home catfish The place where the earth merges with the sky. Bolivia: where the sky meets the earth

The place where the earth merges with the sky. Bolivia: where the sky meets the earth

They say that on Solovki one can serve the Liturgy anywhere, to such an extent the whole Solovetsky land is saturated with the blood of martyrs. The ancient monastery, which has been used as a prison since the 16th century, is adjacent to the barracks of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp of 1923-1929. Human suffering is felt here along with the joy of the resurrection and the freedom of unconquered faith. The artist Mikhail Nesterov, who worked on Solovki even before the revolution, in the 1920s, admonishing an acquaintance who received a Solovetsky sentence, said: "Do not be afraid of Solovki, Christ is close there."

Monastery, fortress, prison...

Solovetsky archipelago, consisting of six big islands and many small islands, located in the White Sea, 165 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. The nearest settlements on the mainland - Arkhangelsk, Kem and Belomorsk.

Even in prehistoric times, the Sami sailed here and arranged ritual dances in front of idol stones. Their pagan temples were located on the islands. Then the Pomors chose the islands closest to the mainland White Sea for their camps in the field.

In 1429, the monks Savvaty and Herman moored on a small Pomeranian shnyak boat to the shore of the Big Solovetsky Island. For three days they rowed in the icy sea in order to acquire the desired solitude of hermitage. Since then, a completely different life began on the Solovetsky Islands. Not far from the shore of Pine Bay, in a place convenient for living near the lake, Savvaty and Herman erected a cross and built a cell. Thus was the beginning of monastic life on Solovki. The organizer of the Solovetsky monastery itself was the Monk Zosima, an associate of the Monk Herman. The text of the life tells of a miraculous vision: a beautiful church appeared to the Monk Zosima in the east in heavenly radiance. At the site of the vision, a wooden church was built in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. A church was also built in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery was founded. This monastery was destined to become the heart of spiritual life, a missionary center and an outpost of the Russian state in the north. It also became the most severe prison in Russia. That the monastery former camp, is clearly visible now. Traces of prison life - thick wooden doors with peepholes, feeders and rusty locks - have survived to this day.

Since 1923, one of the first concentration camps for opponents of Soviet power, the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON), was located on Solovki. The entire archipelago is, in fact, a huge cemetery.

As long as the sun shines

If you go to Solovki for the first time, you must certainly sail on a ship, and not fly by plane. You can read in the guidebooks: “The monastery, like the fabulous city of Kitezh, grows right out of the water,” but no words can convey the vivid impression of this spectacle.

After visiting the monastery, the paths of the pilgrims diverge. There are so many things on Solovki that even for a whole vacation you can not have time to see everything. Moreover, somewhere you want to stay longer: to pray, to look at the sea. Therefore, if you are going for a short time, then do not try to run around everything. Get one fuss. It is better to choose in your opinion the two most interesting or important places and make them your main goal. For example, Anzer Island and Sekirnaya Mountain. The optimal time to pray in the monastery and have time to make two big trips is two weeks.

There is a rule on Solovki - do not plan anything in advance. Surprises will always lie in wait for you. Gathered by sea on Anzer - a storm. We finally decided to go for mushrooms - rain. The weather on Solovki is unpredictable and changes instantly. So the program of stay on the island should be built on the principle of "travel while the sun shines." But a raincoat is your true friend on any journey.

Travel time depends on your mood. If you are ready to communicate and leisure, then it is better to go before the so-called Solovetsky holidays, that is, until August 12, the day of finding the relics of St. Herman of Solovetsky. At this time, events of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve are held on Solovki: a festival of bard songs, a sailing regatta, etc. The time of the “Solovki holidays” is the hottest for residents, guides, and monks.

If you are looking for solitude and silence, then you need to go after the holidays of the Solovetsky monastery, which last from August 12 until the Assumption (August 28), the patronal feast of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the monastery. On August 29, the ship departs from the last tourists, and only "their" people remain on the island.

Drive or walk?

Places that can be visited with benefit on Solovki are everywhere. The approximate average distance between them is 12 kilometers. There are also very remote sketes, eighteen kilometers from the village. So which mode of transportation should you choose?

