Location: Kargopolsky and Plesetsky Districts Map
Area: 1396.63 km²
Established: 1991
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The territory of the Kenozersky National Park is a natural,
historical and cultural complex. Its area is 139.6 thousand
hectares. It is located in 2 districts of the Arkhangelsk region:
Kargopol and Plesetsk and, accordingly, has two sectors of the same
name.
Kenozersky National Park was formed on December 28,
1991. In 2004 it was included in the World Network of Biosphere
Reserves. The park was officially recognized as the property of the
entire planet. Here lies the border of the Russian Platform and the
Baltic Shield, the watershed between the basins of the Baltic and
White seas, the contact area of several faunistic and floristic
complexes. Nature and man have created conditions in the park for a
wide range of habitats for animals, birds, plants, many of which are
located on the borders of their ranges.
On the territory of the
Kenozersky National Park, 263 bird species have been identified.
Lesser white-fronted goose, osprey, white-tailed eagle and others
are included in the Red Book of Russia. The fauna includes 50
species of mammals, 4 species of reptiles and 5 species of
amphibians.
The numerous reservoirs of the park cover an area of
over 20 thousand hectares. There are 27 species of fish (among
them whitefish, grayling, vendace, burbot) and 2 species of
lampreys. There are 534 plant species in the park. The orchid family
deserves close attention, most of which are included in the Red
Book. The forest here occupies 106 thousand hectares. For many
thousands of years of evolution, mixed spruce-pine forests have
formed here. The economic development of these lands has greatly
changed their appearance. Primary taiga forests in the park occupy
about 5 thousand hectares, but secondary (derivative) forests also
adorn it. The territory of the park has a developed hydrographic
network and has about 300 lakes, rivers and streams.
The
cultural landscapes of the Russian North are a special value of the
Kenozersky National Park, and their cultural and historical elements
(“holy” groves, churches, chapels, worship crosses, and so on) are a
kind of visiting card. The historical and cultural heritage of the
park numbers about 100 architectural monuments, including churches
and bell towers, wooden chapels, chopped fences, engineering
structures, peasant huts, water mills, barns, worship crosses,
“holy” groves and trees, religious stones and archeological
monuments.
One of the best examples of wooden architecture in
Kenozersky park is the architectural complex of St. George's Church
(17th century) in the village of Porzhenskoye, surrounded by a log
fence and located in the "holy" grove, and the Pochozersky church
ensemble (17th - 18th centuries), consisting of a hipped roof church
of the Origin of the Honorable Trees , a church with a cubic
completion of the Finding of the Head of John the Baptist and a bell
tower, united by a refectory and passages, in the village of
Filippovskaya. The Kenozero chapels located in the “holy” groves,
near roads, in the wilderness, in the center of villages have a high
artistic and emotional impact. These are monuments of folk
architecture. They were created in the national architectural
traditions of their time.
The artistic and architectural
value of many monuments is enhanced by the interior decoration. The
most spectacular of these are the ceiling of prayer halls
(“heaven”), painted on biblical themes. As of today, 15 Kenozero
"heavens" have been preserved (the largest collection in Russia). A
particularly unique phenomenon is the presence of two "heavens" in
the altar and the temple of one monument (the ensemble of the St.
George Church and the Temple of the Origin of the Honorable Trees of
Christ).
In addition, in the Kenozersky National Park there
are remarkable monuments of civil architecture ("chicken" huts, twin
houses, barns of the 18th century with "magpies" and others). On the
buildings you can see magnificent examples of house carvings:
valances and quilts, towels, chiseled balusters on porches and
balconies, window frames, painted shutters and pediments.
Engineering and hydraulic structures are interesting. Complete
lake-channel systems have been preserved, regulated by water mills
and dams.
An integral part of the Kenozersky park landscapes
are worship crosses and “holy” groves, which are located mainly on
the sites of former pagan sanctuaries. The “holy” groves have always
been held in high esteem by the surrounding population. The groves
aroused superstitious fear among people who considered them to
belong to the saint in whose honor the chapel was built. The same
attitude of the Kenozero people was towards worship crosses. Long
ago, these crosses were used to mark special places in this area.
They were placed where the chapel burned down or a monastery stood,
at forks and crossroads, at the entrances to bridges, in a word,
wherever they considered it necessary to overshadow themselves with
the symbol of the cross. To protect the crosses from snow and rain,
small gable roofs of various sizes and types were sometimes erected
over them. The surviving worship crosses in the park area date back
to the 18th century.
Kenozero is the center of the existence of folk art. A century ago,
songs, epics, fairy tales were recorded here by the famous Russian
folklorists Rybnikov, Hilferding, Kharuzin. The heroic epic of the
Kenozero region is considered a treasure of folklore (consists of 83
epics).
The close relationship of the natural, cultural and
historical components of the Kenozersky National Park presupposes
its comprehensive protection, research and adoption of measures that
support the revival of one of the most picturesque corners of the
Russian North.
The park contains natural as well as
cultural monuments, and is also oriented at ecotourism. A number of
trails have been opened in the park.
There are several wooden
architecture monuments. One of them is Porzhensky Pogost in the
western part of the park, which is the ensemble of St. George church
with the bell-tower (both from the 18th century) surrounded by the
wooden wall with gates and towers (1789). The villages adjacent to
Porzhensky Pogost have been deserted, and there is no road heading
to it, so that the Pogost is only accessible via a pedestrian trail.
There are two roads into the park. In the southern part, south
of Lake Lyokshmozero, there is an unpaved road connecting Kargopol
and Pudozh. Another road in the northern part of the park branches
off from the Onezhsky Trakt, connecting Kargopol via Plesetsk to
Yemetsk. This road runs to the village on Pershlakhta on Lake
Kenozero and then connects to the other villages on and around Lake
Kenozero.
The best time to visit the Kenozersky National Park is in the summer months. While in summers local temperatures reach 34C in winter it might go down as low as -47C. Kenozersky National Park has a network of well-marked hiking trails. Additionally, it offers a wide range of activities, ethnographic programs, and tours to various destinations in the preservation area.