Kizhi--A Good Life

Monday, June 29, 2015
Kizhi, Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation
Long harsh winters, short lush summers. 

Lakes, woods, meadows .

Buildings, both beautiful and functional. 

Harmony with the seasons, with the community and with the natural world.

This was the beautiful village of Kizhi on Lake Onega, now an architectural museum and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Remember that TV series, The Good Life? 

Kizhi is the Russian version. 

Though here we're talking about the reality of bitterly harsh winters with no nice neighbours from the Russian version of Surbiton to help you out when you ran out of potatoes -- or wine (or vodka!)

There were two things that really stood out here.

One was the incredible beauty of the buildings, especially the churches. 

These were made of aspen shingles, cut by axe to improve waterproofing, and pine logs for the walls and floors . The pine timber-- cut in winter to maximise the sap content.

The largest church was having the structure inspected and some of its pine logs replaced while we were there but it was interesting to see how they did that by supporting the top structure and kind of slotting them in.

There was a carpenter working there hacking away making new shingles with great skill-- though poor man, I did notice he had a couple of fingers missing.

We visited what seemed like a pretty big three-storey farmhouse but were told this was the usual thing. 

The animals lived below in pretty dark and cramped quarters through the LONG winter, the family upstairs, mostly in one big room -- though maybe not so big when you have 2 or 3 generations all in together, and then another 'best' room for guests. 

Beside that was a large work room containing everything but the kitchen sink--a boat, loom, work bench for hammering etc .

I guess if I lived in freezing temperatures for so many months of the year, I'd be more keen to work inside than out as well.

When spring came, the family had to take the cattle across to another island for some reason.

 One of our tour members asked how they got them into the smallish boats. 

The answer? 

After being stuck inside under the house for so long, they charged on to the boats -- no trouble at all. 

Apparently cows have longer memories than I'd have thought.

The other feature that really struck me was that the island is seething with vipers. 

They say there are 200 snakes for every person living there.

Being snake-phobic, it pretty well eliminated any desire to go off-piste to commune with nature or go probing around the basement of the farmhouse .

How did they get there? 

Are they only on that island -- or are all the many nearby ones snaky nightmare islands?

I haven't a clue but it was quite weird. I'd have thought snakes would not be terrifically happy living so close to the Arctic Circle but there you go... a mystery I have yet to solve.

However, this harsh climate does have ONE huge advantage.

Snakes hibernate in winter.

How good is that!
 

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