Studying the seids on the island of the German body. There are several important reasons for this! German island: dangerous ascent and descent to white sand beach

We spent our last day in Solovki on the Kuzov Islands. We came to the boat straight with our things. Yes, there were only two backpacks. This excursion lasts seven hours, therefore, upon returning to the island, we had to reload onto the ship and sail again to Kemi.
At eight in the morning the boat “Savvaty” set sail from Solovetsky Island to the Kuzov archipelago. The weather was cloudy, and a cold wind was blowing at sea, as always. That's why he's north.

It takes about two hours to get to Kuzovy by boat. The people mostly scattered to their cabins, but I stayed on deck, because... The cabin is stuffy, the motion is more noticeable. But apparently it doesn’t have the same effect on children.

Captain's cabin. Let's follow the navigator


An hour and a half later they appeared on the horizon round shape islands. It was as if oatmeal cookies were floating in the sea.


We were met on the island by the director of the Pharaoh film studio from the St. Petersburg University historical film studio. She and the group have been living on the island for several days and are filming some kind of scientific film. They greeted us very cheerfully with exclamations of “Hip-hip hurray!” Our group did not remain in debt and did the same.


Next we had to climb to the very top of this island. Here we followed the saying: “a smart person won’t go up a mountain, a smart person will go around a mountain,” and we also went around, gradually gaining height. The ascent was carried out at a fast pace, but there were frequent breaks, and it was possible to admire marine species and also listen to exciting stories kodola about the Sami seids. And the views from the mountain were simply cosmic. Of course, I wanted to wander around the island slowly, or even better, live there in a tent for a few days.


The archipelago consists of sixteen islands. The largest known ones are the Russian Body and the German Body. We landed on the German Body. The islands are granite at their base. The island has many seids - sacred objects of the ancient Sami in the form of stones. There are many large boulder stones, as well as small ones built in the form of pyramids. But, unfortunately, almost all stone pyramids are remakes, made by tourists or tour guides. But a multi-ton boulder can hardly be moved from its place without the help of special equipment.


And here these stones are delicately installed on 3 fulcrum points, and they were installed hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago…. Miracles, incredible things. Nobody lives on these islands except tourists. And even then there are only a few of them, but they managed to pile up a mountain of garbage.


Our guide gives a lecture about these places


This is heather


When we returned back, a strong wind was blowing and the sea was a little rough. Our boat rocked quite well to the sides, but these camouflaged women bravely withstood the bad weather.

It is well known that the history of Karelian White Sea coast has its roots in hoary and partly mythological antiquity. This is, for example, the Karelian city of Kem. The origin of the name itself is mysterious. The name “Kem”, according to many scientists, is formed by the ancient term kem, hem - “ big river", which is presumably of Indo-European origin and is distributed over a large part of Eurasia from the Kemijoki River in northern Finland to Ulug-Khem (Yenisei) and others in Tuva. But taking into account the fact that the only Indo-Europeans who settled here and were constantly mentioned in historical chronicles were the Slavs, it turns out that the mysterious people who gave the name to the river lived here even before the arrival of the Finno-Ugrians.
How can one not remember that it was in these parts, according to some historians, that ancient Hyperborea was located.

Kuzova Archipelago Map

Moreover, it is known that the ancient Egyptians called themselves the people of Kemi, and this allows some researchers to be inclined to think that between the oldest inhabitants White Sea coast and the oldest population northern Africa there is a direct connection. This seems fantastic, but how can one not remember that the petroglyphs (“stone chronicle”) in Karelia are almost identical to those found in the mountains of Scandinavia, and also resemble ancient images of Altai and the Caucasus in their execution technique.

