Cargopol
We provide you with the unique possibility to visit the ancient Cargopol! It’s a diminutive fairy state where you can see with your own eyes the beautiful ancient temples, wooden churches and chapels, merchant mansions and peasants’ wooden houses-ships. You will be able to see how the masters’ hands give birth to the famous Cargopol clay toy, how a master carves chip birds ! The Cargopol wonderland will appear before you in full view from the Cathedral steeple. The unique painted heavens of the temples will discover you their secrets. You will walk along the city’s quiet streets, visit some ancient northern villages, bathe in the holy lake ! You will get acquainted with the history and culture of the ancient Cargopol that is more that 860 years old ! The city is hidden in the forest; the beautiful creations of human hands are jolly combined with the bright nature of original beauty.
The Cargopol district is located in the western part of the Arkhangelsk region. Its territory amounts to 10 thousand square km. Cargopol district is famous for water flows; it’s the lake of Lache and Lekshmo lake. The surface of Lache lake equals to 314 km2. The district territory are crossed by numerous rivers: affluent, somewhere rush and riffle boiling Onega; the only river running out of the lake of Lache; riffled Svid connecting the lakes of Lache and Vozhe; picturesque Kovzha, Kinema, Tikhmanga, Lekshma, Kanaksha, Olga. The territory’s considerable part is covered with coniferous and green woods: here pine, fir, abies, birch, asp, alder grow. There are rich berry-fields with blue-berry, whortleberry, bog whortleberry, cran-berry, cloudberry, bramble in the forests. The district is also famous for mushrooms – saffron milk caps.
Now Cargopol is considered to be a city-museum where the monuments that reflected the nation’s culture level in the XV-XVIII centuries, are preserved.
It’s a territory with rich history, undiscovered mysteries and legends.
It means more than 100 monuments of wooden and stone architecture.
It means virgin corners of the northern nature.
It means clean rivers and transparent lakes rich in fish.
It means boundless forests.
It means the beautiful possibilities for hunting, mushrooms and berries picking up.
It means hurry free, measured life rhythm of the ancient Russian city in the 21st century.
It means the ageold manners of simple peasants’ life.
It means Cargopol traditional trades and crafts.
It means northern cordiality and hospitality of local dwellers.
Kargopol district was founded in July 1929 with the center in Kargopol. It borders with Plesetsky, Nyandomsky, Konoshesky districts and Karelia republic. The total area is 10, 1 thousand square km, the population is 25, 2 thousand people, 245 settlements.
Extensive archaeological studies on the banks of the Svid’ and Onega rivers, Vozhe and Lache lakes hold in the late 50 – 60 of the XX century show that the region in the vicinity with the present day territory of Kargopol had been rendered habitable long before founding of the town.
Ancient settlements date back to 4 thousand B.C., to the period of Late Stone Age. Many different articles of household and trade tools are found on the sites: smithereens of clay crockery, horn and bone fishing hooks, harpoon, arrow-heads, scrapers, chisel, axes. Remnants of hearths and burial places. In 1959 parts of the horn with the remnants of steel billets and scoria were found on the cape of Lache lake. It is assumed that the found can be dated to the first half of the 1 thousand B.C. A great number of the found archaeological material helped to determine that the culture of the Late Stone Age, formed in the area of Lache, Kenozero, Vozhe lakes and Upper Onega, differ from the cultures of other areas, for example Belomorye, Karelia, Pechora cultures. This culture, formed in the period 4000 – 3000 B.C. got the name KARGOPOLSKAYA.
Main minerals are: brick earth, peat, mineral waters, sandy-gravel materials. The reserve, natural monuments, swamps are taken under the protection of the district.