Bus excursions, rental cars (there are also such things on Solovki) are suitable for those who want to have time to visit everywhere in three days, who are weak or come with children. A bicycle is for those who want to get to several places on their own in a short time. There are several bike rentals on the island. Prices are different everywhere.

If you are not in a hurry, it is best to walk. On the way, you can admire the forest, pick mushrooms, swim in the lakes, marvel at the colorful boulders, take pictures of giant anthills, lie down on soft mosses and lichens, eat blueberries up to black palms! At your disposal will be not only roads, but also narrow paths. Of course, in such independent travel You can't go without a map. Best card sold in the monastery, it suits both the pilgrim and the tourist. Not the most popular roads are marked on it, but the location of objects is closest to reality.

Where to go in bad weather

If the island is gloomy and rainy, it's time for sightseeing tour at the Solovetsky Monastery. It is better to go on a pilgrimage tour, then you will not only be told about the temples of the monastery, but will also be told the schedule of services, they will tell you when you can venerate the relics (shrines with relics are opened during the fraternal prayer service, which is served every day at 6 in the morning).

In bad weather, you can go to Maritime Museum. Opened relatively recently and maintained solely by the efforts of enthusiasts, the museum has broken all records in terms of popularity. This is a shipyard museum: a real ship is being built before your eyes. Here you will learn that Pomor boats were sewn together, in the truest sense of the word, that Pomors are not a nationality, and that the Russian fleet did not begin under Tsar Peter, as is commonly thought, but much earlier. The museum is located on Cape Seldyany, in the Barn for rowboats. Works seven days a week from 10 am to 9 pm. Free admission.

Detailed information about all the expositions of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve can be found on the website http://www.solovky.ru/.

Most popular routes:

1. Anzer Island. The first sketes of the Solovetsky Monastery were founded here. In the 18th century, the Monk Job of Anzersky (Jesus in the schema) organized the Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete on Mount Golgotha. On February 7, 1929, in the hospital isolation ward, which was made into a skete, the holy martyr Peter Zverev completed his earthly feat. In the same place, on the site of mass graves, an unusual birch tree grew, the branches of which spread out in a regular cross.
You can get here only by sea with a guided tour.

2. Holy Ascension Skete on Sekirnaya Hill on the Great Solovetsky Island. During the camp, there was a punishment cell in the skete, one of the most scary places SLON camps. A steep staircase leads from the foot of the mountain to the skete - 71 m in height. Patients were dropped from it so as not to waste cartridges on them.

3. Bolshoi Zayatsky Island. Port complex, intended to receive merchant and fishing vessels, was founded in the 16th century under the holy abbot Philip. In the summer of 1702, the ships of Peter I entered the harbor on Zayatsky Island. The sovereign ordered the construction of a wooden church on the island in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called. This church has survived to this day. During the camp period there was a women's punishment cell.
The only way to get to the island is by sea with a guided tour.

4. Muksalma Island. The island is connected to Bolshoi Solovetsky Island by a dam 1220 meters long. This unique technical structure is the result of the work of the monks in the 60s of the 19th century. On the island there is a skete of St. Sergius of Radonezh. During the persecution of the 20th century, the skete was a prison. Now church life has been restored in it. The island can be reached on foot (9 km). The dam is a place of rare beauty.

Also interesting

The navigable lake-canal system of Solovki (Big Solovetsky Island) was built by monks in the 19th century. The total length of the system is about 12 kilometers. The monastery steam boats transported building materials along the canals. Here you can rent boats and sail two boat routes on your own - "Small Circle" and "Big Circle". Rental costs about 100 rubles per hour.

Detailed information about the routes can be found on the website http://www.solovki.info. All routes are marked on the map, which is sold in the monastery.

How to get there?

1. By direct flight through Arkhangelsk (you get one ticket, but in Arkhangelsk you transfer to another plane). In Moscow, tickets for this "special flight" can be purchased at the box office of Aeroflot-Nord (tel.: 266-89-09).

