barely reached 120C, since the prison was practically underground. The first Count P.A. died in the Solovetsky prison. Tolstoy (the ancestor of Leo Tolstoy), the prince was imprisoned for several years for participating in a conspiracy against the monarchy of V.L. Dolgorukov.

... The inaccessibility of the walls and towers of the monastery, which survived numerous sieges, including the Swedes and the British, amazed us. Also surprising are the incredible technical solutions that make heavy work easier, for example, the laundry and the mill, designed in such a way that they are practically automated. Freezing on the walls and in the towers, we thought about a hot dinner. It turned out that there was no need to go far - there is a refectory on the territory of the monastery, where delicious cabbage soup, fish and porridge are prepared.

Lake channel system

The Solovetsky Islands is a lake region with about 500 lakes connected in the 16th century by a system of canals to provide the monastery with drinking water. This canal system is still functioning, supplying the Solovetsky settlement. There is no other source of fresh water.

Today, tourists have access to two routes to get acquainted with the system of lakes and canals - along the small and large circle... The small circle boat trip takes about 6 hours. During this time, tourists get acquainted with the main hydraulic engineering monuments and structures. Walking in a large circle - about 10 hours, it requires good physical training: rowing boats, tourists themselves work with oars, replacing each other. As a rule, this excursion is combined with a walking tour on Sekirnuyu mountain, from the top of which a panorama of the entire Bolshoi Solovetsky Island opens. Both routes start from a boat station located 1.5 km from the monastery.

Unfortunately, our time on the islands was limited, so the boat trip had to be postponed until the next trip.

Stone labyrinths

The canal system is one of the most popular attractions of these places (after the monastery, of course), but the most mysterious and mysterious are still the stone labyrinths on the shores of the White Sea. That's where we went.

Of the 40 labyrinths discovered on the shores of the White Sea, there are 30 on the Solovetsky Islands, they belong to the 1st-2nd millennium BC. The purpose of the labyrinths for scientists is still a mystery. Some adhere to the theory that the labyrinth is the resting place of the deceased, arranged in such a way that the soul of the deceased cannot return to the world of the living, getting lost in the labyrinth. Others see them as places of worship.

Ancient labyrinths are located on Bolshoi Zayatsky Island and are closed for tourists. But not far from the village, exact copies of them were erected, to which we walked on foot from the village through a grove of Karelian birches (this unique tree has not yet been artificially bred in other regions - it does not take root). As it turned out, the birch grove is a great place for photo shoots.

Maritime museum

One more popular place- Solovetsky Maritime Museum, where a tourist can get acquainted with little-known, but significant pages of the maritime history of Russia.

We did not expect anything special from visiting the museum, but it was he who turned out to be the main discovery on our trip. The exposition tells about the traditions of the Pomor shipbuilding and the maritime history of the monastery. Surprisingly, the Pomors did not build boats. They sewed them! Upholstery boards were fastened together not with metal (there was no metal on the islands), but sewn together with flexible tree roots. Such boats even went out to the Arctic Ocean.

The museum is housed in a barn for rowing boats, built back in 1841. By the way, the entrance to the museum and the excursion are free. One of the notable exhibits is a miniature copy of the yacht "Saint Peter", the first sea vessel of Peter I. In 2013, after 10 years of construction, she was launched and is now in the bay.

Organized excursions

All of these amazing architectural and engineering structures can be visited on their own. You can get to them on foot or by renting a bike - there are several rental points in the village of Solovetsky.

Tourists often turn to excursion bureaus, of which there are several on Solovki, and join one of the walking or car excursions lasting from 1 to 12 hours. Excursion services on the island are provided by the excursion bureau of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve, "Independent Guides" and the pilgrimage service of the Solovetsky Monastery. The necessary information can be obtained at the Tourist Information Center "Solovki". It should be noted that an independent guide is not able to lead excursion groups through the territory of the Solovetsky Monastery itself. But at the same time, the author's excursions are distinguished by great attention to little-known details from the history of the Solovetsky Islands.

We used the services of the tour desk and joined the walking tour of the monastery grounds. And the next day we turned to an independent guide, agreed on the time and route. Here we were lucky: we were accompanied by a local resident, a historian, fascinated by the history of Christianity on the Solovetsky Islands.

First, we visited the Filippovskaya Hermitage, where we took water from a holy spring. In general, the water on Solovki is surprising - it is brown, but not from dirt, but because of peat. Filippovskaya Pustyn is the only place with crystal clear water on the islands.

A veneration cross is also installed here in the place where the appearance of Christ to the abbot Philip was. As our guide said, the Pomors' worship crosses often served as landmarks in the area - their raised crossbar always faces north.

