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Kargopol is located in the south-west of the Arkhangelsk region, in Zavolochye, and is among the most interesting cities of the Russian North. It was found on Onega in the XII century and about 400 years ago it was one of the ten most important cities in Russia. Having survived the heyday, Kargopol gradually faded away and would have turned into a little-known northern town, if not a couple of remarkable temple ensembles were preserved in it. But this is not all: a lot of wooden churches around the city, magnificent landscapes and the nearby Kenozersky National Park are a good reason to spend at least a few days in these parts.
The modern city is located on both sides of Onega, but
the right bank Zarechye is of interest only to those who want to capture
a panoramic view of the historical center - perhaps the most
recognizable view of Kargopol. There is no observation deck in Zarechye,
so finding approaches to the river will turn into a quest that requires
comfortable shoes and, possibly, communication with the natives. The
easiest way to get to Zarechye is by city bus. Walking across the bridge
will take at least an hour and will not bring much pleasure, since most
of the path lies parallel to a busy highway.
The historical part
of the city with a rectangular layout is located on the left bank of the
Onega, stretches along the river from Kolobovaya Gorka with the Church
of Zosima and Savvaty to the remains of the fortress, and goes inland
from the embankment for three blocks. The most significant architectural
monuments are concentrated around Oktyabrsky Prospekt, which stretches
along the river across the entire left bank part of the city.
The
season for visiting Kargopol is from mid-June to mid-August. In the
second half of August it can be rainy and cool, although it can be warm
like summer, and there are practically no tourists. Sometimes people go
to Kargopol for the New Year holidays. In winter, like any northern
city, it is very beautiful, but daylight hours are short and it is
difficult to visit the temples in the surrounding area. The off-season
(with the exception of early autumn) is not the best time to travel.
Kargopol can hardly be called a popular tourist
destination, but in the Russian North it is second only to Kizhi,
Solovki and Veliky Ustyug in terms of the number of tourists. Demand
gives rise to supply, which comes in handy here, since it is difficult
to see anything in the vicinity of the city without having your own
transport. The travel agencies listed below provide a variety of
services - from finding accommodation in the city and organizing
transfers to renting boats and accompanying a guide-instructor.
1 Kargopol Tourist Information Center , Oktyabrsky Avenue. 74 / st.
Arkhangelskaya, 5. ☎ +7 (81841) 2-17-04. Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00. They don’t
offer any services here, but they can provide you with information about
the city. Very useful website.
2 Severtur (formerly
Kargopol-tour) , Oktyabrsky Avenue. 89-B (In the bus station building).
☎ +7 (921) 243-02-15, +7 (921) 243-02-11 (transport questions). The
website presents exclusively organized tours, including to Solovki and
other places that are very far from Kargopol, but in reality this travel
agency can organize small trips: provide a car with a driver, and also
help rent an apartment in Kargopol for a few days.
3 Tourist Bureau
“Lache”, Sovetskaya st., 55. ☎ +7 (81841) 2-20-56, +7 (921) 088-35-75.
Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–16:00. The heir to the Soviet-era
Kargopol travel and excursion bureau, this travel agency posts detailed
information about its services on its website, including prices for
transfers and rentals. In addition, they have an official tour of the
Onega from source to mouth, which others do not usually offer.
In Kargopol, two first-class ensembles of temple architecture
have been preserved - Old Torg and New Torg. The Church of the
Resurrection, located next to the remains of the fortress, also
deserves attention. The historical buildings of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries are, in general, inexpressive, but they form a
fairly solid ensemble of wooden and stone low-rise buildings with
the same low-rise buildings interspersed with Soviet-era buildings.
Historic houses are easily identified by information signs, and at
intersections there are signs with ancient street names: Bazaikha,
Potanikha, Poltoranikha, Ponomarikha, Shelkovnya. Stalin's Kargopol
is represented by wooden barracks on the southern outskirts of the
city.
Local life also makes it a separate attraction. Wooden
pavements, working water pumps, piles of firewood in the courtyards,
a “public laundry” on the banks of the Onega, rinsing clothes from
the bridge, a pier at New Torg as part of the newlyweds’ wedding
tour - all this is the ordinary life of an ordinary northern city.
Apart from the surrounding area and museums, 2-3 hours should be
enough for a quick tour of the main monuments of the city.
Getting to know Kargopol will almost certainly begin from Cathedral
Square, the former New Market, where churches stand right on the green
lawn. The local ensemble began to take shape in the 16th century with
the construction of the stone Nativity Cathedral, erected in New Torg
instead of one of the wooden churches that had been here from time
immemorial. In 1751, on the site of another wooden church, the Church of
the Baptist was built, but in 1765, most of the buildings of New Torg
were destroyed by a strong fire. During the restoration, the ensemble
acquired first a magnificent bell tower, and later the stone Vvedenskaya
Church. New Torg underwent the last change in the 1930s, when the stone
Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem (1732), which stood next to the
Predtechenskaya, was demolished, noticeably different from the rest of
the buildings in the square.
1 Cathedral of the Nativity of
Christ (1552-1562) , emb. named after Baranov, 29. Built during the time
of Ivan the Terrible and is the oldest building in the city that has
survived to this day. The five-domed cubic cathedral is made in the
spirit of its time; it is distinguished by such irresistibly majestic
simplicity that almost all subsequent churches of the city were built in
one way or another in its image and likeness. In the 17th century, the
cathedral received two chapels, a gallery and a magnificent porch with
two sides, and it acquired its current appearance in the 1770s during
restoration after a fire. It was then that the walls were strengthened
with planked buttresses made of rubble stone, which gave the silhouette
of the cathedral such a unique look. At the same time, the mosquito roof
turned into a four-slope roof and the windows were cut out. In the upper
part of the cathedral there used to be a summer church, from which a
carved five-tiered iconostasis from the 18th century has been preserved.
The paintings were almost completely destroyed during the fire, leaving
only a small fragment of the fresco on the western wall. The most
colorful part of the interior is the basement with a gloomy vaulted
space. Previously, a warm church was located here, but now the premises
are given over to an exhibition.