On a way from Kemi to Solovki you can visit the most interesting islands Kuzov landscape reserve, which is a chain of more than 200 islands, 16 of which are small, dome-shaped, with steep slopes rising 100 meters above the water, are uninhabited. The archipelago surprises with its nature. Features of the relief and location of the islands ensure the uniqueness of each island, giving the overall impression of a harsh but harmonious world of northern nature. Some islands have preserved unique spruce forests, which, according to linguists, gave the name to the archipelago. “Kuusi” in Karelian-Finnish means spruce. The flora of the reserve is so unusual and exotic that it arouses genuine interest not only among scientists, but also among tourists. In order to preserve the natural and cultural heritage, a state landscape reserve was established here in 1991, which in 1994 received the status of a wetland of international importance, and in 1993 protected zones of archaeological monuments were allocated.

The Kuzova Nature Reserve is a monument of geology and archeology. It is famous for ancient human sites, labyrinths, cult complexes and many places with sacred stones - seids. Among the boundless expanses of the White Sea Two islands, majestic in their primeval beauty, appear before the eyes of astonished travelers: the Big German Body and the Russian Body, the seids and idols on which have no equal either in the originality of the structures or in quantity.
Religious buildings of the ancient Sami(10-12 centuries) specially protected objects of all-Russian significance. The legends of Pomerania reflect the historical events of the early 17th century, when the Swedish conquerors tried conquer Solovetsky Monastery . According to legend, the “German people” (Swedes) were tired of a long voyage through the choppy White Sea, moored to one of the islands to gain strength to capture Solovki. One of the warriors began to send threats towards the holy place and immediately turned into stone, followed by his comrades. And those who survived quickly went home. This is where the name German Body came from. In addition to seids, tourists are also interested in gurias - pillars made of stones that served as navigational signs for Russian Pomors.
Location
Islands remote from the coast (Russky and Nemetsky Kuzova, Oleshin, Verkhniy, Sredny, Zhiloy, Setnoy, Lodeyny, Kurichya Niloksa, Chernetsky, Northern Tupichikha) of the eastern part of the archipelago, located at the mouth of the river. Kem, and adjacent areas of the White Sea (7 areas in total).

German Body


MYSTERIES OF THE BODY ARCHIPELAGO

The bodies are rightfully considered one of the most mysterious places throughout the White Sea Karelia. On the territory of these deserted and harsh spaces it was found great amount evidence of the religious activity of ancient people. According to historians, the buildings were built approximately 2-2.5 thousand years ago by the ancient Sami, who lived on the shores of the White Sea.
According to estimates, about 800 stone structures related to the pagan cult worshiped by the inhabitants of this archipelago were discovered. harsh land. The short distance from the mainland allowed the Sami to freely swim or walk across the ice to perform their rituals. And at the same time it contributed to privacy and preservation of the sacred aura. No places of permanent human residence have been found on the islands. Perhaps that is why a huge number of sacred stones - “seids” and unique stone idols were found here. Objects located on the territory of the archipelago are included in the list of protected historical sites

Address: Republic of Karelia, White Sea, Kuzova Archipelago, 15 km west of Rabocheostrovsk
Coordinates: 64°57’52″N 35°12’19″E (Oleshin Island)
Coordinates: 64°57’04″N 35°09’56″E (German Body Island)
Coordinates: 64°56’08″N 35°08’18″E (Russky Kuzov Island)


Big role in history of the White Sea region Not only mainland lands, but also islands have always played. On the sea route from the port of Kem to the Solovetsky Islands lies the Kuzova archipelago, which includes 16 uninhabited islands, the largest of which are Russian and German Body. Highest points archipelago German Body - 140 m and Russian Body - 123 m. These are the highest marks in the entire Karelian White Sea region.

The archipelago surprises with its nature. Relief features, geographical location islands provide both the aesthetic and landscape uniqueness of each island, giving the overall impression of a harsh but harmonious world of northern nature. An integral part of the island landscapes are forests. Even the name of the archipelago, according to one version, comes from the Karelian “kuusi” - spruce, i.e. "Spruce Islands"

The archipelago is famous for its ancient sites, labyrinths, religious complexes, as well as the abundance of sacred stones - seids. About 800 different stone structures were discovered here, occupying 2% of the entire territory of the archipelago. Religious objects were created by the ancient Sami population, which appeared in the White Sea region 2-2.5 thousand years ago, hunting, fishing and owning small herds of reindeer. Religious monuments of the ancient Sami are included in the list of protected sites of all-Russian significance.

