Solovetsky Monastery
A fortified island monastery in the White Sea, with walls built of enormous boulders.
About
The Solovetsky Islands lie in the White Sea, and the main monastery rises from the shore of the largest island behind walls of rough stone blocks. Inside are churches, a refectory and a small town of monks' cells, with a gentle northern light that lasts late into summer evenings.
Beyond the monastery, forest paths, lakes, wooden chapels and a botanical garden make the island a good place for walking and cycling.
The islands also carry a heavy history of imprisonment in the twentieth century, and exhibitions explain it respectfully.
History
The monastery was founded in the fifteenth century by monks who settled on the island. It grew rich and defended itself against sieges. In the 1920s and 1930s the islands housed a notorious prison camp, and monastic life only restarted in the 1990s. The stone walls and towers were built in the late sixteenth century. Between 1668 and 1676 the monastery resisted a long siege by the tsar's troops in a dispute over church reforms. After the prison camp era, the islands hosted a naval training school during the Second World War.
UNESCO World Heritage: Inscribed 1992.