2 Church of the Nativity of John
the Baptist (1740-1751) , Oktyabrsky Avenue. 56. This simple baroque
church was built in the 18th century on the site of a wooden predecessor
and, thanks to its unusual double domes placed on widely spaced drums,
became almost the most recognizable building in the city. In its forms,
the church echoes northern wooden architecture, which is especially
noticeable in its three-part apse with a keeled roof. The interior
decoration has not been preserved.
3 Cathedral Bell Tower (1778),
Oktyabrsky Avenue. 52a. The three-tier bell tower was erected at the end
of the 18th century in honor of Catherine II (her monogram is on the
bell tower), who allocated funds from the treasury for the restoration
of the city after the fire. The bell tower was erected in place of the
burnt wooden one, having arranged a spectacular travel gate in its lower
part “facing” Leningradskaya Street (the former St. Petersburg Highway),
from where the arrival of the empress was expected (who, however, did
not arrive). The cross of the bell tower, in violation of all canons, is
oriented along the sides of the building (i.e., at an angle to the
cardinal points) and still looks at the same road. In 2001, the spire
was struck by lightning. Subsequent restoration benefited the bell
tower, and now you can climb up, rewarded with excellent views of the
neighboring churches and picturesque surroundings.
4 Vvedenskaya
Church (1803-1808) , Oktyabrsky Avenue. 54. A simple, pillarless church
was built on the site of a burnt wooden one. Since 1933, its large and
bright interior space has housed a museum exhibition. Local legend says
that during the Patriotic War of 1812, part of the State Treasury was
kept in the church.
In the 17th-18th centuries, the Old Market was the main city square.
Today it is another large lawn, on which stand two stunning churches
from the 17th century and one more modest one from the 18th century. The
wooden Vladimir Church (1653), which was once located just north of the
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, was lost in the 1920s, and in 1929
the octagonal bell tower (1763) with classical porticoes and a tent of
the 19th century, which served as the dominant feature and occupied the
space between Nikolskaya, disappeared. and the Annunciation Church.
According to the general impression, the ensemble of the Old Torg is no
worse than the composition of the New Torg, and in some ways surpasses
it. However, what is better is up to you to decide.
5 Church of
the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1678-1680, 1844). The church was built
at the expense of local merchants, brothers Andrei and Stefan Pometyaev;
in ancient texts it was often, and quite appropriately, called
“wonderful”. Its verbal portrait - a five-domed pillarless temple with a
refectory and two symmetrical side chapels - will say absolutely nothing
about the beauty of the structure. By some miracle, all the volumes that
make up the building add up to something unusually harmonious, and from
a change of point of view this harmony not only is not lost, but also
takes on new dimensions. The windows, cupolas, portals and cornices are
decorated with rich stone carvings, enhancing the overall charm. The
windows have an unusual placement, and their platbands are not repeated
anywhere and form a rich collection of various shapes. The bell tower
appeared a little later: it was added to the west in 1844. During the
Soviet period, the church did not close, remaining the only one
operating in the entire Kargopol region. A huge iconostasis has been
preserved inside, but the church is only open during services.
6 Church of the Annunciation (1692-1729). More traditional, this church
is based on a powerful cube topped with five unusually shaped, slightly
irregular domes. A quick glance from afar will not be enough for her:
the church is decorated with breathtaking carvings, which you can look
at for hours, and the drunken native who caught you doing this will act
as Captain Obvious and tell you that all the window casings here are not
alike. If you have the opportunity to see the church in different
lighting, you simply will not be able to choose the most beautiful
facade. The East side will win in the early morning, which I.E. Grabar
called it, neither more nor less, “a masterpiece of wall decoration.” A
little later it turns out that the southern facade is no worse, and at
sunset the play of light on the carvings of the western facade will
completely captivate you, without giving an answer to the question of
which side is better to admire this church.
7 St. Nicholas Church.
Significantly inferior in entertainment to its neighbors, the winter St.
Nicholas Church is beautiful in its modest simplicity. It was rebuilt in
stone in 1741 and at first it had five domes. Attached to the main
quadrangle there is a refectory, a vestibule and a large porch leading
nowhere. The church has an unusual masonry: the inner part of the walls
is made of brick, and the outer part is made of white stone, the space
between them is filled with rubble and filled with mortar.
A walk around the city in search of other local monuments is unlikely
to take you far from Oktyabrsky Prospekt. If you wish, you can walk
along Pobeda Street, located next to Cathedral Square, where several
historical buildings have been preserved, and then cross Ivanovskaya
Square (it arose in the 20th century at the cost of demolishing several
ancient houses) and go out onto Leningradskaya Street, at the very
beginning of which there are as many as three Serkov's century-old
houses (Leningradskaya St. 9, 10 and 11).
8 Church of Zosima and
Savvaty on Gorka (1819) , Oktyabrsky Avenue. 18. The youngest local
church stands on Kolobova Gorka, a small hill on the southern outskirts
of the city, from where, according to one version, the settlement of
these places began. In 1819, a stone church in the classicist style
replaced an older wooden one. There is a museum inside, visiting which
you can see the rather unusual interior of the church.
9 House of
timber merchant Wager (early 20th century). Perhaps this is the most
unusual residential building in the city - wooden, with four mezzanines
and a turret. It belonged to the Swede A.O. Wageru (whose surname,
apparently, has forever turned into Wagner) is the only foreigner living
in Kargopol. Together with his father, he owned a sawmill in the city of
Onega, and here he was engaged in logging and rafting of timber. Wager
was married to a local resident and invested a lot of effort and money
in the development of the city. They say that the turret of the house
served as an observation post, from where Wager watched the timber
rafting through a telescope.
10 Memorial sign in honor of A.A.
Baranova. Merchant Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746-1819) is the most
famous native of the city. A diplomat, industrialist and explorer, he
became famous for his expeditions to Alaska and became the first "Chief
Ruler of Russian America." In the museum exhibition of the Church of the
Presentation, a lot of space is devoted to his activities, and not far
from the Nativity Cathedral, on the Baranov embankment, a memorial sign
was erected.