The seids and idols discovered on the Big German Body and the Russian Body have no equal either in the originality of their construction, or in diversity, or in quantitative composition throughout that large territory, which was occupied by Sami tribes at the turn of our era.

The “double-humped” island of Bolshoy Nemetskiy Kuzov stands before us majestic in its harsh beauty among the vast expanses of the White Sea. Indelible impression leaving steep rocky mountain slopes covered with lichens and mosses, huge sheer walls of cracked rock in primordial chaos with bizarre figures of giant deities...

At the top of the Big German Body Mountain there was a real pantheon of Sami deities. Despite the fact that part, perhaps the best part, of the monuments of the sanctuary was destroyed, up to one and a half hundred seids and other stone idols were preserved on the top of the mountain.
According to the belief of the Sami, the ancient inhabitants of the White Sea region, seids and other idols help people in fishing and hunting. Therefore, seids were placed on high banks and islands of reservoirs so that they were visible from afar. Sacrifices were made to seids and idols. Therefore, it is not surprising that high rocky mountain The Great German Body, dominating all the Kem Islands, became a sanctuary. And the places in the Kuzov area have been the center of marine industries since ancient times.

An interesting Pomeranian legend about “petrified Germans” is associated with idol seids. Tradition tells that once upon a time, “German people” (as the Pomors called the Swedes in the past) wanted to attack the “holy Solovki”. A storm overtook them at sea. The Germans took refuge in the northern Kuzovs. From the top of the mountain they can see the islands were the white stone walls of the Solovetsky Monastery. But frequent storms at sea, sent from above, did not allow the Germans to sail further. One day, when the “German people” were sitting around a fire having a meal, God punished the enemies by turning them into stones. This is how the “petrified Germans” sit to this day on the top of the mountain of the island, which has since been called the Big German Body.

The basis of the legend was, on the one hand, a historical event of the beginning of the 17th century, when a Swedish detachment tried to attack the Solovetsky Monastery from the Kuzov side, and, on the other hand, the Sami belief about turning a person into stone.
Seids on the Big German Body are huge angular boulders placed on small stones - on “legs”. On the upper surface of the seid stone, as a rule, there are several small stones, and under them, in some cases, there are small multi-colored pebbles.

Other idols have different shapes and combinations of stones and are smaller in size. Among them, idols stand out that have the appearance of a rough sculpted bust of a person; according to Pomeranian legend, “petrified Germans.” This is a boulder resembling the shape and size of the upper torso of a person. On it is a stone shaped like the head of a person, bird or dog. In front of such idols there are two cylindrical stones (only some have survived). They resemble arms extended forward.

The third, most numerous group of idols are usually medium-sized boulders of various shapes, on the elevated part of which one or several cobble-sized stones are installed.
Monuments of the second Sami sanctuary have been preserved on the top of Bald Mountain on Russky Kuzov Island. There are also up to one and a half hundred idols, among them several unique ones, reminiscent in shape of the “Stone Woman”. This is a standing, oblong granite slab, supported on both sides by two rounded slabs. In addition, there are remains of two burials, the walls of which are made of granite slabs.