Kargopol is one of the ancient Russian towns. It was first mentioned in 1146 when Belozersky prince Vyacheslav came to Northern Chud’. The town is situated 420 km to the South-west from Arkhangelsk on the left bank of the Onega river in the centre of the transport corridor Finland – Karelia – Arkhangelsk. Kargopol was formed as novgorodian settlement of the Slavs – Krivichy. Due to favourable geographical conditions and the convenient water ways the town developed very quickly and by the XVI century became the most important trading centre on the way from the Ancient Russia to Pomor land. By the order of Ivan the Terrible Kargopol got the rights for self-government.
The first signs of decay of Kargopol appeared with the founding of Arkhangelsk in 1584. In 1613 the town was burnt by Polish-Lithuanian invaders and after St. Petersburg foundation in 1703 trading in Kargopol died out. Nevertheless, till the XVIII century Kargopol remaines the largest center of whole salt sale and according to the annual trading balance it took the seventh place among the Russian towns. Centuries-old history of Kargopol is rich in events. The town fought on the Novgorodian side against Moscow for the Northern lands. Kargopol regiment fought in Kulikovskaya battle. In the beginning of the XVII century the town repulsed the Polish-Lithuanian attacks, remnants of fortress barrages, cannory and cannon-balls witness that.
Daniil Zatochnik and Prince Ivan Shuysky were exiled in Kargopol, the head of the peasants’ rebellion Ivan Bolotnikov was executed here.
F. S. Pryadunov, the founder of the first oil trade in Russia and A.A. Baranov the first ruler of the Russian colonies in the North America originated from the Kargopol land.
Kargopol is one of the few ancient Northern towns which preserved its ensamble character of the architectural monuments, planning elements of the medieval Russian town. Unique monuments of the white stone architecture of the XVI-XVII centuries form the town landscape. The value of its monuments are in their new approach to the decoration appearance of the fronts. The academician I.E. Grabar considered Kargopol stone patterns to be the masterpiece of the wall handling, not yilding to the beauty of Florentine palaces of Renaissance. The most significant is the architectural ensamble of the Sobornaya square, in the centre of which there is cathedral bell tower, main dominant of the town. Ancient houses and former shops of merchants frame the square, and stone trade rows of the XVIII centuries join the Eastern side of the square.
Real masterpieces of the folk architecture are the wooden temples and ancient houses in Kargopol. Among them are the temple ensamble of Lyadiny graveyard, one of wholy preserved temples in Russia, cultic buildings in Oshevensk, Saunino, Bolshaya Shalga, Krasnaya Lyaga, Arkhngelo. Altogether there are more than 200 preserved monuments of whitestone and wooden architecture, which are protected by the State.
Kargopol is famouse for its local crafts. The golden age of all kinds of local crafts was in XVI-XVII centuries.
The fate of the present-day Kargopol, prospectives of further devepolment are connected with the tourism. Unique historical and cultural monuments, neareness of Kenozero national park, marvellous natural landscapes, favourable geographical position and mild climate make the Kargopol district extremely attractive and prospective destination from investment point of view.
The development of event tourism stimulate events such as the festival of local crafts masters, the festival of ice sculpture which are annually held in Kargopol and attract tourists not only from Russia but from Finland, Sweden and Norway. With the opening of the new transport corridor Oulu-Kostanuksha-Pudozh-Kargopol-Arkhangelsk appear new prospectives of the rise of entry tourism from Europe, Karelia, St. Petersburg.
Kargopol state historical-architectural museum
There are more than 34 thousand exhibits in the museum. The pride of the museum is the unique collections of the ancient Russian paintings (icons of Novgorodian and Moscow schools, “Northern letters”), church sculptures, golden embroidery, hand-written and old printed books, provincial portrait of the XVIII-XIX centuries. The collection of the works of the local crafts – Kargopol clay toy and embroidery, pattern weaving, women’s head-gear, golden shawls, carved and painted distaffs, copper castings, church plate are presented more widely. Many Kargopol icons are exhibited in the large Russian museums (Hermitage, Russian Museum, etc.).