11 Public laundry. Not all houses in Kargopol have
running water and sewerage, which is easy to understand from the water
pumps located around the city. They do laundry here right in the river
and, apparently, not only in the summer. In other places, piers or ice
holes are used for this, but Kargopol is lucky - on the banks of Onega
there are many ice-free springs, over the mouths of which such simple
structures are placed. This laundry is operational; however, washing
from the piers is also practiced here.
12 Resurrection Church , st.
III Internationala, 10. The only thing left of the ensemble of
Resurrection Square, where at the beginning of the 20th century there
were two churches and a bell tower. The Church of the Resurrection was
erected at the end of the 17th century and it strongly resembles the
Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Of all the city churches,
only this one has preserved the mosquito roof. Now its condition leaves
much to be desired: the building is cut from top to bottom by a crack
that appeared due to soil movements, and it itself is wrapped in
scaffolding. But even through them you can see the white stone carvings,
which are especially exquisite on the southern wall of the structure.
13 House of merchant A.A. Veshnyakov (late 18th century), st.
Arkhangelskaya, 5. The house is known for being the first stone
residential building in Kargopol. Since 1933, it has housed the
Bereginya folk crafts center and has workshops for the production of the
famous Kargopol clay toys, as well as rag dolls and birch bark weaving.
14 Kargopol Fortress (Valushki). The only place where today you can see
this fortress in its latest version is the museum exhibition of the
Church of the Presentation. A modern reconstruction is exhibited there,
along with a somewhat conventional image on the icon of the Great
Martyrs Boris and Gleb. The history of the fortress began with a fort
that was cut down in 1612, which after being rebuilt twice (in 1631 and
1665) turned into a real fortress, surrounded by a moat with water.
However, the fort of 1612 was built on the “old settlement”, so it was
not the first local fortification. The fortress of 1665 consisted of
chopped walls placed on ramparts and nine tent-covered towers. It had
the shape of an almost regular square with a side of about 250 meters,
its southern part began north of the Resurrection Church, from the east
it was limited by Onega, and from the west by the current Oktyabrsky
Avenue. Inside there was a whole city with residential buildings and
several wooden churches. The fortress existed until the fire of 1731.
Nowadays, its location can be calculated by the sparse buildings limited
by low ramparts.
15 Trinity Church, Trinity Square (next to the bus
station). Trinity Church is located a stone's throw from the bus
station, so you can't avoid meeting it. It stands on Trinity Square,
where previously there was another Church of St. John the Evangelist and
a bell tower. Trinity Church was first mentioned in 1564, the previous
five-domed stone version of the temple was built in 1790, and the
current structure with a huge “Byzantine” dome appeared after a fire in
1878. Trinity Church combines the summer (upper) and lower (winter)
churches.
16 Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit and Ascension
Church, st. Akulova, 37 and 39. The ruins of this pair of churches may
be of interest only to narrow specialists and crazy collectors: even in
the best of times, there were no noticeable signs of a local school in
the architecture of these temples. They were built in the 1750s on the
site of wooden churches of the former Holy Spirit Monastery. In the fire
of 1765, only the domes of the churches were damaged, but people and
time brought the buildings to their current state.
17 Panoramic
point. One of the possible and, apparently, the best points for taking a
panorama of the historical part of the city from Zarechye (if you really
want, you can try to go a little to the south). In winter, it is
possible to take photographs directly from Onega, but be careful. The
taken “languages” claim that there is another possibility - filming from
an island off the southern edge of the left bank part of Kargopol.
✦ Kargopol Historical, Architectural and Art Museum,
Oktyabrsky Avenue. 50. ☎ +7 (81841) 2-25-39. Occupies several buildings.
If you plan to visit more than one exhibition, it makes sense to take a
complex ticket for 250 rubles (cathedral, Vvedenskaya Church and
cathedral bell tower).
✦ Cathedral of the Nativity, emb. named after
Baranov, 29. in summer: 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00 except Mon; at other
times only by prior request. 60+80 rub. In the second tier, open to the
public only in dry weather, a carved iconostasis from the 18th century
has been preserved. and a fragment of a medieval fresco. The lower floor
of the cathedral - a colorful room with vaulted ceilings - is dedicated
to the exhibition “The Sixth Day of Creation”, where, among other
things, a collection of “heaven” (painted ceilings of wooden temples)
from the museum’s collections is presented.
✦ Exhibition hall in the
Vvedenskaya Church. 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–17:00 except Mon; in summer it
opens until 18:00. 70+30 rub. The first floor of the church is dedicated
to archaeological exhibits (separate entrance). The exhibition on the
second floor tells about the merchant Kargopol; here, in addition to
ancient utensils and pre-revolutionary photographs of the city, a model
of the Kargopol fortress is exhibited.
✦ Cathedral bell tower.
apparently only in summer: 10:00–14:00 and 15:00–18:00 except Mon. 70
rub. There are two observation platforms on the bell tower, accessible
via an internal staircase. Professional photography and videography
requires a contract, however, if necessary, it is unlikely that you will
find a person who will be ready to quickly conclude it. In January, on
Epiphany, the annual festival of bell art “Crystal Rings” is held on the
cathedral square.
✦ Concert and exhibition hall in the
Zosimo-Savvatievskaya Church. 10:00–14:00 and 15:00–17:00 except Mon. 70
rub. The church houses two museum collections: icons of the 16th-18th
centuries, including examples of the Kargopol school that emerged in the
17th century, and a collection of local wooden carvings, which includes
icons, sculptures and other church utensils. On major church holidays,
concerts of sacred music are held.
1 Museum and Exhibition Center,
st. Lenina, 40. 10:00–17:00 except Mon. A single ticket for all
exhibitions of the center is 200 rubles. The museum occupies an early
20th century building, the former dormitory of the Theological School.
In the halls of the center a collection of Kargopol folk costume is
presented, and there are rotating art exhibitions. There is also a
library of the Russian North named after. G.P. Gunna.