Thus, on Kuzovy one can see monuments of two sanctuaries, which obviously belonged to two Sami clan groups, phratries. On other Kem Islands only single seids are found. Near such a seida you can sometimes find the so-called “Lopar pit”, the site of the ancient dwelling of a Sami family.
Complex on Nemetsky Kuzov, where, according to legend, seids were described as “petrified Germans” (historically - Swedes, more than once harassed the Solovetsky Monastery), was explored in the late 1960s by archaeologist I.M. Mullo. The seid plateau on Nemetsky Kuzov has a size of 350 by 110 - 160 m. There are 150-300 (according to various sources) cult stones located here. Which I.M. Mullo divides into three groups;

1 - “seids”, stones placed on three or four legs of a stand with finials, at the foot of which there were often colored rolled stones, often quartz - probably offerings;

2 - stone-idols having a certain human-like appearance (mainly in the shape of the stone top - “head”);

3 - ordinary stones, but with tops, sometimes zoomorphic.

On the plateau (“Bald Mountain”) of Russky Kuzov Island there are also about 300 seids, among which there is also a rare type of “phallic stones” - menhirs, supported on both sides by boulders, which have analogues in Finland and among the megaliths of the Canadian archipelago. In addition, two tiled structures called “tombs” were found on the Russian Body, but without traces of remains or grave goods.
It was with the Bodies that the research into seid complexes began.

The fact that Kuzov in the distant past was a place of sea fishing is confirmed by the fact that on the shores of the interisland straits, structures made of boulders have been preserved - shelters, behind which hunters and archers tracked down their prey - seals and bearded seals. These shelters are known among the Sami as “paahus”.

Ancient hunters and fishermen, after a successful fishery, came to the sanctuary, performed ceremonial rituals there, presented sacrifices to the idol deities, hoping for a successful fishery in the future.

The most amazing and most mysterious of the islands of the Archipelago is Oleshin Island. Here are located not only seids and sanctuaries, but also two ancient labyrinths, Small and Large. Both are located on a flat rocky surface approximately 20 meters above sea level (which, by the way, excludes the possibility of using them as fish traps).
The small one (diameter about 6 meters) is practically invisible and is only visible in the dense vegetation of the tundra. Nearby is the Great Labyrinth, surprisingly well preserved and measuring 10x12 meters.
At least 1000 boulders and total length The "path" is about 190 meters. Both labyrinths are considered sacred. According to researchers, they were used for initiation or for communication between shamans and Higher Powers. There are several more versions of the origin and use of labyrinths. A talisman for a herd of deer, a cult of sea fishing, a cult of the dead (since there are often labyrinths not far from burial places), such labyrinths marked the entrances to underground palaces...
Perhaps the labyrinths are somehow connected with the ancient people’s idea of ​​astronomy and the universe. According to Vladimir Vasilenko, a member of the Russian Geographical Society, an image of the one-eyed god Odin is carved high into the rocks, under which there is an ancient sacrificial stone, a huge boulder with a hole in the middle and a drain for blood. First, the researchers found that same sacrificial stone, and then - an image of the pagan god to whom sacrifices were made.
Another one of the mysteries of the Kuzova Islands. The researchers came across a natural grotto, inside which they found the remains of German military uniforms. These finds are associated with Hitler's passion for the occult sciences. Meanwhile, it is known that White Sea coast was never occupied, and although there were Germans in Karelia, the invaders never reached Kem, much less Solovki or Kuzov. Perhaps they were here secretly.

The highest point of the German body


But an even greater mystery of the Bodies is a huge stone throne carved from granite, discovered by one of the scientific expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society, to which worn steps led directly from the shore. Who sat on it and what it served for is a mystery. Using a system of levers, the expedition members placed the multi-ton stone in a vertical position, after which they carefully examined its surface. On the back of the throne, researchers found signs reminiscent of ancient Egyptian symbolism. What is this, a coincidence? Or another mention of the Hyperborean past of Karelia?

Apparently, the outstanding intellectual of the 20th century, philosopher Rene Guenon, was right when he argued that “ancient Egyptian culture was only a reflection of the true culture – Nordic, Hyperborean.”

In addition, the islands and coastal waters were convenient place hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms.
Diverse and rich animal world islands. The coastline is undoubtedly dominated by seagulls. Nests are located openly, as well as in coastal thickets of grass, between stones, bushes, especially on steep cliffs. There are also ptarmigan, auk, guillemot, common eider, etc. The largest colony of auk nests on the archipelago throughout the White Sea.