On the way back, after visiting the Solovetsky prison, the guide pointed out to us what we walked past all day, without even realizing how unique this place is. At the saint's dais there is a platform from which a surprisingly familiar panorama of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery opens up: we see it on 500-ruble bills.

Hotels

Visiting the shrines of the Solovetsky Islands, as a rule, is not limited to one day. On Solovki, tourists sometimes sacrifice a certain amount of comfort and live in tents. But this does not mean at all that there are no good hotels on the island. There are 7 hotels and tourist complexes on the Solovetsky Islands, located both in the village itself and not far from it, with rooms of varying comfort and cost from 1,000 to 7,000 rubles per night.

We chose a tourist complex 2 km from the monastery: daily walk to the monastery or other sights, we were only pleased - the places here are picturesque.

Hotels and tourist centers have their own websites where you can book a room in advance and order a transfer from the pier. We decided that we could handle it ourselves and did not order a transfer, but in vain - we had to wander around in search of a tourist complex. But on the way, we visited several remarkable places and found a cafe and a shop in the village.

Cafes and restaurants

Sea air and walking tours whet your appetite. Cafes and restaurants offer to try local cuisine, the main dish of which is sea fish. Some cafes offer to cook freshly caught fish of your choice: charcoal, baked, fried or steamed. To our surprise, the cuisine in Solovki is not at all ascetic; almost everything is cooked here, with the exception of fast food.

On the territory of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery, a refectory and a pavilion offering a variety of monastery pastries are open for tourists. The refectory has become our favorite dining spot - delicious, simple and inexpensive.

What to bring

Is it possible to return from a trip without souvenirs? In numerous shops in the village, tourists are offered birds of happiness of various shapes and sizes, White Sea painted and birch bark caskets (boxes) and, of course, Kozul - Pomor baked goods in the form of animal figurines.

In the art salon and some shops, where the author's works of local craftsmen are presented, you can find leather goods, deer and elk antlers: carved brooches, earrings, rings, pendants, etc. Upset that there is no cashless settlement: it was worth leaving more cash for souvenirs.

The only danger for tourists in these places is the main local "predator" - a mosquito or "Solovetsky nightmare". A separate souvenir line is dedicated to him. But the main symbol of Solovki is the cat. Cats feel like masters - they walk slowly, sleep on the roads, wander around the monastery ... Their images are on boxes, magnets, mugs ...

Local shops also sell algae-based cosmetics. In addition, seaweed makes excellent spices for soups and meat dishes.

How to get there

The easiest way to get to the Solovetsky Islands is by motor ship "Vasily Kosyakov" from Kem, which departs daily at 8.00 from the pier of the village of Rabocheostrovsk. The trip takes about 2.5 hours one way. In the evening, at 19.00, the ship departs back to the mainland. It was on it that we got there, having booked tickets in advance (1600 rubles per adult one way).

By the way, flights can sometimes be canceled due to the weather. This happened with our flight, when we were going to go home, we had to wait a couple of hours. Tickets for the ship are registered and purchased with a passport, they can also be booked and paid for via the Internet, and received at the registration desk of the tourist complex "Prichal".

We are from Monchegorsk, which means that it was possible to get to Kem itself by two types of transport: by train (the journey from Olenegorsk station takes about 9 hours) or by car (about 5.5 hours). We went by car. By the way, in Kemi, auto travelers can leave their vehicles in a guarded parking lot at the sea pier under the supervision of the administration of the tourist complex.

Sea traffic with the islands is carried out from June 1 and October 1. During the period when sea traffic is closed, the Solovetsky Islands can only be reached by regular flights from the airports of Petrozavodsk or Arkhangelsk.

The old creaky vessel "Vasily Kosyakov", following the route Rabocheostrovsk - Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, is packed with pilgrims and tourists. They are going to rest, pray and see what the neighborhood of an ancient monastery and a special concentration camp has led to on a small patch of land. The weather is excellent. The sky, light and low, hugs its belly to the sea itself. In some places, thunderclouds and dark pillars of rain are above the water, but these bad weather is far away. Being in a cruise mood, the passengers of "Kosyakov" enthusiastically fed the seagulls with bread, filmed each other against the background of a blue-white landscape and brown distant bad weather. Suddenly, because of the morning haze, the domes of the Solovetsky Monastery will appear over the water. As in that fairy tale, a rusty boat, stumbling over small waves, creeps closer and closer to the shore of an outlandish kingdom. A little more, and you will find yourself in the Looking Glass.