2. By train Moscow-Murmansk or St. Petersburg-Murmansk to Kem station. Further by sea to Solovki from 2 to 4 hours, depending on the weather and speed of the vessel. As a rule, navigation on the White Sea opens in early June. The boat departs from the pier in the neighboring village of Rabocheostrovsk at 8 am. You will be taken to the village either by city bus number 1, or by a minibus, or by taxi for 300 rubles. At 6.30 in the morning you must be at the pier. You can buy boat tickets in advance at the hotel near the pier. Then you can get places in the hold, where it is not so cold and does not shake. Do not forget to bring warm clothes with you: a hat, gloves, a warm jacket. If you do not get into the hold, all this will come in handy.

3. By train Moscow-Murmansk or St. Petersburg-Murmansk to Belomorsk station. Then on a comet or boat to Solovki.
Detailed information about the movement of transport, ticket prices can be found on information portal http://www.solovki.info.

How and where to live?

The island has everything: a hospital, a library, a post office, shops. There are telephone booths cellular(except for Beeline). Shops are open until 2:00 in the morning. There is also a department store where, in case of emergency, you can buy rubber boots, a raincoat, etc.

Very detailed information about Solovetsky hotels is on the portal http://solovki.info/?action=archive&id=80.

In addition, the islands thrive private sector. Even on the pier, you will be attacked by people with signs "For rent housing." The cost of a bed in private owners ranges from 200 to 400 rubles or more, depending on the amenities. During the "Solovki holidays" there is an influx of pilgrims, so finding accommodation is quite difficult if you do not take care of it in advance.

For pilgrims outside the walls of the fortress, in the village, there is a free monastery hotel. On the territory of the monastery itself there is a building for male workers. To get a job as a worker, you must separately agree with the dean of the monastery.

Women workers live, like pilgrims, in a pilgrimage hotel in the village. The monastery hotel is a two-storey wooden barrack (before the revolution it was a vocational school). All the rooms, cramped and stuffy, are completely filled with metal beds pushed close to each other. Each pilgrimage group cooks their own food separately in a common kitchen, and eats in the corridors at long wooden tables. After 23.00 the doors of the hotel are closed until the morning. The workers dine in a separate refectory.

Contacts of the pilgrimage service of the Solovetsky Monastery: 164070 Arkhangelsk region, pos. Solovetsky, Solovetsky monastery. Tel./Fax: 8 (818-35-90) 2-98, on duty, ask the pilgrimage service) or mob. tel.: +7-911-575-83-10. More information about the church life of the monastery can be found on the website www.solovki-monastyr.ru. One more useful link: http://www.solovki.ca/index.php.

Schedule of Divine Services in the Solovetsky Monastery

6:00 a.m. Morning service. Midnight Office. Fraternal prayer service to the Monk Zosima, Savvaty and Herman. At the end of the prayer service, the brethren of the monastery, laborers and pilgrims, except for the servants and clerics, proceed to obedience. The service continues in the temple, the hours and the Divine Liturgy are performed.

17.00 9th hour. Vespers. Matins. 1st hour.

After the 1st hour, a funeral litiya is performed, and on Friday - a memorial service. At the end of the service - troparion, kontakion and prayer to the Monk Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.
In the evening, at the end of the meal, prayers for the coming sleep.

17.00 Vespers. Prayer singing with the Akathist to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

On holiday days:

17.00 All-night vigil. 1st hour. At the end of the 1st hour - prayers for the future sleep, troparion, kontakion and prayer to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

Holidays:

8.00 Morning prayers. Midnight Office. Troparion, kontakion and prayer to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman. Hours and Divine Liturgy. All the brethren of the monastery, workers and pilgrims are present at the service. At the end of the service - Chin about Panagia.

17.00 Evening service.

1. Solovetsky Patericon
2. Boris Shiryaev "Inextinguishable lamp"
3.Aleksey Laushkin and Varvara Aksyuchits-Laushkina "Solovki Monastery and its immediate environs", guide

Monastery, fortress, prison...