In the sea near Kuzov you can find ringed seals, bearded seals (the largest seal in Arctic waters) and beluga whales. The beluga whale is a marine mammal of the dolphin family, the number of which in the White Sea ranges from 800 to 1000 individuals. These curious and sociable animals can be observed throughout the northern summer.

The Kuzova Archipelago is a specially protected area where valuable natural landscapes, unique animal and vegetable world and unique archaeological sites of the ancient Sami. In order to preserve the natural and cultural heritage, a state landscape reserve was established here in 1991, which in 1994 received the status of a wetland of international importance, and in 1993 protected zones of archaeological monuments were allocated.

Russian Island Body

ANOTHER MYSTERY OF THE BODY ARCHIPELAGO

However, the main mystery of the archipelago lies elsewhere.
But first, a little history.
According to ancient Aryan and pre-Aryan ideas, the invariable affiliation of the ancestral home of the Aryans, Hyperborea (which includes the current territory of Karelia), was a mountain or rock, which was considered the central point of the world. It had a “base of seven heavens”, where the celestials lived and the “golden age” reigned. In ancient Russian apocryphal texts, the universal mountain was called “a pillar in Okiyan to heaven” or a white-flammable stone or Alatyr-stone, which was located on the island of Buyan. In the 14th century apocrypha “On All Creation” you can read: “In Okiyan there is a pillar called adamantine (adamant is a diamond. Ultimately, it is a correlate of ice). His head goes to heaven.” It is in this “paradise” time and place that the legend of the mysterious “Stone Book” originates. The “Stone Book” allegedly speaks of Mount Mera, which was located in the ancient North and was a plateau with steep cliffs, and about the island of Buyan, where the author of the “Stone Book,” the god Fab, hid the source of a colossal magical power. Buyan Island in the "Stone Book" is the name of the island currently known as the German Body, located in the White Sea not far from the present Karelian city of Kem. On this island, if you trust the texts of the “Stone Book,” there was a palace complex and the graves of Phab’s children, and Phab’s daughter was named Ia or Io.

From this point of view, the classical ancient Greek myth about the wanderer Io, retold in the tragedy of Aeschylus “Prometheus Bound”, is very interesting. Let us recall that Zeus the Thunderer was inflamed with passion for Io and, in order to hide her from his jealous wife Hera, turned her into a white cow. But Hera figured out the trick, took possession of the cow and ordered the thousand-eyed Argus, the son of Gaia-Earth, to guard it. On behalf of Zeus, Hermes killed Argus and freed Io. Then Hera set a giant gadfly on the poor girl, fleeing from which Io reached the northern tip of the earth and found herself in the darkness-shrouded country of the Scythians and Cimmerians, where Prometheus was chained to a rock on the ocean shore. He told Io about her great destiny, that she would become the ancestor of great tribes and heroes. After that, he sent her through the territories of the northern peoples to the Caucasus, then to the Bosporus (“Cow Ford”) and the Ionian Sea named after her, and finally to Africa on the Nile coast, that is, practically along the migration route of the ancient peoples who founded all the Mediterranean and Western Asian civilizations.

In Russian mythology, Fab echoes primarily the ancient Slavic deity Veles, or Volos. Russian historian Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev considered him the deity of clouds, clouds, and heavenly herds. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Boyan is called Veles’ grandson, which seems to indicate the comparability of Veles with the Greek Apollo (Phoebus); in addition, it is this god of the Slavic pantheon that ancient sources associate with the “Pigeon Book.”