The island really turns out to be a small kingdom. It has its own life and its own rules. The dilapidated huts built during the days of the first Soviet dictators are groaning with old age. Quiet people all around: fishermen, artists, pilgrims. Arkhangelsk teenagers, exiled here for summer vacations, wander aimlessly through the back streets with music speakers and beer cans. A little girl in a headscarf and a chintz skirt with a small flower on her open palm holds out a green apple to a shy young goby. Silly street urns in the shape of pink tulips can be seen along the roads. Smells like fresh bread from the monastery bakery. Fermented Karelian kefir is sold in half-empty shops. Everything is calm and static. Only at the walls of the monastery there is a revival. Before the excursion, crowds of tourists are in a hurry to chew on sandwiches with sausage. The believers who arrived in the morning "Kosyakov" are fanatically baptized. Fathers and sisters are laughing about something, returning to the monastery from dinner.

Father, we are going to Sochi soon, what should we take with us to have a righteous rest? - raising a column of dust on the road, a flock of fussy pilgrims with faded eyes and dusty skirts surrounded the caught, a little frightened either by the crowd or by the questioned priest. It was a calm sunny evening in a short northern summer. On Cape Seldyany, cats dozed in the grass, cows lazily brushed off midges, sometimes tinkling with bells on their necks, like a teaspoon around the edges of a mug. Road dust, golden in the sun, smoothly settled on the ground, on the faces and hems of the pilgrims that had faded from time to time. The priest hesitated a little with an answer.

- It's not worth taking a Bible in Sochi. It's too heavy. Take sun protection cream. And swimwear - to swim in the sea - shrugging his shoulders, the man in a cassock answered and cautiously walked out of the circle of unblinking eyes.

For a long time, the pilgrims, left by the priest on the road, discussed whether it was worth going so far to get such an indistinct answer to the question of faith ...

Everything on this island is ambiguous. The Holy Lake behind the collar of the Solovetsky Monastery - obligatory place for visiting by both pilgrims and tourists. Having lifted up their long skirts, the pilgrims, groaning and sometimes using foul language, enter the lake knee-deep and do not move until the icy water brings their sore legs together. Not every bather knows that in the past state this very Holy Lake was called Red. But now it is Holy again. The Solovetsky Monastery itself was not always the abode of humility and light, periodically enclosing persons unwanted by the mainland within its walls and arranging naval skirmishes with lost ships.

On the shooting field of the Solovetsky special purpose camp, today the children are playing the ball. In the barracks, where lice were crushed at night several decades ago, they were dying of hunger, cold and dirt, now housewives watch crime news on TV, boiling pasta in old enamel pots. The destroyed labyrinths of the ancient northern tribes have been laid out again and are now wondering where these same labyrinths lead. The day before yesterday they erected churches here, yesterday they built prisons, today they are equipping hotels and tourist centers. And tomorrow there will be winter, and everyone will disperse. Nobody knows what will happen after winter.

There is no maternity hospital or a sensible hospital on the island: until now, every ailment is treated with holy water, and for help they go to the monastery to the mothers. But even holy water sometimes doesn't help. Last winter, an islander's heart began to thrash. A little over thirty, hard-working, single. I lay down at home and could not get up. The neighbors ran after my mother. There is no place to wait for more help on winter Solovki. The old woman refused to go to the patient in the dark. He needs it, let it go himself. Tea, not old. Was a short and clear answer.

There is nothing to do, the islander got ready with the last of his strength, put on his hat and left the hut. Only I could not get to my mother - he died on the way. When mother was told that her patient had died halfway to her, she only turned her face to the side. All the will of God! - hissed dry old woman lips, quickly crossed herself and slammed the door of her room. Only the holy water on the shelves shook from that cotton.

Solovki - Russian Alcatraz and Mar Saba on one small piece of land saturated with gunpowder, ash, blood and northern salts. An island where robes and robes were worn. This point in the White Sea lies on the way to the underworld and to heaven. Time here draws with a simple pencil and plays with people in unkind games: it forgets to go forward, then in seconds it turns the lives of the islanders upside down. Either he will take a broom in his hands and sweep the Solovetsky inhabitants to hell, and a moment later he drives vessels with new people across the uneven sea to wear robes and robes, to live out the lives of those who have already been worn out. Sometimes the hour hands on Solovki change direction abruptly, turn from the dial circle straight onto the ornate paths of the dancing forest, and then strange events begin to take place on the island: they change robes for robes, crosses for axes, cross with their right hand, and press the trigger with their left. Leapfrog good and evil, beautiful and ugly. Leapfrog brought to the point of absurdity.

Solovki is a mecca of either God or the devil. However, they always go hand in hand. Here, on this small cold island, like nowhere else, it becomes clear that life and death, good and evil, prayer and motherfucking are one. As there is one White Sea, which easily changes colors from milky to slate. As there is the Holy Lake. And there is Lake Red. And they have the same water. As there is time, which in the Looking Glass does not walk in straight lines and does not draw circles with arrows. It plays cat and mouse with the islanders, occasionally allowing them to play with it.

