Karelia.

History

People carved images into the rocks here as early as the Neolithic, seven to four thousand years ago. Petrozavodsk grew out of a cannon foundry founded on Peter the Great's orders in 1703 during the Great Northern War, which explains the city's name. Karelia became an autonomous republic in 1923, was the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Republic from 1940 to 1956, and then returned to autonomous status within Russia. Some land on the northern shore of Ladoga, such as Ruskeala, belonged to Finland before the war.

Culture & traditions

Kizhi Pogost on an island in Lake Onega has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1990. Its 37-metre Church of the Transfiguration of 1714, with 22 domes, was built almost without nails, which hold only the roof shingles. The Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea, listed by UNESCO in 2021, include more than 4,600 figures of people, animals, birds and boats. The Valaam Monastery on Ladoga's largest island has been revived since 1989. Ivan Shishkin and Arkhip Kuindzhi painted Karelian landscapes, and the Karelian, Veps and Finnish languages are officially recognised.

Nature

Almost all of Karelia is lakes, rivers and taiga on ancient crystalline rock. In the south it reaches Lakes Ladoga and Onega, in the north-east the White Sea. Kivach Nature Reserve, founded in 1931, protects taiga and a 10.4-metre waterfall on the Suna River. At Ruskeala, old marble quarries over 50 metres deep have filled with clear water and become a mountain park, while the Tohmajoki River tumbles over a series of small falls.

Sport

In Karelia, sport usually means water and forest. Kayakers love the small cascades of the Tohmajoki at Ruskeala, and the international Blue Highway tourist route crosses the republic. Thousands of lakes and rivers make the region an inviting place for paddling trips.

Food & drink

The best-known dish is the Karelian pasty, kalitka: an open pie with a thin rye crust filled with rice porridge or mashed potato, or barley in older times. While still hot it is spread with butter, often mixed with chopped boiled egg. Karelia produces 65–70% of all trout farmed in Russia, so fish is an everyday part of the table.

Practical information

Petrozavodsk's Besovets Airport lies 12 km from the city. The Oktyabrskaya Railway links Petrozavodsk with Saint Petersburg and Murmansk, and since 2019 a steam-hauled tourist train has run from Sortavala to Ruskeala. The region is on Moscow time. The climate is humid continental, with January around −8 °C and July around 17 °C. Summer is the best time, when the islands of Kizhi and Valaam are easiest to reach.

What to see

• Kizhi — the 22-domed wooden Church of the Transfiguration of 1714 on an Onega island
• Valaam — a monastery on the largest island in Lake Ladoga
• Ruskeala — a marble quarry filled with clear water, reached by steam train from Sortavala
• Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea — UNESCO-listed Neolithic rock carvings
• Kivach Waterfall — the famous falls on the Suna in a taiga reserve
• Onega Embankment in Petrozavodsk — Karelian granite and marble with sculptures from twin cities

Cities on the map

• Petrozavodsk 234,577