Soviet science considered the “Pigeon Book” (this is the second name of the “Stone Book”) to be a folk translation of the Bible. The “Life of Abraham of Smolensk,” written in the 13th century, tells how this Russian ascetic read and rewrote many “deep books,” for which he was expelled from the monastery and put on trial by the church. After all, it is not for nothing that the treasured book is called “dove”, that is, “deep” (which means both “ancient” and “wise”). The guardians and performers of the famous “spiritual verse” were Kaliki passers-by, carriers of information from “pre-literate and illiterate” Rus'. There is a version that all Christian issues rest on some other - non-Christian - foundation, which inevitably leads into the unknown depths of human prehistory, pan-Indo-European and pre-Indo-European ideology, morality, philosophy and protoscience. It was this circumstance that allowed Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin (1804-1856) - one of the pioneers of the study of the Russian traditional worldview - to call the “Pigeon Book” the clearest example of the most ancient cosmogonic culture, a kind of quintessence of folk wisdom, containing answers to questions that “boldly encroach on what, according to the current distribution of knowledge, belongs to the highest speculative tasks - natural science in general, and geoscience in particular."

The “Stone Book” contained the original teaching or knowledge about the world and became the primary source for myths and legends of almost all peoples of the world. There were legends about the “Stone Book”. Few had a chance to see her. And those who saw it did not want to show the way to it. But to comprehend the secret of this legendary monument many have tried.

At the beginning of his creative career, the wonderful artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich created the painting “The Dove Book”, where in a generalized symbolic form he tried to recreate the image of a universal book that fell from heaven and included all the wisdom of the world.

The “Stone Book” was seen by the greatest Russian poet of the Silver Age, Nikolai Gumilev, who traveled through the Russian North in 1904. Emperor Nicholas II, who received the poet with a report on this unique discovery, not only took the find extremely seriously, but also allocated funds from the treasury for further research. Based on information taken from the “Stone Book,” Nikolai Gumilyov organizes an expedition to the islands of the Kuzovsky archipelago in the White Sea, where he finds ancient burials and a golden comb, unique in the purity of the metal. This comb was called “Hyperborean” and was lost along with other treasures that belonged to the famous ballerina Matilda Kseshinska. And the emperor himself gave her this comb.

This is how Gumilyov himself described this find: “For excavation, we chose a stone pyramid on the island, which is called Russian Body, unfortunately, the pyramid turned out to be empty and we were about to finish the work on the island when I asked for workers, not counting on anything particularly , disassemble small pyramid, which was located about ten meters from the first. There, to my incredible joy, there were stones tightly fitted to each other. The very next day we managed to open this burial, made in the form of a crypt. The Vikings did not bury their dead and did not build stone tombs, on the basis of which I concluded that this burial belongs to more ancient civilization. In the grave there was a skeleton of a woman, no objects, except for one single thing. Near the woman’s skull there was a golden comb of amazing workmanship, on top of which a girl in a tight-fitting tunic sat on the backs of two dolphins carrying her.”

The “Stone Book” itself is hieroglyphs carved on rocks along the shores of the White Sea by Fab, testifying to the knowledge of ancient civilizations. The section of rocks with these hieroglyphs is up to 80 meters wide, but in 1962 this section was flooded during the construction of the Belomorskaya hydroelectric power station.

TOURISM

In 1991, to preserve the valuable natural landscapes and originality of the flora and fauna of the White Sea islands, the Kuzova state landscape reserve was created.
On July 12, 2012, the Government of the Republic of Karelia approved a new regulation on the Kuzova nature reserve.
Recreational activities, that is, the organization of recreation areas, parking for tourist groups, setting up tents, making fires, is allowed only on the territory of the Russian Kuzov, German Kuzov and Chernetsky islands, and only within specially designated places and outside the territories of cultural heritage protection zones. On the remaining islands of the Kuzova reserve, during the bird nesting period from May 15 to July 15, recreational activities are prohibited.

KUZOVA NATURAL RESERVE

The Kuzova Nature Reserve is a state landscape reserve located on the territory of the Kemsky region of Karelia, in the southwestern part of the White Sea. Created in 1991, in 1994 it received the status of a wetland of international importance.