Solovki is a distorted reflection of the mainland. And there is no reflection if no one is looking in the mirror. The islands will live on what the wind will bring from the mainland. Time flows here with the speed of the wind. Intermittently. Impulsively. Therefore, in good weather and in the absence of news, there is no time on the island at all. A tired fisherman will freeze on the Seldyany Cape, the evening sun will flood him with the crown of his head with a thick honey light, and the hands of the clock will be forgotten again. Cats will doze in the grass. A little girl in a kerchief will wipe an apple on a chintz skirt and treat a young shy bull with it. On the shore near the silent labyrinths tourists will click the beaks of the seagulls and the shutters of the cameras.

Getting out of the island to the mainland is not so easy. Anthracite sky belly presses on the sea so that it is cramped in its cup. It sways and hisses. On it, a little old "Kosyakov" groans and groans. It is impossible to stand in the passenger compartment and it is difficult to sit - such a pitching there. Someone's suitcases and baby carriages roll from side to side. Someone cries out of fear, someone drags on Kalinka, and after a moment the others support him. Downstairs they sing songs, and on the upper deck they suffer seasickness, clutching the handrails to the blue bones, roll over them. While they are sick, waves fall on them from above and heat them from below. They tremble, choking on sea water, pray for time to go a little faster and try to make out the saving Rabocheostrovsk in the pitch bad weather. Only a few seagulls chase Kosyakov out of habit in the hope of a generous, like that time, treat.

In order not to hear the songs below and not to see the tormented ones above, you will hide under the visor on the deck and start counting to a hundred. But you won't be able to cross over fifty. One, two, three, and what if the "Shoals" cracks to hell .. And again you start counting from one. All clothes are wet through, water squelches in boots, knees shake from the cold and teeth clatter. A young guy with a nose burnt in strange places will run under your visor and start a conversation in order to speed up the passage of time at least a little.

Will you go to Solovki someday?

I don’t know if I’d get to the mainland first ...

I'll go. In winter. I will definitely go. - a random companion will shout through the wind and, holding on to the cold handrails, will look at the sea waves for a long time, calmly waiting for the continent to appear from behind the black waves of the White Sea.

"Yesterday I walked a little along a snowy field. Under the setting sun, the snow was as if showered with rose petals ... The snowy surface was speckled with traces of living creatures - footprints of some birds, with furrows stretching from the tail, dimples of hares, foxes, and some other then beasts. The sky, as often on Solovki, burned with all colors. " (Florensky Pavel. Letters from Of the Far East and Solovkov. 1937.IV.4 No. 97. M .: Thought, 1998.)

Solovki's nature is threatened by chemical weapons

Lev Fedorov: "In the Baltic Sea in 1947 ... chemical weapons that ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation ... They were really sunk in the Baltic Sea, near the Danish shores ... There is, after all, 100 m depth, where it was flooded in the Baltic Sea And our, Russian chemical weapons, created by our own hands and sunk by our own hands near Solovki at a depth of 50 m, so no one asks, no one ever, because the Ministry of Defense is hiding it from us. ( Lev Fedorov, Professor. Radio "Echo of Moscow", 08.08.2001).

Sensation! Solovki!

Reporter Notes

"... the population of the islands did not always exist in harmony with the environment, but natural factors were taken into account in their life. Nature not only organically entered the rhythm of monastic life, but also sheltered the hermits from the bustle of the world ... It was possible to survive here only by finding even the traditional crafts of the White Sea needed a significant restructuring ... so, saving the forests, they stopped on the islands, The monks who did not know such words were well aware of the vulnerability of the island ecosystem. the measure levying a tenth share by the monastery from the crafts carried out on Solovki by the inhabitants of the mainland can be considered as an environmental measure limiting the seizure of natural resources ... ( Asef Jafarli. Feature of the Solovetsky hunt. The magazine "Culture". Moscow. 04/16/1998)

Which for forty years made up the history of the Solovetsky camp.

Solovetsky chanterelle

Russian writer Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn in his novel "The Gulag Archipelago" gave a brief description of the nature of the Solovetsky archipelago. There is no doubt that the four inaccuracies contained in this short passage of text do not play any role in the reading of the great novel. We mention them only as an interesting episode from Solovetsky life.

"Natural" inaccuracies in the text of the great novel

Alexander Solzhenitsyn:“Without us, these islands rose from the sea, without us they filled up with two hundred fish lakes, without us they settled in wood grouses, hares, deer, and foxes, wolves and other predatory animals were never here.