2 Eco-park
“Bear Region”, st. Yuzhnaya, 11. ☎ +7 (921) 488-65-84. 10:00–18:00. 100
rub. Located in a pine forest, the eco-park invites you to see wooden
sculptures and an exhibition of stuffed animals and birds, and also
offers wood carving workshops. Also in the eco-park you can visit the
Ice Tower, which features ice sculptures (all year round, even in
summer). Entrance to the Ice Tower also costs 100 rubles, children under
3 years old are free.
3 Private house-museum of the Shevelev
masters , st. Gagarina, 30. ✉ ☎ +7 (81841) 2-11-71. The Shevelev family
are hereditary masters of clay toys, who turned their parents’ house
into a museum. Inside there is a small ethnographic collection and works
of folk art: clay toys, paintings, birch bark products, but most
interesting of all are the owners themselves, who speak with soul about
their craft. Here you can see a Russian stove, listen to lectures, and
take part in master classes. There are entertainment programs for
children. The museum does not have fixed opening hours; in summer it is
open every day, but at other times it is better to arrange a visit
through the tourist center or directly.
4 Center of Folk Crafts
“Bereginya” , st. Arkhangelskaya, 5 / Oktyabrsky Ave. 74. ☎ +8 (81841)
2-17-04. Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 9:00–16:00. Another place where you
can get acquainted with local crafts: birch bark weaving, patchwork,
clay toys, making folk rag dolls or chip birds. The center holds a
variety of master classes and exhibitions.
5 Ski Museum, st. Lilac,
7. ☎ +7 (921) 493-34-22. By appointment. A private museum in someone’s
home: you can learn about different models of skis, poles, bindings, as
well as the “kings of skis” - masters of skiing.
By public transport
There is no railway in Kargopol. The way to
the city from the south is through Nyandoma, where trains from Moscow
arrive two or three times a day (13 hours), heading further to
Arkhangelsk (5-8 hours). From Nyandoma to Kargopol there are 80 km,
which can be covered by bus, running 2-3 times a day, or by taxi. The
bus ride lasts about an hour and a half and costs 319 rubles. (2023), a
taxi is faster (less than an hour) and more expensive - approximately
2000 rubles. per car (drivers pick up passengers). Boarding a bus or
taxi is right at the station square. The buses are connected only to the
Arkhangelsk-Moscow (No. 115/116, with no buses in the morning on
weekends) and Arkhangelsk-Kotlas (No. 371/372) trains. In Kargopol, it
is better to look for a place in a taxi in advance (for example, use
groups of fellow travelers VK or the telephone numbers of taxi drivers
specializing in transfers posted in the city), but if this does not work
out, one or two cars are usually on duty at the bus station.
From
the north, from Arkhangelsk, it is better to go through the same
Nyandoma. Direct bus No. 521 runs once a day from Severodvinsk via
Arkhangelsk and Plesetsk (8 hours from Arkhangelsk); in addition, there
are private minibuses on pre-order.
There is no public transport
from Karelia and the Vologda region.
1 Bus station, Oktyabrsky
Avenue. 89. ☎ +7 (81841) 2-13-18. 7:00–21:30, breaks: 12:00–13:00 and
18:00–20:00. In addition to the already mentioned intercity routes, all
others are within the Kargopol region. It is better to buy bus tickets
not right before the trip, but a little in advance, otherwise you may
not leave or you will have to stand the whole way. Schedule. At the bus
station there is only a waiting room; pre-sale of tickets to Nyandoma is
made at the ticket office at the other end of the city, and to
Arkhangelsk - only online.
By car
You can get to Kargopol from
all four directions, but not all of them are equally convenient:
From
the east, highway P2 through Nyandoma, turn from M8 70 km north of
Velsk. From Moscow about 1000 km, from Vologda 540 km. When driving from
Moscow, this route is optimal; everywhere the asphalt is of acceptable
quality.
From the north, highway P1 (Plesetsk tract) - 480 km from
Arkhangelsk, 170 km from Plesetsk. There is a good new highway between
Kargopol and Plesetsk; north of Plesetsk the coverage becomes worse,
there are even a couple of unpaved areas.
From the west, highway P2
from the Karelian city of Pudozh (150 km), which, in turn, can be
reached from Vytegra or Medvezhyegorsk. In Karelia there is asphalt, in
the Arkhangelsk region all types of road surfaces - from asphalt to very
poor primer. In the off-season, the area on the border of the regions
may be impassable for cars.
From the south there is a continuation of
P1 to the Vologda region, to the P5 Vologda-Medvezhyegorsk highway. The
interregional section, which has long been legendary for its
impassability, has since 2020, in good weather, usually been driven by a
passenger car. With its help, lovers of dirt roads can shorten their
journey to Vologda by almost 200 km, but before leaving it is worth
checking the condition of the road, since there are several groups about
this section on different social networks.
There are two gas stations
in the city, both in the area of the roundabout intersection - the
intersection of Okruzhnaya Street and Arkhangelskaya Street. Having
reached Kargopol, fill up the tank full: the next gas stations will only
be in Plesetsk, Pudozh or Nyandoma, i.e. at least 100 km away.
Bus route No. 4 runs around the city, connecting the historical city
center located on the left bank of the Onega with the right bank
Zarechye. The latter may be needed in the warm season for those who want
to admire the views of the city from the other side of the river. The
bus covers the distance between the final stops on different banks in
20-30 minutes. There is only one car on the line, which determines its
waiting time. There is no bus schedule at the stops (but Yandex Maps are
surprisingly good at navigating it), the route runs along Onega along
Oktyabrsky Prospekt on the left bank and Chesnokova Street on the right,
fare: 35 rubles. (2023).
To travel around the city and its
environs, you can call a taxi by phone: +7 (921) 81-37-778, +7 (921)
08-76-404, +7 (921) 08-92-050, +7 (921 ) 60-08-422. Additional telephone
numbers are here. Local residents often travel around the city on
bicycles; in Kargopol they can be rented (ask at the Lache travel
agency), 100 rubles. per hour and 500 rub. per day (2023).
