TL20120706Kizhi

Kizhi

Kizhi Island is in the middle of Lake Onega. It is one of the most ancient inhabited sites in Russia.
It was an early pagan center, and now hosts an open-air architectural museum and reserve.

We visited the museum which opened to visitors in 1966 and offering an array of architectural monuments. More than 80
wooden monuments represent folk wooden architecture, ancient Russian pictorial art, and cultural items of the region’s
various ethnic groups. The museum’s precious collection includes many wooden churches and chapels brought from
other parts of the Russian north.

We also viewed the Church of the Transfiguration, with its 22 timbered onion domes. A donation from Grand Circle
Foundation to the World Monuments Fund helped to maintain and protect this treasure.