Povenets, Russia

Description of Povenets

Povenets (Karelian. Poventsa) is a urban-type settlement in the Medvezhiegorsk district of the Republic of Karelia, the administrative center of the Povenetsky urban settlement. The city is located on the shore of the Povenets Bay of Lake Onega, at the confluence of the Povenchanka River, 26 km east of the Medvezhya Gora railway station (on the St. Petersburg-Murmansk line).

The starting point of the White Sea-Baltic Canal (in the area of the settlement is the “Povenets Staircase” of seven locks). The village is connected by roads to Medvezhiegorsk and Pudozh.

 

Attractions

Remains of the blast furnace of the Povenets ironworks
Museum of the White Sea-Baltic Canal
Memorial sign to those who died innocently on the construction of the White Sea Canal in 1931-1933 (near the second lock)
Memorial burial "Common grave of Soviet soldiers" who died during the Great Patriotic War (9th km of the Povenets-Pudozh highway). About 4 thousand soldiers of the 32nd Army of the Karelian Front were buried in a mass grave. In 1959, a monument was erected on the grave - a sculptural group (a warrior and a woman with a child).
Near Povenets, on the road to Medvezhyegorsk - the memorial cemetery of the victims of the repressions of the 1930s Sandarmokh (over 9 thousand people were shot here)
Monument of military glory at the line of defense of the Soviet troops. In 1976, a monument was erected on the eastern outskirts of Povenets - a 76-mm divisional gun ZIS-3.
Temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (2003)

 

History

The area was first inhabited during the Mesolithic era. One of the largest concentrations of archaeological monuments in Karelia (Voynavolok, Povenchanka, Povenetskaya, Orovnavolok, Sandarmokh, etc.) is located in the Povenets region.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Povenchanka River, the lands and the forest around it became the property of Ivan Vodnikov. In the second half of the 15th century, his heirs sold the property to the Vyazhitsky Monastery. Soon, 10 kilometers north of Lake Onega near Volozero (modern 7th lock of the White Sea-Baltic Canal), a single-yard village of the same name arose. Around 1530, the Vyazhitsky Monastery moved the monastery courtyard from Tolvui to the mouth of the Povenchanka River. Nearby there were several repairs. For the first time, Povenets is mentioned in the Scribe Book of the Zaonezhsky churchyards of the Obonezhskaya Pyatina of 1563. In the 16th-17th centuries, the “path of pilgrims” ran through Povenets to the Solovetsky Monastery, the settlement was a trading settlement.

In the second half of the 16th century, under Ivan the Terrible, two customs yards were set up, which were mentioned for the first time in the Scribal Book of the Zaonezhskaya half of the Obonezhskaya Pyatina of 1582/83. In the occupation fund of the archive of the city of Stockholm, one of the oldest customs books of the Russian North, “The Povenets Customs Book”, dating back to 1612, has been preserved. The Povenets customs ceased to exist during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.

In 1702, Povenets became the final destination of the Sovereign's Road (a water-carriage route, which during the Northern War in just eight days brought warships to Lake Onega, with the help of which the Russian army later took the Swedish fortresses of Kexholm and Noteburg). In 1703, Peter I founded an iron foundry in Povenets (cannons, swords and rigging were made for the young Russian fleet); the plant worked on local ore. Already in 1736, like other Olonets factories, the Povenets factory was closed.

Around 1600, a wooden tented Peter and Paul Church was erected in Povenets, rebuilt and expanded in 1761. Near the ruins of the factory in 1902, in memory of the stay of Peter I in Povenets, a local merchant Ya. P. Belov erected a wooden chapel in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (not preserved). On the opposite side of the river stood the old Holy Cross Chapel, destroyed during the Civil War. On the territory of the modern park of culture in 1908-09. The New Peter and Paul Cathedral, destroyed during the Second World War, was opened.

At the end of the 18th century, there were 62 courtyards in Povenets. Since 1782, Povenets has been a district town (Povenets district of the Olonets vicegerency), in 1796-1799 - a settlement as part of the Kemsky district of the Arkhangelsk province, in 1800-1801. a provincial town of the Olonets district of the Novgorod province, since 1802 - a county town of the Olonets province

In the 19th century, Povenets was a place of exile.

From May 1919 to February 1920 it was under the occupation of the Anglo-American invaders, was the administrative center of the white Olonets province, the seat of its chief.

In 1927, due to the transition to district division, Povenets ceased to be the center of the county and at the same time lost the status of the city, becoming a rural settlement. From August 29, 1927 to April 20, 1930 - the center of the Povenets region.

In 1931-1933, it was the center for the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, thanks to which a ship repair plant appeared.

It has had the status of an urban-type settlement since 1938.

During the Great Patriotic War, the retreating Red Army men blew up the dam of the reservoir, and the water shaft washed away the hydraulic structures and buildings of Povenets. After the war, the village was rebuilt.