Kargopol souvenir - clay toy. It is believed that potters were the
first to make such toys in order to somehow use scraps of clay. In
addition to purely entertaining, the toy also had an educational
function - introducing children to the outside world; it is not without
reason that, along with people, there are often animal figures. Another
local craft is items made from wood chips, including the northern “birds
of happiness,” suspended by a string from the ceiling.
1 Kargopol clay toy (in the Vvedenskaya Church). 10:00–13:00 and
14:00–17:00 except Mon. A shop with a large selection of Kargopol clay
toys and other local handicrafts. If the shop is closed, or you didn’t
get here for some reason, toys are also sold in the lobby of the
Kargopol Hotel and at the kiosk on Cathedral Square
2 Bristol Store,
Oktyabrsky Prospekt. 35. 8:00–22:00. A small grocery store a stone's
throw from the Old Torg.
3 Department store, st. Leningradskaya, 13.
Pyaterochka: 8:00–23:00, other stores: Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat
10:00–17:00, Sun 10:00–16:00. Grocery "Pyaterochka", department stores
and MTS showroom.
4 Shopping center “Polaris”, Arkhangelskaya st.
48. 🕑 9:00–22:00. Large store with a standard assortment, including
groceries.
The problem of choosing a cafe is not about Kargopol: more often than
not it will take effort to find anything at all. Below is an almost
complete list of establishments available in the city (more details
here); free Wi-Fi is not found even in the best.
As a last
resort, as well as for excursions around the surrounding area, shops and
cafeterias in Kargopol sell good pastries: Karelian wickets and local
plantains - flat fried pies, usually with a sweet filling.
Traditionally, plantains were served at the end of a meal as a dessert
and an excuse to send dear guests out of the house.
Canteens and
cafeterias
1 Cafe “Shelkovnya”, st. Gagarina, 9. ☎ +7 (81841)
2-17-69. 8:00–20:00. More like a self-service canteen. There is a small
selection of dishes, but there are desserts, you can buy pies and even
drink mediocre coffee. A three-course lunch will cost about 200 rubles.
2 Cafeteria “Center”, Leningradskaya st. 13. Mon–Fri 9:00–16:00. As one
of the visitors put it, “catering for a strong stomach.” The sour smell
and limited assortment (one soup, two types of hot) do not inspire
confidence, but there are baked goods, and even brewed coffee is
available.
3 Cooking shop at the “Payshchik” store, st. Pobeda, 14.
Mon–Fri 9:30–20:00, Sat–Sun 9:00–19:00. A local bakery shop with a
variety of baked goods, several tables and a microwave. The only drink
you can count on is tea.
Cafe
4 Cafe “Alaska”, emb. Baranova,
32 (2nd floor, above Sberbank). 10:00–22:00. Hot: about 200 rub. The
only cafe in the city with signs of its own style: white walls and a
menu written in chalk on a blackboard, and the location couldn’t be
better - between Onega and Novy Torg. There are salads, soups and hot
dishes, but locals come mainly for desserts, which entails a significant
drawback: the hall is small, there are few tables, and there may often
be no empty seats.
5 Cafe “At the huntsman” , st. Lenina, 60. ☎ +7
(81841) 2-12-66, +7 (81841) 2-11-65. 7:00–22:00, Fri and Sat: until
24:00. The complete opposite of the previous one: a dimly lit cafe in
the basement of a hotel, where it’s easy to find a free table, but it’s
harder to see at least one occupied. This, however, is not a sign of
poor quality. During the day they offer a quite decent set lunch for 200
rubles, and in the evenings they offer a set dinner, but there is no
choice of dishes. The main menu seems to have it, you will even be
offered delicacies like wild boar or elk meat, although most often they
will not be available. In the evenings on weekends, live music is
possible with all the ensuing consequences.
6 Cafe “Kargopolochka”,
st. Lenina 83. ☎ +7 (81841) 2-26-96, +7 (81841) 2-12-64. 8:00–22:00.
Visitors call the cafe at the hotel of the same name nothing more than
“shalman” and “razlivukha”. During the day, apparently, you can have
lunch, but in the evenings and especially on weekends, the music from
this cafe can be heard a block away: it’s better not to even get close.
Choosing a shelter in Kargopol is not a difficult matter. There are
exactly five places in the city where you can stay, and they all differ
little from each other in comfort and prices, but at the same time they
keep up with the times and can be booked via the Internet, even if the
Internet does not work in the hotels themselves. The tourist center is
ready to help with daily apartment rentals if hotels are suddenly
overcrowded.
1 Hotel “Kargopol”, st. Akulova, 23. ☎ +8 (81841)
2-12-66, +8 (81841) 2-11-65. Double room: from 2500 rub. The hotel
closest to the center is located in a thoroughly restored historical
house. Cafe in the basement of the same building, breakfast is included
in the room rate. Wi-Fi is intended, but does not work well. There is no
secure parking. Even if you are staying somewhere else, it’s worth a
look into the building at least to stare at the bear skins (those who
wish can even buy them), and at the same time see a couple of rare
copies of the Kargopol toy.
2 Hotel “Kargopolochka”, st. Lenina, 83.
☎ +8 (81841) 2-26-96, +8 (81841) 2-12-64. From 550 RUR/person. in a
shared room, double room with private facilities: 2500-3000 rub. An
uninteresting two-story building made of sand-lime brick. Half of the
rooms have been renovated, equipped with amenities and brought to the
condition of an average provincial hotel, but the other half has not
changed since Soviet times and is a dorm with amenities on the floor
(and not on the floor where the rooms themselves are located). The hotel
has a good cafe, but on weekends local youth hang out there, greatly
disturbing the guests’ sleep.
3 Guest house “Moroshka”,
Leningradskaya st. 63 (exit towards Pudozh). ☎ +7 (964) 291-46-77, +7
(921) 474-03-13. Single/double: 1800/2200 rub. A two-story house next to
an airfield and a sawmill. Rooms with amenities, new furniture and very
thin walls: if neighbors on both sides turn on the TV, you will have
stereo sound. Wi-Fi works with great criticism or does not work at all.