Glaciers came and went, granite boulders pressed around the lakes; the lakes froze on a Solovetsky winter night, the sea roared from the wind and was covered with ice sludge, and where it seized; the polar lights blazed in half the sky; and it brightened again, and warmed again, and the spruce grew and thickened, birds cackled and cried, young deer trumpeted - a planet with all the history of the world was spinning, kingdoms fell and arose, but here there were still no beasts of prey and there was no man. "

This text of the novel "The Gulag Archipelago" about the nature of the Solovki contains four inaccuracies:

(a) ... foxes ... and there has never been another predatory animal here ...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was wrong - there is a predator on the islands, and this predator is a fox. This is how the great Russian poet Nikolai Klyuev describes the morning in Solovki: “And in Solovki I lived twice ... I lived for a long time in a hut by the lake, ate what God sent: blueberries, saffron milk caps; wild swans swam up to the very window, they took bread crusts from their hands; the fox got into the habit of running under the window, wakes up every dawn, there is no need to wait for the bell. "

"Behind the lake there is a road to Golgotha. A shady road, through every mile a lake, in the lake there is a blue sky or a bright sunrise-sunset. Sunrise-sunset. Exactly: sunrise-sunset. For the sun is draining blood in the west and, look, is already feeling golden tentacles of the tops of the forest and the abdomen of flying birds. On the lakes, in the green thickets, a crumbly duck "Cree" rushes. Here a fox crossed the road, wagging an ore plume of a huge tail. surrendering themselves to blizzards and storms, - Golgotha monastery. And in the greenery near the white walls, people swarm like lice. " ( Zwibelfish. On an island in Anzer. The journal "Solovetsky Islands", No. 7, 07.1926. P.3-9).

“In 2002, when I was on the Big Hare Island, I dreamed of photographing a hare. There are many of them, and they are very large - noble beasts. However, although I saw them, I could not photograph a single one. Imagine my surprise when on the path leading to the Holy Spring, I ran into a fox head to head. The fox was also apparently surprised quite strongly, because for a long time we stood and stared at each other. and the fox darted to the side, but I managed to take another picture before she disappeared in the thickets. " (Guiding notes for the very leisurely. Report on the trip to Solovki in September 2006. Part 6. "In the world of animals", Chapter 5. "Foxes, horses". As a manuscript. LiveJournal. New York, USA. 2006)

(b) ... wolves and other predatory animals have never been here ...

There are records that until 1429 there were wolves on the Solovetsky Islands. Here's what happened next. An old legend tells that Saint Zosima of Solovetsky imposed an eternal fast on the Solovetsky land - all the forest creatures should not eat slaughter, and the wolves, which cannot live without hot blood, indicated the way from the island according to his Novgorod custom. The wolves obeyed the words of the saint, settled in the spring on floating ice floes and sailed to the distant Kemsky shore.

But the saint did not impose a spell on the wolves because for the most dangerous northern predator one word of the saint was enough. For 600 years, wolves have bypassed Solovki, and when they happen to be on the islands, not of their own free will, they flee. They say that once on the island of Anzer "... they tried to settle a she-wolf to restrict the herd of deer that had taken root since the time of St. Philip (Kolychev), in winter she left and was found on another island, cut by ice floes. The wolf left the island, On the island there is an abundance of mushrooms, northern berries (cloudberries, lingonberries, crowberries, blueberries, blueberries, etc.), excellent fishing grounds, curious seals and no less curious hares, .. "but the abundance of food did not stop the beast from escape - she could not contradict the word of St. Zosima.

(c) ... without us these islands rose from the sea, without us they filled up with two hundred fish lakes ...

Alexander Isaevich was mistaken in estimating the number of lakes - there are almost 2.5 times more of them on the islands, only about 500, and not 200, as the classic writes.

(d) ... without us these islands rose from the sea ... without us they settled in wood grouses, hares, deer ...

In this case, Alexander Solzhenitsyn made a mistake in listing the aboriginal animals. Deer did not populate the islands themselves, but were brought from the mainland and released by monks during the reign of St. Philip (Kolychev). Deer meat was used for food by workers and peasants, and skins were used for making winter clothes and shoes.

There is no data on the state of nature

The first interregional seminar on monitoring the nature of Solovki has come to an end in Solovki. The Monitoring Program for the Solovetsky Archipelago was adopted. This is the first program for the study of the nature of Solovki, developed by the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve and Center " Natural resources North "Pomor University (Arkhangelsk).

“The need to monitor the natural environment of Solovki is obvious: at present there is no complete data on the state of this unique natural complex. This means that it is almost impossible to predict the development of the ecological situation, to determine the limits of anthropogenic pressures on Solovki.

