Stepping Back in Time

Kenozersky National Park is a portal back in time, where the ways of life, traditions and beliefs are those of many decades before...

Created in December 1991, Kenozersky lies in the southwestern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, on the border with the Republic of Karelia, where the Plesetsk and Kargopol municipal regions meet. It extends 72 kilometers north to south and 27 kilometers east to west.

Thanks to its seclusion and remoteness, the Kenozero region has long been a preserve for cultural relics. As far back as the middle of the nineteenth century, scientists began traveling here to study locals’ daily lives and traditions.

Even today, getting to the region is far from simple. It is nearly 200 kilometers to the nearest train station, and half that distance must be traveled over dirt roads replete with sharp turns and steep hillocks.

In winter, life in the villages here slows down appreciably. Babushkas plod unhurriedly down snow-covered paths, while grain-laden horses and backpack-hauling fisherman move slowly across the flat expanse created by the frozen lake.

We arrived on snowmobiles at sunset, to photograph shrines in sacred groves.

Sacred groves are patches of forest that, in accordance with local tradition, are not used for any sort of economic activity. It is also forbidden to harvest fallen trees and remove them from these groves. Even branches felled by wind are piled up nearby. If a shrine or chapel stands on a hill by itself, chances are, a sacred tree is growing nearby.

Each chapel located within the bounds of Kenozero Park (35 remain) stands in complete harmony with its surrounding landscape, no matter if you view it from close up or far away. This is the “secret” that explains why every photograph comes out beautifully.

But the wonders of Kenozero extend beyond its landscapes. Step inside a chapel and look up. Kenozersky Park has preserved and restored an impressive collection of “heavens” – painted chapel ceilings, all the work of local artists. These “heavens” were created out of a desire to have these small structures imitate stone churches, to give them something of what a cupola gives a church.

Most often those who paid for the “heaven” were not-so-wealthy peasants with rather simple tastes. Thus, the peasants and artists have collaborated on the creation of an artistic world that corresponds with their style of life and their conceptions of beauty. And, as a result, the chapels are the villages’ spiritual pivot points. All day long, there are candles burning here and the sounds of prayers can be heard.

I have actually made several visits here – on foot and on bicycle, by boat and by snowmobile. No matter the time of year, Kenozersky Park offers guests from larger cities a healthy dose of quietude and peace. In the summer, visitors spend time around bonfires, evading mosquitoes; in winter they are welcomed into guesthouses with traditional Russian stoves as their centerpieces and old-fashioned “black” banyas (so named for their lack of a ventilation pipe and the resultant accumulation of soot).

Most tourists hike the trans-Kenozero trail, which connects the two sections of the park, one in Kargopol District and the other in Plesetsk District. One meets all sorts of people along the way. Visitors often take the opportunity to enjoy a warming cup of tea and conversation with new acquaintances who share their passion for the nature of the North.

Sunset in the village of Vershinino.

Internal view of a chapel in the village of Minino.

Yekaterina Ivanovna Anikiyeva works with her pryalka (distaff).

There are a few surprising places in the park that every tourist should visit.

There is a 10-meter-high barrier – a narrow plateau, actually – separating the White and Baltic Sea watersheds. It was created entirely by nature, yet looks artificial. On one side, the rivers and lakes empty into Lake Onega and the Baltic, on the other into the White Sea. This distinctive barrier stretches for two kilometers between the villages of Maselga and Morshchikhinskaya, and is best traversed on foot.

The canyon formed by the Porzhenka River is very difficult to access, yet it is one of the park’s most beautiful spots. Just eight kilometers long, the Porzhenka gives the appearance of a raging mountain river, having carved itself a canyon out of the soft rock of its embankments.

The Ship’s Grove (Korabelnaya roshcha), in the western section of the park, contains a forested area that, since the eighteenth century, has served as a source of tall larch trees for ship masts. The larch is prized for its durability. Often, harvested trees were transported to wharfs overland, as larch does not float well enough for river transport. This particular forest tract has been declared off limits to the public – which explains the grove’s near pristine condition. There are trees here that are over 400 years old.

Of course, the main treasure of this place is its people, who have lived here all their lives and have no interest in leaving the land of their birth. As part of a project to collect photo portraits of native villagers, we visited more than 20 homes. In each we were welcomed as treasured guests, with samovars, jams, and pies fresh from the oven... Every face was as if from a painting... Every life story was worthy of an epic novel: rebuilding the country after war, working in a kolkhoz, the blossoming and then the collapse of agriculture, the outflowing of people from the villages, new life in the territory after creation of the national park – they witnessed all of this and more.

Interior of a Russian izba, with traditional stove on the right.

Basket maker Alexander Ivanovich Khabarov, in Pereshlakhta.

Alexandra Ilyinichna Popova, in Morshchikhinskaya.

Northern Lights above the village of Vershinino (the park’s “capital” town).

Yet photographers are not the only ones drawn to Kenozersky. Scientific conferences are often held here, as are folk art festivals, which help many rural residents acquire new skills and earn an income.

There is also a children’s ecological summer camp inside the park, where school-aged students study nature, clear hiking trails, take care of anthills, and even conduct tours. As well, each year dozens of older students flock to the park’s volunteer camp to repair ancient mills and churches, or to work in archaeological digs.

At the end of our trip to this fairy tale region last winter we were treated to a display of the Northern Lights. We set the camera’s shutter to snap a picture every 30 seconds, each image a frame for a future movie. In the sky, the incomparable flowering of scorchlings lasted nearly the entire night.

It was a spectacular way to end our time travel. RL