The Solovetsky archipelago, consisting of six large islands and many small islands, is located in the White Sea, 165 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. The nearest settlements on the mainland are Arkhangelsk, Kem and Belomorsk.

Even in prehistoric times, the Sami sailed here and arranged ritual dances in front of idol stones. Their pagan temples were located on the islands. Then the Pomors chose the islands of the White Sea closest to the mainland for their camps in the fishery.

In 1429, the monks Savvaty and Herman moored on a small Pomeranian shnyak boat to the shore of the Big Solovetsky Island. For three days they rowed in the icy sea in order to acquire the desired solitude of hermitage. Since then, a completely different life began on the Solovetsky Islands. Not far from the shore of Pine Bay, in a place convenient for living near the lake, Savvaty and Herman erected a cross and built a cell. Thus was the beginning of monastic life on Solovki. The organizer of the Solovetsky monastery itself was the Monk Zosima, an associate of the Monk Herman. The text of the life tells of a miraculous vision: a beautiful church appeared to the Monk Zosima in the east in heavenly radiance. At the site of the vision, a wooden church was built in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. A church was also built in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery was founded. This monastery was destined to become the heart of spiritual life, a missionary center and an outpost of the Russian state in the north. It also became the most severe prison in Russia. The fact that the monastery is a former camp is clearly visible even now. Traces of prison life - thick wooden doors with peepholes, feeders and rusty locks - have survived to this day.

As long as the sun shines

If you go to Solovki for the first time, you must certainly sail on a ship, and not fly by plane. In the guidebooks you can read: “The monastery, like the fabulous city of Kitezh, grows right out of the water,” but no words can convey the vivid impression of this spectacle.

Travel time depends on your mood. If you are in the mood for communication and active recreation, then it is better to go before the so-called Solovetsky holidays, that is, until August 12, the day of finding the relics of St. Herman of Solovetsky. At this time, events of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve are held on Solovki: a festival of bard songs, a sailing regatta, etc. The time of the “Solovki holidays” is the hottest for residents, guides, and monks.

If you are looking for solitude and silence, then you need to go after the holidays of the Solovetsky monastery, which last from August 12 until the Assumption (August 28), the patronal feast of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the monastery. On August 29, the ship with the last tourists leaves, and only “their own” people remain on the island.

Drive or walk?

If you are not in a hurry, it is best to walk. On the way, you can admire the forest, pick mushrooms, swim in the lakes, marvel at the colorful boulders, take pictures of giant anthills, lie down on soft mosses and lichens, eat blueberries up to black palms! At your disposal will be not only roads, but also narrow paths. Of course, you cannot go on such an independent trip without a map. The best map is sold in the monastery, it suits both the pilgrim and the tourist. Not the most popular roads are marked on it, but the location of objects is closest to reality.

Where to go in bad weather

If the island is gloomy and rainy, it's time for a sightseeing tour of the Solovetsky Monastery. It is better to go on a pilgrimage tour, then you will not only be told about the temples of the monastery, but will also be told the schedule of services, they will tell you when you can venerate the relics (shrines with relics are opened during the fraternal prayer service, which is served every day at 6 in the morning).

In bad weather, you can go to the Maritime Museum. Opened relatively recently and maintained solely by the efforts of enthusiasts, the museum has broken all records in terms of popularity. This is a shipyard museum: a real ship is being built before your eyes. Here you will learn that Pomor boats were sewn together, in the truest sense of the word, that Pomors are not a nationality, and that the Russian fleet did not begin under Tsar Peter, as is commonly thought, but much earlier. The museum is located on Cape Seldyany, in the barn for rowing boats. Works seven days a week from 10 am to 9 pm. Free admission.

Detailed information about all the expositions of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve can be found on the website http://www.solovky.ru/.

Most popular routes:

2. Holy Ascension Skete on Sekirnaya Hill on the Great Solovetsky Island. At the time of the camp, there was a punishment cell in the skete, one of the most terrible places in the SLON camp. A steep staircase leads to the skete from the foot of the mountain - 71 m in height. Patients were dropped from it so as not to waste cartridges on them.