The reserve is a chain of more than 200 islands. The territory area is 3,600 hectares, including 890 hectares of land. The reserve contains mass migration and nesting areas for many seabirds, in particular, auks, herring gulls, Arctic terns, Atlantic guillemots, eiders, etc. During nesting time, white-tailed eagle and kestrel are found here, and during migration also barnacle goose and gyrfalcon , peregrine falcon The waters of the reserve are inhabited by sea hare, ringed seal, and beluga whale.

SAAMI PEOPLE

The Sami (Sami, Lapps, Laplanders; self-name - Kild. Sami, S. Sami. sámit, sampelaš; Finnish Saamelaiset, Nynorsk Samar, Swedish Samer) - a small Finno-Ugric people; indigenous people Northern Europe. Scandinavians and Russians called them “Lapps”, “Loplyans” or “Lop”, from this name comes the name Lapland (Lapponia, Lapponica), that is, “land of the Lapps”. The field of knowledge, the field of study of which is ethnography, history, culture and languages ​​of the Sami, is called “loparistics” or “laponistics”.

The peculiarity of the Sami as a people is that the territory of traditional residence of the Sami population is currently part of several sovereign states that have different socio-economic and legal systems, and also significantly differ in the current legislation regarding indigenous peoples, national minorities, their language and culture. The territory of settlement of the Sami stretches from east to west for more than one and a half thousand kilometers - from the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula through the north of Finland and Norway to the central part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Sami live in Norway, Russia, Finland, Sweden, and also in North America and, in small quantities, in Ukraine. The Sami themselves call their country Sápmi.

The total number of Sami is from 60 to 80 thousand people (according to the Sami Parliament of Finland - about 75 thousand people), of which 40 to 60 thousand live in Norway, from 17 to 20 thousand in Sweden, from 6 to 8 thousand in Finland thousand, in Russia - two thousand people.
The ancient Sami population lived on a significantly larger territory compared to the current territory of their habitat; the southern border of the Sami country was in the area Lake Ladoga. The Sami were known to the ancient Greeks (under the name finoi, a mention of this people was found in 325 BC by the historian Pytheas) and ancient Roman authors (under the name fenni).
The traditional crafts of the Sami are domestic reindeer herding, hunting and fishing, but gradually, as settlers penetrated into Lapland, as well as with the industrial development of this territory, fewer and fewer Sami were engaged in traditional crafts.

The traditional life of the Russian Sami began to collapse even before the October Revolution, but the strongest blow to it was dealt in the 1920s and 1930s, when active industrial development of the Kola Peninsula began and forced collectivization began. As a result, the Sami practically stopped engaging in their traditional crafts, while only a few of them were able to master new forms of farming. As a result, the traditional culture, economy and way of life of the Sami were practically destroyed. According to Sovkina, Chairman of the Sami Parliament of the Kola Peninsula, as of 2011, all Sami Murmansk region there were no more than 60 thousand reindeer, and in general the number of Russian Sami who led a traditional lifestyle was about 13%.
Since the 1950s, Sami national consciousness began to grow in Norway, Finland and Sweden. International conferences began to be held, and legislation was created and adopted in all three countries regarding the status of the Sami languages.

Some positive aspects associated with the existence of the Sami as an original people with their own special culture are also observed in Russia: the status of the Sami as an indigenous people is enshrined in the Charter of the Murmansk region, in the village of Lovozero (the center of cultural life Russian Sami) the Sami National Cultural Center operates, various Sami holidays and festivals are held, the Kola Sami Radio broadcasts, and the Museum of History, Culture and Life of the Kola Sami operates.