A shared kitchen compensates for the lack of catering in the hotel
itself and in the surrounding area; 20-25 min walk to the center.
4 Guest house “Poonezhye”, Polevaya st. 2b. ☎ +7 (921) 070-97-01.
Double room: 2500 rub. Small comfortable rooms overlooking the river,
but far from the center and on a bad road. Shared kitchen with
everything you need for cooking, including a coffee machine. The dining
room has a billiards room and a flat-screen TV. The territory has a
closed gazebo with a barbecue area. Free parking, Wi-Fi, possibility to
rent a boat.
The city differs little from other small settlements in the country.
Here you will certainly be shown broken roads, only some of which have
time-worn asphalt surfaces, while the rest are devoid of any surface at
all. Many places have replaced sidewalks with wooden pavements, which
are necessary for getting around the city in inclement weather, but in
the interior of neighborhoods, such innovations may not be available. At
least on weekends, a considerable part of the male population struggles
with life's disappointments in the most banal way known - drinking
alcohol. However, any visitor, even one loaded with expensive office
equipment according to local standards, does not risk anything, although
he will not be able to avoid the close attention of literally the entire
neighborhood. Local residents will try to start a conversation, ask to
take their photo, give unnecessary advice, but they won’t cause you any
serious problems if you don’t run into trouble yourself.
When
going to travel around the area, remember that, with the exception of
major roads - the Plesetsk, Pudozh and Nyandoma tracts - it is very
sparsely populated, cars drive only a few times a day, and there may be
no cellular communication. By car in bad weather, do not go to places
where you can get stuck (unless, of course, you have experience in
getting out of such situations on your own), and without a car, get a
bicycle or take a taxi, since the distances are too long for walking.
In Kargopol itself, a stable 3G/4G signal from all major mobile
operators is received, but even in the immediate vicinity of the city
the signal is weak, and then it disappears completely. There is a
problem with Wi-Fi in the city; it usually doesn’t really work even
where it is officially declared.
Post office, st. Leningradskaya,
10. ☎ +8 (81841) 2-14-00. In a historic stone building from the late
19th century.
The official date of the emergence of Kargopol is taken to be
1146, calculated by comparing the texts of two chronicles. This
year, Prince Vyacheslav went on a campaign against the Finno-Ugric
tribes (Chudi) who lived here, and on the way back he took a rest at
the sources of Onega, thereby founding a new settlement. According
to local legend, this happened in the Kolobovaya Gorka area, in the
southern part of the modern city. Archaeologists confirm that the
upper reaches of Onega were inhabited in the 11th-12th centuries,
but they have no evidence of this legend.
Where the name of
the city came from is another mystery. It probably comes from the
Finnish words karhu + puoli, meaning bearish side. Another version
plays on the Cargo-field combination found in ancient documents:
cargo is the local name for a crow, and the entire structure means
Crow Field.
The waterway between the White Lake and the White
Sea was a very busy route in the Middle Ages, so the location of
Kargopol turned out to be favorable for the development of trade.
The settlement was part of the Novgorod lands, but stood on the
border with the Rostov-Suzdal (and later Moscow) principality, which
sometimes led to conflicts. Because of this, at the beginning of the
14th century, Kargopol was forced to acquire fortifications.
The 15th century was marked by several major events. In 1447, the
rivals of Vasily the Dark, princes Dmitry Shemyaka and Ivan
Mozhaisky, took refuge behind the city walls. In 1478, Kargopol,
together with the Novgorod lands, was annexed to Moscow. And during
the time of Ivan the Terrible, he entered a couple of dozen cities
assigned to maintain the oprichnina. At the same time, the first
stone structure appeared here - the Nativity Cathedral.
Kargopol was also used as a place of exile. The families of the
Tatar khans were replaced by disgraced nobles, and in 1608, the
leader of the peasant uprising, Ivan Bolotnikov, ended his days
here, as recalled by the stone erected at the site of his execution.
During the Time of Troubles, the city was besieged by the Poles
three times, but they were unable to take it, thanks in part to the
construction of a new fortress.
By the end of the 16th
century, the city had become one of the largest trading centers in
the country, having grown rich in the trade of salt and fish. In
addition, local merchants traded in timber rafting, squirrel
hunting, and even supplying iron mined from nearby iron ore
deposits. During the heyday of the 16th-17th centuries, Kargopol
experienced a real construction boom and acquired many stone
churches, some of which have survived to this day. A major fire in
1765 caused serious devastation, destroying not only a dozen
churches, but also a significant part of the city's buildings. The
restoration of the city was carried out with money allocated by
Catherine II and was accompanied by a change in layout. As a result,
Kargopol became one of the first cities in the country to be rebuilt
according to a regular plan.
In the 18th century, Kargopol
found itself on the sidelines of new trade routes and gradually lost
its former importance, although even by the end of the 19th century
it remained the leading city of the Olonets province. Then, however,
there was no luck with the railway, which ran 80 kilometers to the
east; from that moment on, the city practically stopped developing.
In Soviet times, there was no industrial construction here and the
ruthless mass development that accompanied it. The number of
churches has noticeably decreased, but the city has well preserved
individual monuments and the general atmosphere of the northern
outback. Tourists' interest in wooden architecture appeared back in
the Soviet years, so the name Kargopol is now firmly associated with
it, although you must understand that you will not see anything like
this in the city itself, and visiting Kargopol will be only one of
the components of the cultural program. You will most likely begin
to explore the local attractions in between trips around the area or
attempts to organize these trips. Even if you come by car, you need
to set aside at least a day and a half for everything.