The purpose of monitoring is to create an adequate picture of the state natural heritage Solovkov. The first stage of the program is designed for 2003-2007 ... Scientists from the Pomor University, Arkhangelsk Technical University, Northern Medical University, Arkhangelsk Hydrometeorological Center, Northern Branch of the Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (SevPINRO) took part in the discussion of the program together with the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve , The Arkhangelsk forestry expedition, the Solovetsky branch of the White Sea biological station of Moscow State University, as well as representatives of the Solovetsky district administration.

At the seminar, it was decided to exchange the results annually. Thus, each participant in the Program will have a complete picture of the monitoring progress and the environmental situation in Solovki. A coordinating council will be created within the framework of the program. The Solovetsky Museum-Reserve undertook to form a unified database of research results ... It is planned that students and young scientists will take part in the Monitoring Program within the framework of the Solovetsky Islands Educational Center. "( "MR-Prof"... The weekly magazine of the museum worker. Issue 41 (304), 23.10.2003)

Islands, villages, farms, hills, swamps, streams, lakes, bays, etc.
: Solovki in the texts of the novel "The Gulag Archipelago".

From the blue haze, the fabulous Bilibino outlines begin to appear: the heads of temples, turrets, everything is clearer and clearer, faster and faster. And here we see the complex of the Solovetsky Monastery. Cries of seagulls are heard, sea water, bluish black, emanates from the stern of the ship with white foam. In the distance, you can see the slippery backs of beluga whales glinting in the sun. Here is the kingdom of peace and quiet, crystal air and unique energy.

The Solovetsky Islands are not only a monastery, as we are accustomed to believe, it is a unique complex that brought together the culture of northern peoples, unique nature and history from ancient times to the present day. Mysterious labyrinths created in the II-I millennium BC, a prison (1920-1930s), the Solovetsky school of young men (1942-1945).

Before leaving, you will, of course, want to familiarize yourself with the history of the islands and decide which one you would like to visit. Book in advance for excursions, especially sea trips. But the main thing is that when visiting the islands, you should not rely too much on the planned plan, because Solovki is a magical world with its own laws, and believe me - the spirit of Solovki will change your routes, intertwine paths and show you what it wants to show.

The island of dancing birches.

The Solovetsky archipelago is small. Of the multitude small islands there are six relatively large islands, the best known is Bolshoy Solovetsky Island, other islands are much smaller - Anzersky Island, Bolshaya and Malaya Muksalma, Bolshoy and Small Zayatsky Islands.

By Big Solovetsky Island it is convenient to get around by bike, which can be rented here, not far from the monastery. Have a snack on the road with blueberries, just bend over by the side of the road and, without getting off your bike, grab the juicy gray berries ...

The most famous route is to the west, to Sekirnaya Gora, with observation deck which opens beautiful view in the vicinity, and where there is almost the only temple-lighthouse in the world, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord. On the way, you can visit the Filippovskie cages (where fish caught in the sea were kept and bred) and the Makarievskaya desert (the northernmost botanical garden in Russia is located here).

Second good route- to the Negotiation Stone. You can come here in the evening, watch the sunset. The negotiating stone is located on the seashore - a hefty stone slab with an inscription was installed in 1856 at the place of negotiations between Archimandrite Alexander and an officer of the English squadron that was besieging the monastery. Archimandrite Alexander refused to hand over the cattle to the English squadron, after which the warships went to sea. This is the story of the confrontation between Solovetsky monks and English ships. When the English ships approached the Solovki, they began a conversation with the monastery by means of flags. Imagine the surprise of the monks, who are not familiar with the naval flag alphabet, when they saw that the warships, lining up along the walls of the monastery, staged some kind of concert on colored rags, culminating in the firing of a signal cannon. After consulting about what it was, the monks fired back from the battle cannon, damaging one of the ships. Then came the shelling, but the alleged 1,800 British cannonballs fired did not leave a single scratch on the walls, and, as the monks ironically wrote in the monastery journal, "not even a single seagull was harmed."

There are about 1000 lakes on Solovki, some of them are connected by a lake-channel system. It was created by monks for water supply, and water also set in motion millstones. Be sure to swim along the canals on a boat, this is an unforgettable quest, when, swimming in the shade of tall trees along a narrow canal paved with stones, you swim out into the vastness of the lake and enjoy the silence. True, then you need to find a way to the next channel).

In the monastery you can have a great rest, drink kvass in the courtyard. Here the monk brought in freshly baked pies, an excursion group rushed past, the bells rang. Here it is - grace!

We were lucky enough to visit Zayatsky Island and Kuzovy. On Zayatsky Island is the first man-made stone harbor in Russia, which could shelter up to 10 boats. There is tundra vegetation on this island, you can see dwarf birches, lichen, crowberry. There are mysterious labyrinths - low, spiral, round stone displays. Until now, no answers have been found to the questions: when, who and why built the labyrinths? There is an assumption that the labyrinth is a door (portal) to other worlds, a tool that allows the primitive shaman to establish contact with otherworldly forces.