3. Bolshoi Zayatsky Island. The port complex, intended to receive merchant and fishing vessels, was founded in the 16th century under the holy abbot Philip. In the summer of 1702, ships of Peter I entered the harbor on Zayatsky Island. The sovereign ordered the construction of a wooden church on the island in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called. This church has survived to this day. During the camp period there was a women's punishment cell.
The only way to get to the island is by sea with a guided tour.

Also interesting

Detailed information about the routes can be found on the website http://www.solovki.info. All routes are marked on the map, which is sold in the monastery.

How to get there?

2. By train Moscow-Murmansk or Petersburg-Murmansk to Kem station. Further by sea to Solovki from 2 to 4 hours, depending on the weather and speed of the vessel. As a rule, navigation on the White Sea opens in early June. The boat departs from the pier in the neighboring village of Rabocheostrovsk at 8 am. You will be taken to the village either by city bus number 1, or by a minibus, or by taxi for 300 rubles. At 6.30 in the morning you must be at the pier. You can buy boat tickets in advance at the hotel near the pier. Then you can get places in the hold, where it is not so cold and does not shake. Do not forget to bring warm clothes with you: a hat, gloves, a warm jacket. If you do not get into the hold, all this will come in handy.

3. By train Moscow-Murmansk or Petersburg-Murmansk to Belomorsk station. Then on a comet or boat to Solovki.
Detailed information about the movement of transport, ticket prices can be found on the information portal http://www.solovki.info.

How and where to live?

The island has everything: a hospital, a library, a post office, shops. There are telephone booths, cellular communications (except for Beeline). Shops are open until 2:00 in the morning. There is also a department store where, in case of emergency, you can buy rubber boots, a raincoat, etc.

Very detailed information about Solovetsky hotels is available on the portal http://solovki.info/?action=archive&id=80.

In addition, the islands have a thriving private sector. Even on the pier, you will be attacked by people with signs "For rent housing." The cost of a bed in private owners ranges from 200 to 400 rubles or more, depending on the amenities. During the "Solovki holidays" there is an influx of pilgrims, so finding accommodation is quite difficult if you do not take care of it in advance.

Contacts of the pilgrimage service of the Solovetsky Monastery: 164070 Arkhangelsk region, pos. Solovetsky, Solovetsky monastery. Tel./Fax: 8 (818-35-90) 2-98, on duty, ask the pilgrimage service) or mob. tel.: +7-911-575-83-10. More information about the church life of the monastery can be found on the website www.solovki-monastyr.ru. Another useful link: http://www.solovki.ca/index.php.

Schedule of Divine Services in the Solovetsky Monastery

17.00 9th hour. Vespers. Matins. 1st hour.

17.00 Vespers. Prayer singing with the Akathist to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

On holiday days:

17.00 All-night vigil. 1st hour. At the end of the 1st hour - prayers for the future sleep, troparion, kontakion and prayer to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

Holidays:

17.00 Evening service.

What to read before your trip:
1. Solovetsky Patericon
2. Boris Shiryaev "Inextinguishable lamp"
3.Aleksey Laushkin and Varvara Aksyuchits-Laushkina "Solovki Monastery and its immediate environs", guide

Irina SECHINA

Photos from open sources

The Uyuni salt flat (Salar de Uyuni) is dry salt lake located in the southwest of Bolivia, at an altitude of more than 3500 meters. Covering an area of about 10,500 km2, it is the world's largest salt marsh. The thickness of the salt crust can reach 10 meters. Also, the Uyuni salt marsh contains up to 50% of the world's lithium reserves.

Tourists from all over the world come here to see the unforgettable beauty of this dry lake, as well as see giant cacti (more than 10 meters high), ancient volcanoes, pink flamingos and wild llamas walking nearby.

The Uyuni salt marsh is part of the Bolivian Altipano plateau, which is over 3,000 meters above sea level. The plateau has several salt and freshwater lakes, as well as salt marshes. All this is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.

From November to March, when the rainy season comes, the salt marsh is covered with thin layers of water, creating a mirror effect. Heaven and earth merge into one incredible landscape. The horizon is lost and it seems that people and cars are hovering among the clouds.