Impressions of stone Kargopol cannot be complete without visiting the
wooden temples in the surrounding area - this is one of the best areas
of wooden architecture in the country in its natural habitat, without
the artificiality of museums of wooden architecture and the cruise
promotion of Kizhi. From Kargopol, roads lead to all four corners of the
world, and in each direction there are interesting sights - northern
villages where ancient wooden houses are still preserved, all kinds of
graveyards and tracts with wooden and stone churches, the oldest of
which were built in the 17th century. And this is not to mention the
picturesque views that lie in wait for you literally everywhere. Even if
you have little time, try to cover the churches in Saunino, Bolshaya
Shalga and Krasnaya Lyaga. If you have more time, pay close attention to
Lyadiny, as well as Oshevensky and Plesetsky tracts. Even with a car,
you need at least a day to explore the surroundings of Kargopol; you can
continue in the Kenozersky National Park.
Orientation: in the
north there is confusing toponymy due to the fact that villages were
traditionally located in groups (villages or, in local terminology,
“bushes”), and each had not only its own name, but also the name of its
village. In addition, some villages have changed their names over the
years. Only some of them, usually new ones, later migrated to maps and
(few) bus routes, and in oral speech old names or names of individual
villages within their bush remained. For example, you won’t find a
village with the ancient name Saunino on the map; instead, you’ll find
Zalazhye or even Kiprovo, but the taxi driver will guess the purpose of
the trip faster if you say Saunino.
Transport: Road conditions
vary widely. The only good road is the Plesetsk tract - an asphalt road,
in some places of very good quality. The remaining directions are much
worse: broken asphalt, concrete, primers and graders of varying degrees
of damage. However, everything is not so bad - in the summer, in a
regular passenger car, you can (with patience and perseverance) drive up
to all objects of interest. If you don’t have a car, it’s quite possible
to get around a few nearby places by bicycle (see bike rental), but for
everything else you’ll have to take a taxi, since suburban buses do not
go every day and usually not at all where you might need to go. On the
standard route (Saunino–Oshevensk–Arkhangelo, see Plesetsk tract) you
can join an organized group for about 2000 rubles/person (2018). Taxi
prices vary widely, for a short trip the average price will be 1000
rubles/hour, transport from travel agencies is at least not cheaper.
1 Church of St. John Chrysostom in Saunino. 60 rub. The closest
wooden church to Kargopol is only 6 km from the center, you can walk
there if you wish. It is called the standard of a tented northern church
with a free-standing bell tower. Built in 1665, the church is remarkable
not only for its appearance, but also for its preserved interiors.
Inside the main volume there are late 18th-century paintings, empty
iconostasis frames and a wonderful sky-ceiling, and in the refectory
there is a pair of carved pillars that support the matitsa (ceiling
beam). The nearby bell tower dates back to the 19th century and has a
rare hexagonal base shape. Although the church is very interesting to
look at from the outside, this is the case when you need to try to get
inside to see the painted ceiling (“sky”) of the 18th century - the best
preserved in the vicinity of Kargopol. The church belongs to the
Kargopol Museum, but does not have fixed opening hours and opens when
tourist groups arrive, as well as according to the mood of the
caretaker: for example, in the summer of 2019 he was usually on site in
the morning every day except Monday. It is better to arrange a visit in
advance.
How to get there: from Kargopol along the grader to
Oshevenskoye, then turn right, or along the asphalt road to Plesetsk and
turn left onto the dirt road. Alternative names Saunino - Zalazhye,
Kiprovo.
In the Saunino area, the Oshevensky and Plesetsky tracts
going north diverge, along which a circular route is often arranged with
a visit to several more distant villages and churches (key points are
Oshevensk, Archangelo). There are more attractions there than in other
directions, but the distances are longer.
2 Church of the Nativity in Bolshaya Shalga (10 km from the city). A
wooden tented church (1745) of the traditional type of octagons on a
quadrangle, but with an unusual completion - slightly convex pyramidal
edges of the tent, which seem to press the church to the ground, and
very “vertical” proportions that compensate for this desire. Single
paintings have been preserved inside, and the “heaven” of the Nativity
Church is exhibited in the Cathedral of the Nativity in Kargopol. The
church is in poor condition, slowly being restored and is apparently
always open: look inside to see the scaffolding, which, according to
some sources, dates back to the 18th century. Nearby is the active stone
Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1857). The
village of Bolshaya Shalga has not existed for a long time, so both
churches are just standing on a lawn about a kilometer from the highway;
when driving from Kargopol, turn off in front of the village. Kazakovo,
follow the sign to the right.
Two other monuments of the Nyandoma
tract are located not far from each other, 20 km from Kargopol. Moving
in the direction of Nyandoma, turn left onto Kirillovo.
3 Chapel
of St. George the Victorious in Kirillovo. The wooden chapel of the
first half of the 19th century looks like an ordinary house, crowned
with a small dome. The interior has a sky ceiling with stars.
4 Odigitrievskaya Church in Malaya Shalga. In the village of Malaya
Shalga (aka Bolshaya Seredka), an unusual wooden church of the second
half of the 19th century has been preserved, in the architecture of
which the traditions of wooden architecture are intertwined with
classicism.
To the west of Kargopol lies a waterless flat area, the so-called
Kargopol dry land. Through it, mostly along a bad road, lies the path to
two outstanding wooden temples and further to the Kargopol sector of the
Kenozersky National Park. The only public transport in this area is a
bus running twice a week to Lekshmozero. There are quite a lot of cars,
hitchhiking is possible. On the way, look not only under the wheels, but
also around: in the villages on the Pudozhsky tract you come across old
wooden houses with decorations on the facades.
5 Sretensko-Mikhailovskaya Church in Krasnaya Lyaga. The pearl of the
Russian North - a wooden tented church with rich decor - acquired its
current appearance due to a strange coincidence of circumstances. It was
built in 1655 in an unusual way, like an octagon topped with a tent
without a quadrangular base (compare with Bolshaya Shalga), although the
main difference from other northern churches is not even this. In
1894-95 During the reconstruction, the church was decorated with
abundant carved decor in the spirit of the dacha modernism of the St.
