Surrounded by 1,650 islands, the 22 Aspen shingle domes tumbling down the Church of the Transfiguration on Lake Onega’s Kizhi Island seems straight out of a fairytale. Just when you expect a goblin to peep out from behind a carved gable, the church bells on the nearby bell tower break into a peal of lilting musical notes. Inside the church itself built of pine logs in 1714, a four-tiered wooden iconostasis with 102 icons recounts tales of prophets and feasts in colourful gilded, recently restored glory.

Together with the equally unique nine-domed Church of the Intercession built in 1764 and 19th Century Bell Tower, it forms the Kizhi Pogost, a UNESCO-listed ensemble of medieval Russia’s grandest wooden churches. They are evocative of the country’s archetypal onion-domed cathedrals, but are made completely out of wood, sans any nails except to hold the domes’ shingles in place, in keeping with local building traditions. There are other buildings on the island including the tiny 14th Century Resurrection of Lazarus Church, and numerous houses, barns, and windmills.

Kizhi Island is the centrepiece of the Republic of Karelia, a region which has found itself amidst a tug-of-war between neighbouring Finland and Russia through much of its history. This has resulted in a heady mix of Russian Orthodoxy laced with rituals and superstitions rooted in Finnish folklore which stubbornly live on.

Though Peter the Great [r. 1682 – 1725] and Catherine II [r. 1762 – 1796] turned Karelia’s iron-rich fields into a ‘factory’ at Petrozavodsk to produce ammunition for their wars against the Swedes and Turkey respectively, and the Soviets made it the site for their infamous White Sea Canal gulag camp, Karelia still retains its goblin Finnish charm. Look closely, it is hiding under the eaves of those quaint wooden homes and mythical churches scattered across the verdant isles and meadows.

Church of the Intercession and Church of the Transfiguration.

House of Oshevnev on Kizhi Island. Left: Past owners of the house; Right: The ‘Red Corner.’

[Click on any image below to enlarge it and start a slideshow. Use the arrow keys to navigate through the set and read the captions.]

Though the edifices were built in different periods, they appear as a seamless whole.

Church of the Transfiguration’s iconostasis contains icons from the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Kizhi Pogost with Resurrection of Lazarus Church [to the right].

Cemetery with Church of the Transfiguration in the background.

A Vermeer painting in real life, House of Oshevnev, Kizhi Island.

Stoves double up as dining spaces and beds in rural Russian homes.

Monks inside the Church of the Intercession, Kizhi Pogost.

A view that has not changed in the past three hundred years.

Ceremonial bell in the 19th Century Bell Tower, Kizhi Pogost.

1.00 am at 61 degrees north, 27 July 2025, Petrozavodsk.

Lake Onega’s Cape Peri Petroglyphs, National Museum of the Republic of Karelia.

Cheese cake, pies, and chai in Kinerma village, Karelia.

Wooden home in Kinerma village, Karelia.

13-year-old home-schooled Tikhon, my Kinerma village guide with impeccable English and incredible poise.

Parish church with icons donated by the villagers, Kinerma village, Karelia.

‘The Fishermen’ sculpture, Petrozavodsk Embankment — Gift from the USA during friendlier times, 1991.

Peter the Great founded Petrozavodsk aka ‘Peter’s Factory’ in 1703.

Rada, my guide Polina’s daughter, trying out a Classical piece, Petrozavodsk Embankment.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Coming up next week is Travel Diaries: Moscow to Vladivostok, Sleepless on the Trans-Siberian Railway. 🙂

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Travel tips:

• Kizhi Island: I visited it as en excursion from Petrozavodsk and used an audio guide to explore.
• Karelia and Petrozavodsk: My guide was Polina Mikhaleva, +8(921)7018971, paulin4ik@gmail.com.

[I travelled solo across Russia in July-August, 2025 for 30 days. Due to sanctions, international cards do not work in Russia and western travel portals do not list services for Russia. My central hotels, seamless transfers, and private tours with some of the best guides I have ever had, were all arranged by Go Russia. Highly recommended!]