Arkhangelsk region > Sights

Sights of the Arkhangelsk region

Many famous people went through Kargopollag, among them arabist I.M. Filshtinsky, philologist E.M. Meletinsky, philosopher G.S. Pomerants, Polish writer G.Gerling-Grudzinsky, actresses T. Okunevskaya and Z. Fedorova, priest Father Ioann (Krestyankin). From 1964 to 1965 Konosha municipality was the place of exile for the Nobel Prize winner poet Joseph Brodskiy. The poet had the warmest memories from living in the Konosha district: «This was, as I can remember now, one of the best periods in my life. Sometimes it was worse, but I can hardly remember it to be better».

Settlement Verkola in the Pinega district is a native place for the write Fedor Abramov. Almost every summer Fedor Abramov came to Verkola. Here, on the bank of the Pinega River he was buried, his museum has been established here. This place is the cradle of his life and creative work. Opposite Verkola, on the left bank of the Pinega River, Svyato-Artemiyev Verkolsky monastery Is being restored.

Village Kimzha in the Mezen municipality is a unique historical settlement of the Russian North.The village has preserved itstraditional plan and wooden architecture of the 18th- 20th centuries: Odigitrievskaya (The Virgin Hodigitria) Church (1709), peasant houses, barns, bath-houses, worship wooden crosses. An essential and obligatory element of the Mezen villages was windmills. At present the northernmost Russian windmill in Kimzha is restoring. In Kimzha they still preserve folk culture, folklore and traditional way of life. This historical, cultural and natural complex is of all-Russian and international importance.

Village Selishche in the Leshukonye district is the native place for Martyn Fatyanov, a famous craftsman making tueses (cylindrical birch-bark containers) and wooden birds of happiness. In the house and museum of grandfather Martyn, a hunter and a fisherman, a most interesting story-teller, well-known for his masterpieces at international exhibitions, there is an exposition of pieces made by the masters of folk crafts from the village Selishche and paintings by his nephew, Fyodor Fatyanov, honoured artist of Russia.

Paddle-wheel steamer «N.V. Gogol» is a unique historical monument of national shipbuilding. In 2011 it will be 100 years old, but tourists on-board of it still cruise along the Northern Dvina River, just like many years ago.

Diamond deposit named after M.V. Lomonosov is the second source of diamonds in Russia. It is located on the territory of the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region 100 km to the north of Arkhangelsk. The age of the Arkhangelsk kimberlitic pipes is 400-700 million years. Diamonds from Arkhangelsk are different in size, and their quality is not worse than that of the diamonds from Yakutsk.