This island is the birthplace of our sea Andreevsky flag. It was here in 1701 that Peter I proclaimed this flag, and in honor of this event a year later, in 1702, the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called was built on Zayatsky Island. This church has survived to this day.

The soil and stones are very vividly covered with a carpet of berries, moss and grass.

On the tiny territory of the island(1.5 kilometers) 13 similar labyrinths are laid out.

An ancient boulder harbor, which was visited by English sailors Thomas Souton and John Spark, as well as our first Emperor Peter the First.

In general, everything on Solovki is so painfully imbued with the Russian soul, and it clings so tightly that you want to come back again and again. People who come every year are called "dull-witted" here.

The main flow of tourists comes to Solovki in summer.

With myself: warm and waterproof clothing and footwear, raincoat and swimsuit.

We filmed a room with a resident of Solovki and never regretted it, the house is two-story wooden, two entrances and several apartments on the floor, we had a lovely balcony overlooking the pine trees and vegetable gardens, it seems that I came to my grandmother in the village. There are also several hotels and an excellent campground.

The nature of the Solovki

It was nature that helped me to preserve my mental health on Solovki, or rather a permanent pass to leave the Kremlin, which at the beginning of 1929 was issued to me by the clerk of the Administrative Department, the former flag officer of A.F. Kerensky - Alexander Ivanovich Melnikov. After Melnikov left Solovki at the very end of 1929, this pass was constantly renewed for me, since I had to go to the Children's Colony (then renamed the Labor Colony) on Krimkab's business.

I used this pass as soon as and whenever I could: I walked along the Reboldovskoy road to Glubokaya Guba, secretly - to the Negotiating Stone (here negotiations were held between monastic representatives and the command of the British squadron during the Crimean War); along the Savvatievskaya road, along the Muksalomskaya road, etc. Despite the strict prohibition to appear in the coastal strip, several times I went to the Metropolitan's cages, where on sunny days I lay in the sun for an hour or two, completely forgetting about the danger. On the Hare's Lip, near the Metropolitan's Gardens, I met a wonderful hare family. I lay in the bushes and dozed off. When I opened my eyes, I saw a charming hare and several little hares directly opposite me, at a distance of a little more than an outstretched hand. They looked at me without stopping, like a miracle. The monks taught animals not to be afraid of man. The hare obviously brought her kids to show them me. I didn’t move, neither did they. We looked at each other, probably with the same feeling of heartfelt affection. Such thoughtless contemplation could not last forever: I stirred, and they disappeared, but for a long time there remained a surprisingly warm feeling of love for all living things. All around were growing stunted and twisted by the winds Solovetsky birches, gurgling streams of water, with ebb or flow passing through the dam of the Metropolitan cages, made of relatively small stones.

I walked safely along the Rebold road with a thin birch stick in my hands. I reached Deep Lip and once swam here. The water here kept the cold of winter. I entered it without fear, but when I plunged, I caught my breath, and I barely crawled out. Immediately I found a half-rotted cross with the designation that Meshcherinov's army had landed on this place during the Solovetsky uprising at the end of the 17th century. The cross-board had fallen off, and a forged nail was sticking out of it. I took it, and I had it before the blockade, when in the hustle and bustle of my forced departure (I was expelled from Leningrad with the OGPU family) I forgot to take it with me.

Rebold's road was amazingly beautiful, and once I walked all the way to Rebolda, from where the crossing was to Anzer. Near Rebolda, a "running forest" began, which was subsequently cut down. These were perennial pines with thick trunks, which were bent to the ground by a constant wind, and therefore they seemed to be "running" and alive. What could they be needed for? Their wood was dense and did not lend itself well to sawing.

But what kind of logs were in the frame of the guard hut, where in the warmth one could wait for the crossing in rowboats! Smoked logs of gigantic length and thickness, giving the impression of deep antiquity. It seemed to me that I was right in the 17th century. Yes, it probably was so ...

The nature of the Solovetsky Islands seems to have been created between heaven and earth. In summer it is illuminated not so much by the sun as by a huge high sky, in winter it is immersed in low pitch darkness softened by the whiteness of the snow, occasionally broken by flashes Northern Lights sometimes pale green, sometimes blood red. On Solovki everything speaks of the ghostly nature of the local world and the proximity of the otherworldly ...