During the dry season, the salt marsh is covered with polygonal honeycomb-like grooves created by the evaporation of water.

For many centuries, the local Quechua Indians survived by mining and selling salt. Salt is scraped off the surface and dried, then transported to nearby villages where it is processed, packaged and shipped to consumers. Annually, 25,000 tons of salt are mined here, and the reserves of the salt marsh total 10 billion tons.

Under the salt marsh is a brine (saline solution) containing 0.3% lithium, the lightest metal, which is expected to have a great future. Lithium is used in computers, laptops, mobile phones, as well as in metallurgy, nuclear power and many other industries.

In the 1980s and 1990s, foreign companies tried to start lithium extraction here, but met with strong resistance from local residents. Even despite their poverty, the locals disapprove of the extraction of the precious metal. And the government of Bolivia does not intend to allow foreign companies to develop it and plans to build its own plant here.

Thanks to its ideal flatness (average height difference of just one meter) and good location, the Uyuni salt marsh is considered an excellent car route through the Altiplano, but not during the rainy season.

The Uyuni Salt Flats is visited annually by about 70,000 tourists who are unlikely to ever forget its stunning landscapes.

One of amazing places of our planet, capable of surprising even an experienced traveler - dried salt lake in Bolivia. Having been there, one gets the complete impression that he has landed on another planet. The views are truly fantastic!

Uyuni salt flat is located at an altitude of about 4000 m above sea level in the vicinity of the Bolivian city of Uyuni. It is a perfectly flat salt surface. with total area over 10 thousand square kilometers. Over many thousands of years, a large salt lake has dried up, forming powerful salt deposits. In some places, the thickness of the salt layer reaches 10 m. It is interesting that the saline salts contain a significant content of lithium chloride, and up to 60% of the world's lithium reserves are concentrated here! Lithium is an indispensable component in the production of batteries. Uyuni is the largest salt marsh on the planet, and it is also famous for the fact that during the rainy season (approximately from November to March) the salt marsh is covered with a layer of water up to 30 cm thick, resulting in an optical effect of amazing beauty. This is a mirror effect: the sky and clouds are reflected in a perfectly even layer of water, repeating each other. It seems that the sky merges with the earth. Therefore, one of the names of the Uyuni salt marsh is the Mirror of God. The sight is so mesmerizing that many travelers come back here again to see this beauty again.

Between November and December, thousands of pink flamingos fly to the salt marsh. This is the annual migration of birds that come here to breed. Pink flamingos walking along the mirror of the salt marsh are a very beautiful sight that additionally attracts tourists here. The annual tourist flow is about 70 thousand people, which indicates the high tourist attractiveness of this place.

Local residents make their living by extracting salt from the salt marsh, the reserves of which are estimated at more than 10 billion tons. About 25 million tons are mined annually, which brings additional income to the Bolivian treasury. Salt mined here is used not only as a seasoning for food. Here you can stay overnight in curious hotels: the floor, walls and ceiling are entirely made of salt! Even some furniture has been sawn out of salt plates. The average cost of one day of stay in such a colorful dwelling does not exceed 20-30 dollars, which is no higher than the cost of a night in an ordinary hotel.

Going to such an interesting and exotic place, like the Uyuni salt marsh, you should take into account the features local climate. Usually the temperature during the day here is about 20-22 degrees Celsius, but at night it can drop sharply down to minus 10. Therefore, you need to take warm clothes with you, since most hotels are not heated and it can be cold at night. Sunglasses will also come in handy, since the snow-white surface of the salt marsh is very dazzling on a bright sunny day. Rubber boots will also come in handy to walk on the layer of water that covers the salt marsh. However, it is not necessary to bring them with you: in many places nearby they are on sale especially for tourists.

How to get to Uyuni Salt Flats? Let's look at the map:

The first step is to get to the capital of Bolivia, the city of La Paz. Here you need to understand that there are no direct flights between Russia and Bolivia, so you will have to travel with transfers. Flight options can be found using the search form:

The best way to get from La Paz to Uyuni intercity bus. It will be necessary to overcome the path of more than 550 km, the travel time will be about 10 hours. It is better to choose a bus that is comfortable and with hot meals. Tickets can be purchased online at many bus ticket offices, for example

You can choose a suitable hotel for an overnight stay using the hotel map.