Petersburg suburbs, and then another unforeseen circumstance happened:
the village of Krasnaya Lyaga stood on a small karst lake (lyaga), which
one fine day completely sank into the ground. The village died out, the
houses disappeared, and the church remained standing in an open field as
a metaphysical monument of the Russian North and its wooden
architecture. According to the architect-restorer Andrei Bode, who
examined the church: “The settlement has disappeared, the land is not
used, people have left, and only the ancient church stubbornly rises to
the sky... Here you can feel a silent presence before God, freed from
the vanity of life.” If you can visit only one church in the vicinity of
Kargopol, choose this one. It is also interesting because, being a
monument of federal significance, it is being restored or, more
correctly, preserved from imminent destruction using public donations
solely through the efforts of volunteers. This is everything you need to
know about the protection of cultural heritage in Russia.
6 Kuchepalda. An abandoned village with a street without end or
beginning. Like Red Lyaga, Kuchepalda stood on a karst lake, which
determined an unusual ring layout: houses stand in a circle, in the
center of which there was once water. She left after the war, the last
residents left the village in the 21st century, and the sign “Kuchepalda
12 km” on the highway still stands. Thanks to the remoteness and
inaccessibility of Kuchepalda, its houses have still been preserved; you
can go into them and see traces of past life - kitchen utensils, old
newspapers, abandoned letters - but emotionally this is a very difficult
place, where, unlike Red Lyaga, there are no restorers , no hope.
How to get there: a bad logging road leads to Krasnaya Lyaga and
Kuchepalda, departing from the Pudozhsky tract in the village of
Vatamanovskaya (Pechnikovo village) - the same sign to a non-existent
village will tell you the turn. From Kargopol to Whatmanovskaya 20 km,
further 7 km to Krasnaya Lyaga and another 4 km to Kuchepalda. After
rains, the road may be impassable for cars.
Lyadiny (Gavrilovskaya) is a village on the Pudozhsky highway, 35 km
from Kargopol. Until recently, the most accessible “tee” in Russia was
located here, i.e. a wooden churchyard complex with two churches and a
bell tower. Only one church survived the fire of 2013, which somewhat
reduced the architectural value of Lyadin, although it is still a strong
northern village, and the wooden houses here are impressive in their own
right. Also don’t miss the monumental gate wells - a sign of the
“Kargopol land”: the underground waters lie so deep that they cannot be
reached with an ordinary crane well. Due to its location on the highway
and proximity to the Kenozersky National Park, Lyadiny is often visited
by tourists, and even minimal infrastructure has been prepared for them.
7 Epiphany Church. 30 rub. Twelve-domed church (1793) with a unique
semicircular porch and a picturesque altar. For the outskirts of
Kargopol, and indeed the entire Russian North, it looks unusual, since
it is painted white with blue stripes and a dark red roof: this,
however, is not the fantasy of modern restorers, but an honest
restoration of the pre-revolutionary appearance of the temple. Inside
there is a museum with old photographs, to get into which you need to
find a caretaker who lives in one of the neighboring houses, but it is
unlikely that you should disturb him again: it is much more interesting
to examine the porch, which is accessible to visitors at any time.
8 Museum “Lyadin Patterns”. ☎ +7 (921) 479-18-41. The school
ethnographic museum, created on the initiative of local teacher Nadezhda
Fedorovna Voroshchuk, contains an impressive exhibition of folk items,
and offers organized groups master classes on flax weaving, tea with
pies and other entertainment. Visitors especially note the excursions
conducted by the museum’s founder. Opening hours are not entirely clear:
it appears that the museum is open (or could be open) at any reasonable
time. There is also a creatively decorated guest house here, where
guests are served lunch and dinner, including traditional plantains.
Cafe "Polyana". 7:00–24:00. The roadside cafe is also a kind of
attraction. People come here not for traditional food or pickles, but
for local news and gossip: this is a northern version of a tavern, where
the sociable hostess knows everything about everyone and will happily
provide the traveler with any necessary information, and at the same
time feed him. The interior features a painted Russian stove and a menu
handwritten in a notebook. The only permanently operating cafe within a
radius of 100 km from Kargopol.
✦ “Tale of the North.” This is not a
tourist attraction, but a northern version of downshifting: a family
from Moscow moved to Lyadiny to develop eco-tourism and build something
like a commune working on the land and reviving the Russian village. If
you are not ready for such radical decisions, you can come for a few
days and learn how to work with an ax or cook traditional dishes in a
Russian oven. In addition, there is an online store(!) that sells
products made from birch bark, pureed lingonberries and cloudberries of
all kinds.
Lake Lache is the largest in the Arkhangelsk region, the beautiful
Onega flows from it. Due to the swampiness, the banks of the reservoir
are almost uninhabited, and it is also impossible to approach the water,
but there is something here for particularly inquisitive travelers. On
the eastern bank there is a group of villages called Kalitinka, where
three wooden chapels from the 19th century have been preserved. You can
get to them by moving to Kargopol on the right bank of the Onega and
moving along a bad grader south in the direction of Nokola (15 km). The
chapels are interesting in themselves - here, in the north, they are
entire temples with a large dome and bell tower.
9 Chapel of
Flora and Lavra, Velikaya village. This chapel looks like a smaller
version of a single-domed stone temple. In 2017-18 restored by
volunteers, which is clearly visible from it, but its shape has been
preserved.
10 Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,
Sidorovskaya village. An elegant, slightly restored chapel with very
high crosses resembling antennas.
11 Chapel of Elijah the Prophet,
Bolshaya Kondratovskaya village. The wooden chapel in the classicist
style is interesting for its well-preserved oil painting of the sky and
walls, made with scenes from the Old and New Testaments based on
engravings by European artists, which looks surreal in the Kargopol
wilderness.
Krechetovo is a village 80 km south of Kargopol on the
road that goes around Lake Lache from the west and then runs into
off-road terrain on the border of the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions.
Unusual here is a complex of two stone churches in the village of
Pogost, the Church of Alexander Oshevensky and the Trinity Church. Both
were built in the 19th century at the intersection of Baroque and
eclecticism; they are not very remarkable on their own, but look great
together, demonstrating the talent of northern craftsmen for creating
ensembles regardless of the building material used.