Kenozersky National Park

Kenozerye is a precious fairy tale, where the chapel onion shaped cupolas glisten like silver among the centenary spruce trees, the blue of painted «heaven» argues with the depths of the northern sky, the dawning waters of the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean spin the wheels and millstones of ancient mills, and snow-white swans descend in wide circles on the mirror surface of the forest lakes. The natural and cultural landscapes of Kenozero carefully preserve the traditions of the epic North.

 photo: Daniil Korzhonov, as well as those provided by the Kenozersky National Park

Kenozero National Park was established in 1991 in the southwestern part of the Arkhangelsk region, at the junction of the Plesetsk and Kargopol regions. Taiga pine and spruce forests cover three quarters of 140 thousand hectare park, the rest is covered with meadows and swamps with small lakes — lambushki. Kenozero National Park is a specially protected natural area, an outstanding example of the Northern European cultural landscape, included in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves List. Among dense forests and swamps, man and nature harmoniously coexist. One of the unique natural sites of the Kenozero Park is the continental divide of the Arctic and The Atlantic oceans, formed over 11 thousand years ago. A hilly neck of the land between two lakes with a narrow beam separates the waters of the Atlantic and the Arctic, and the road laid along it leads to the Kenozero Biryulki landscape park, where the miniature copies of the most famous architectural attractions of the national park are exhibited.

 photo: Evgeny Shelkovnikov, as well as those provided by the Kenozersky National Park

The largest lakes in the park are Lekshmozero and Kenozero. Around them are concentrated the main cultural landscapes, formed as a result of the harmonious interaction of man and nature — a group of villages with adjacent meadows, «holy» groves and forest lands. Within its borders, people live, the carriers of traditional culture, the descendants of those who once created this natural and cultural diversity. The dynasties of the Kenozero storytellers preserved to our time epics about the heroes like Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich, hundreds of songs and tales that were included in the treasury of folklore.

  photo: Dmitry Bastet, as well as those provided by the Kenozersky National Park

Offers for guests of Kenozero are no less diverse than the landscapes of the national park. Here you can spend time in a remote guest house, lost among the forests on the shores of a quiet lake, observe the seasonal migration of swans, walk along the historical «Ancestral Trail» , the picturesque «Meditation Path» at Hizhgora or get acquainted with multi-meter insects and forest inhabitants on the educational «Anthill Trail». Museum expositions of a loose barn, a Zekhnovsky flour mill and the interactive museum «In the beginning was the Word» tell us about the centuries long way of life of Kenozerye. Ethnographic programs in the blacksmith, haymaking or in the handmade log cabin introduce the crafts and folk traditions of the ancient land. Having tea and pies at Egorovna’s one can listen to fairy tales and legends, learn the secrets of medicinal plants visiting ancestral herbalist or go hunting for prey with Kenozersky fisherman.

 photo: Igor Shpilenok, as well as those provided by the Kenozersky National Park

Fans of adventure and outdoor activities can go on a rowing boat along the ancient lake- channel system to the existing water mill or along «Transkenozero route» — the path of the ancient Novgorodians, through the famous «holy groves» and Porzhensky graveyard hidden in the forests with painted «heaven». Special shields of the ceilings of ancient temples and chapels — «heaven» are one of the landmarks of Kenozerye.

One can talk about Kenozero endlessly as the local identity is so much complex. For example take lekshmozersky vendace («ryapus», as the locals name it) and the legendary spurs made of it! The life of the national park, full of events and festivals, developed tourist infrastructure, carefully preserved features of the original Russian way of life and traditions attract researchers, filmmakers, photographers and many tourists from all over the world. Kenozerye is the widest palette of impressions, new experience and carefully preserved traditional knowledge of the Russian North.

Photos in the upper block: Artyom Samokhvalov, Ekaterina Maximova, as well as those provided by the Kenozersky National Park: Vadim Shtrik, Dmitry Bastet , Daniil Korzhonov