Monastery, fortress, prison...

Even in prehistoric times, the Sami sailed here and arranged ritual dances in front of idol stones. Their pagan temples were located on the islands. Then the Pomors chose the islands of the White Sea closest to the mainland for their camps in the fishery.

In 1429, the monks Savvaty and Herman moored on a small Pomeranian shnyak boat to the shore of the Big Solovetsky Island. For three days they rowed in the icy sea in order to acquire the desired solitude of hermitage. Since then, a completely different life began on the Solovetsky Islands. Not far from the shore of Pine Bay, in a place convenient for living near the lake, Savvaty and Herman erected a cross and built a cell. Thus was the beginning of monastic life on Solovki. The organizer of the Solovetsky monastery itself was the Monk Zosima, an associate of the Monk Herman. The text of the life tells of a miraculous vision: a beautiful church appeared to the Monk Zosima in the east in heavenly radiance. At the site of the vision, a wooden church was built in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. A church was also built in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery was founded. This monastery was destined to become the heart of spiritual life, a missionary center and an outpost of the Russian state in the north. It also became the most severe prison in Russia. The fact that the monastery is a former camp is clearly visible even now. Traces of prison life - thick wooden doors with peepholes, feeders and rusty locks - have survived to this day.

If you are looking for solitude and silence, then you need to go after the holidays of the Solovetsky monastery, which last from August 12 until the Assumption (August 28), the patronal feast of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the monastery. On August 29, the ship with the last tourists leaves, and only “their own” people remain on the island.
Drive or walk?

If you are not in a hurry, it is best to walk. On the way, you can admire the forest, pick mushrooms, swim in the lakes, marvel at the colorful boulders, take pictures of giant anthills, lie down on soft mosses and lichens, eat blueberries up to black palms! At your disposal will be not only roads, but also narrow paths. Of course, you cannot go on such an independent trip without a map. The best map is sold in the monastery, it suits both the pilgrim and the tourist. Not the most popular roads are marked on it, but the location of objects is closest to reality.
Where to go in bad weather

Detailed information about all the expositions of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve can be found on the website http://www.solovky.ru/.
Most popular routes:

3. Bolshoi Zayatsky Island. The port complex, intended to receive merchant and fishing vessels, was founded in the 16th century under the holy abbot Philip. In the summer of 1702, the ships of Peter I entered the harbor on Zayatsky Island. The sovereign ordered the construction of a wooden church on the island in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called. This church has survived to this day. During the camp period there was a women's punishment cell.
The only way to get to the island is by sea with a guided tour.

Detailed information about the routes can be found on the website http://www.solovki.info. All routes are marked on the map, which is sold in the monastery.
How to get there?

Very detailed information about Solovetsky hotels is available on the portal http://solovki.info/?action=archive&id=80.

Contacts of the pilgrimage service of the Solovetsky Monastery: 164070 Arkhangelsk region, pos. Solovetsky, Solovetsky monastery. Tel./Fax: 8 (818-35-90) 2-98, on duty, ask the pilgrimage service) or mob. tel.: +7-911-575-83-10. More information about the church life of the monastery can be found on the website www.solovki-monastyr.ru. Another useful link: http://www.solovki.ca/index.php.
Schedule of Divine Services in the Solovetsky Monastery

17.00 9th hour. Vespers. Matins. 1st hour.

17.00 Vespers. Prayer singing with the Akathist to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

On holiday days:

17.00 All-night vigil. 1st hour. At the end of the 1st hour - prayers for the future sleep, troparion, kontakion and prayer to St. Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

Holidays:

17.00 Evening service.
What to read before your trip:
1. Solovetsky Patericon
2. Boris Shiryaev "Inextinguishable lamp"
3.Aleksey Laushkin and Varvara Aksyuchits-Laushkina "Solovki Monastery and its immediate environs", guide