There are 17 architectural monuments of the federal importance under the jurisdiction of the Museum, masterpieces of white-stone and wooden architecture of the Russian North of the XVI-XVIII centuries: temple ensambles of Birth of Christ and Annunciation cathedrals in Kargopol, also temple complexes of wooden architecture in Oshevenskoye, Saunino, Lyadiny.
Private museum “Dynasty of the Shevelevs”
The museum is situated in the private house. Kargopol clay toys, works of local crafts are exhibited in the museum. Master-classes on making clay toy and its painting are organized.
Ethnographical museum-studio
The museum was founded in 1993 in Lyadiny village school. The purpose of its founding was to preserve the local crafts (including linen indusry), gathering and studying ethnographical and folklore data. School children learn to weave, work with birch bark.
Lyadiny
Lyadiny village is 35 km to the West from Kargopol. There is an ensamble of three remarkable monuments of wooden architecture: winter twelve-headed Bogoyavlenskaya church with refectory and an original round porch (1793); summer hipped Pokrovskaya church (1761), inside of which there is an icon stand and “heaven paintings” and a high hipped bell-tower (1820). Such tripple ensamble, characteristic to the villages of the Russian North almost nowhere can be found.
Oshevenskoye is a large and beautiful village on the bank of Churega river, 44 km from Kargopol. The village consists of three parts – Pogost, Shiryaikha and Niz. In Pogost there is a hipped wooden Bogoyavlenskaya church (1787) with a huge icon stand and “heaven paintings” and a separate bell tower. In Niz there is a remarkable tiny Georgievskaya church, which is under restoration now. There are also remnants of the ancient water mill in the village.
In the surroundings of Oshevenskoye there is a Alexandro-Oshevensky monastery.
Lacha lake
Lacha is one of the largest lakes on the South-west of the Arkhangelsk region with the area of 334 square km. The length of the lake is 33 km, width is 8-13 km, depth is 3-4 meters. Twelve rivers fall into the lake, among them are Svid’, Kovzha, Lekshma. There are many springs which do not freeze even in the coldest weather. From the Northern end of the lake flows the Onega river.
Lachsky reserve
Biological reserve with the area of 20 thousand hectares was founded in 1971. Swans, geese, bald-coots, wild-ducks, golden-eyes, musk-rats are under protection.
Filatovsky reserve
Biological reserve with the area of 23, 6 thousand hectares was founded in 1975. Elks, wild boars, brown bears, foxes, squirrels, otters, lynxes, martens, beavers, hares, game are under protection.
Vozhe lake
Vozhe lake is situated on the border line between Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions. Its area is 416 square km, length is 64 km, width is 7-16 km, depth is 3-4 meters. About 20 tributaries fall into the lake, the largest are Vozhega, Eloma and Modlona. The Svid’ river connects Vozhe lake with Lache lake. On one of the islands of Vozhe lake there are remnants of the monastery of XVII century. The lake is popular among the lovers of sport fishing, here you can catch bream, roach, pike, cisco, ide, whitebait.
Kenozero is one of the most picturesque lakes in the Arkhangelsk region. It is situated in the West Prionezhye. The area of the lake is 68, 8 square km, maximum depth is about 90 meters. Hilly surroundings of this lake is sometimes called “Kargopol Switzerland”. The hills rise for 50-100 meters above the lake level. Numerous sites of the late Stone Age and monuments of wooden architecture can be met on the lake shores. The forests are rich with mushrooms and berries. In the ancient times trading routes from Obonezhye to Zavolochye lied through Kenozero. By the lake-river system merchants travelled from Obonezhskoye lake to Kenozero lake, then by the Kena river they sailed to the Onega river and further to the Dvina river.
Lekshmozero
A picturesque lake is famouse for its clear water and fish abundance (12 kinds). The area of the lake is 54,4 square km, length is 12,5 km, width is 5-8 km, depth is down to 38 meters. River Lekshma connects it with the lake Lache. | 