The islands are different in landscape. Two Zayatsky, Big and Small, on which not a single tree grows, the beauty of which is in the amazing color combinations of lichens, stones and boulders, bushes and polar birches and the opportunity to see the sea from everywhere. You can't get lost here. Everything seems wild and deserted, and only low labyrinths remind of the customs that man has created for himself. Two islands - Bolshaya and Malaya Muksalma, are covered with forests and swamps, hills that drop off by the sea, and rich pastures on which cows have grazed for centuries. An artificial dam connects Bolshaya Muksalma and Bolshoi Solovetsky Island. Anzer is magnificent. Its nature is lush and even as if cheerful. Sandy beaches and the beautiful deciduous forests are reminiscent of the south. But high mountain The island is crowned by the Golgotha skete, which by its very name prophetically predicted the unbearable sufferings of the old people, cripples and hopelessly sick dying here, who were brought here from all over the camp, frozen, starved, buried alive. The central island, Bolshoy Solovetsky, has collected in its landscape everything that other islands have. In addition, there are three hundred lakes, large and small, often bearing new islands, on which highly secret prisoners could also be kept, who were deprived of the opportunity to see other people, and once hermits were shuttered.

Here is a great natural Paradise, but at the same time a great Hell for prisoners of all ranks, estates, all peoples inhabiting Russia! Here, in this world of holiness and sin, heavenly and earthly, nature and man are united in an extraordinary closeness.

Huge boulders served as the main building material: towers and walls were erected from them, together with plinths and bricks, they formed the foundation of the temples. The roofs are covered with boards, the domes - with a ploughshare. But icons and books, altar carvings and wrought iron testify to the enormous efforts of man to overcome nature, to put spirit above matter, to create a gigantic temple out of nature. Sketes seem to "narrow" the distance throughout the island. Dugouts of hermits and copper crosses that have grown right into the trunks of trees, against which the teeth of two-handed saws were broken by prisoners at logging sites.

Three hundred lakes of the Big Solovetsky Island, the largest of which are interconnected by canals in order to constantly replenish the large Holy Lake with clean water, along the banks of which the main buildings of the Solovetsky Monastery rise, set on the isthmus between the Holy Lake and the sea. The difference in level, as they said, is 8 meters. This difference made it possible to create a water supply system, a sewerage system in the monastery, use various equipment, build quickly filled and empty docks for repairing ships, an excellent bakery, a port wash, a smithy (exclusive for the 16th century), supply water to the refectory, etc., etc. The monastery could serve as a clear refutation of false ideas about the backwardness of ancient Russian technology. The Holy Lake is, in essence, a giant pond, artificially created to make all the life-supporting mechanisms of the monastery live and work.

Eight meters of difference in sea and lake levels, formed from the bridge, forced to build the walls of temples with a wide foundation, to create walls and temples, as it were, standing firmly on the ground in order to protect the inhabitants of the monastery from enemies and bad weather, to create conditions inside the monastery for the prosperity of a small picturesque kindergarten, where everywhere there were places convenient for the emotional response and prayerful reflections of the elderly monks.

The Solovetsky Islands are a place where the feeling of a creative God and human temporality is constantly supported by the changing seasons, the rhythm of the day, long nights in winter and long sunsets in the evenings, long sunrises in the morning, fast weather changes, a variety of landscapes, a sense of the length of history of these places, marked by pagan labyrinths and vowed crosses, temples and chapels, where intense peasant and craft work would be so holy and so pleasing to God.

And at the same time, already in the monastic time, purely worldly concerns burst into the peaceful prayer and working life of monks: a clash with heretics, the stay of the exiled in it, a large Old Believer uprising that led to a long siege in 1668–1678. and hundreds of dead, whose bodies were lying unburied in front of the monastery on the ice ...

My walks to the sea ended on the opposite side of the monastery - not far from the Negotiation Stone. I knew that it was necessary to choose a place for rest on some cape, where the "chief surgeon" Solovkov, the Latvian Degtyarev, usually did not visit. But I did not know that he had a small dog with an extraordinary instinct, trained to be a human. She felt people at a great distance.

I chose a place to rest on the shore of the bay on the opposite side of the one from which Degtyarev, the “chief of the troops of the Solovetsky archipelago,” made his detour on a white horse. It was difficult to see me behind the stones. And suddenly I heard the disgusting squeaky barking of a dog. Degtyarev, the main gunman, Solovkov, galloped to me to bypass the bay. I managed to pull on my trousers and rushed into the forest, grabbing everything else under my arm. Fortunately for me, there was a long swampy strip in the forest, apparently, which was once a riverbed. A huge spruce lay across this swamp "moat". I stepped on the trunk, and I was directly transported to the opposite side. If it were not for the fear of getting to Degtyarev (and from him straight to Sekirka), I would never have been so “brave” to cross the trunk from one side of the swamp to the other. Degtyarev stopped and, breaking the amazing bliss of the Solovetsky forest with selective abuse, did not pursue me, and he could not dismount and run after me. Why he didn’t start shooting - I don’t know.

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