Seid - German Body

PLACES OF POWER AND LEGENDS OF THE WHITE SEA

On the Kola Peninsula, washed from the southeast by the waters of the White Sea, in Kandalaksha, there is a legend about a wonderful bell that sank in the taiga Niva River. On its banks, even in the distant pagan era, there were sanctuaries dating back, perhaps, to the Stone Age. The ringing of the bell hidden here is not heard by sinners. But, as the legend says, someday they too will hear this ringing. Then the original heavenly state of these lands, fragments of the legendary Hyperborea, will return. Gerard Mercator's map reproduces the outlines of the disappeared northern land. The inscription on the map says that it is based on the testimony of the knights of King Arthur - seekers of hidden shrines, as well as on data from polar travelers. Mercator notes that they all reached the furthest reaches of the polar earth "through the art of magic."

If you look closely at the outlines of the “Scandinavian” part of Hyperborea on the Mercator map and superimpose it on the map of modern Scandinavia, you will find amazing correspondences: mountain range, running along Norway and the Kola Peninsula, coincides with the mountains of Hyperborea; and the Hyperborean river that flows from these mountains follows the contours of the Gulf of Bothnia in the northern part of the Baltic Sea. It turns out that, perhaps, the southern border of Hyperborea passed through Lakes Ladoga and Onega, through Valaam and turned north to the spurs of the middle ridge of the Kola Peninsula, that is, to where ancient mountains destroyed by time rise above the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea.

Thus, the shrines of the Russian North are located in Hyperborea - if the Kola Peninsula and the White Sea can really be considered its preserved part. Granite monolith of the Solovetsky Islands and the magical cliffs of Valaam were once islands in an ocean bay off the coast of Hyperborea. Apparently, it was not without reason that the mystical feeling of the northern monks found them different sacred names: New Jerusalem - for the harsh Solovetsky Islands and Northern Athos - for the hidden Valaam. It was the New Jerusalem, the city that was bequeathed to future centuries, that the monk Hypatius saw the Solovetsky Monastery in a prophetic vision back in 1667 - shortly before the beginning of the tragic “Solovetsky sitting”. The next act of the northern mystery is the appearance of the Old Believer Vygov desert (also on the ancient Hyperborean coast). Vygoretsia also perished, under whose “quick moss” the poet Nikolai Klyuev placed the underground “Cathedral of the Holy Fathers.” “Let our North seem poorer than other lands,” wrote N.K. Roerich, let his ancient face be hidden. Let people know little that is true about him. The tale of the North is deep and captivating. Northern winds cheerful and cheerful. Northern lakes thoughtful. Northern rivers are silvery. The darkened forests are wise. The green hills are seasoned. Gray stones in circles are full of miracles...” Gray stones in circles - labyrinths - and other ancient ones megalithic structures, located on the shores of the White Sea and on the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago, are the greatest mystery of the North.

The White Sea is the sacred sea of ​​the North, keeping many secrets. It is possible that the original meaning of its name, known only to a few, is related to the celestial sphere, since in semantics “white” color is heavenly, divine. At first glance, it could get the name White from the color of the snow and ice that covers it in winter.

The islands are already clearly visible from afar.

And so we moor at German island. The boat cannot come close to the shore, as there is aground there, so we are dropped off right on the rocks. Now all our equipment (tents, cameras and most importantly - water - for a week for 10 people) must somehow be moved from the rocks to level ground.

Fortunately, there is a way out!

With the help of a kayak with a sail, all the equipment was successfully transported to a level place, where we set up camp.

There was even a small bathhouse not far from our camp.

After setting up camp and having lunch

we immediately got down to business.

The main attraction on the German island is Sanctuary of the Ancestors. This is the highest point not only of this island, but of the entire chain of islands Kem Skerries.

From here nature simply fascinates with its incredible power!

There are a lot of different birds on the island,

and, of course, seagulls.

And there are berries everywhere where there is even a little bit of poor soil. True, not all of them are suitable for everyone. Some ate them by the handful, while others felt slightly ill after a short time (me, for example).

And on the rocks you can see patterns like this.

In principle, fresh water can be collected from such pockets. But since we were warned that there were no springs here, we brought water with us.

Periodically, fog descended on us, transforming everything around us.

Islands have always played a major role in the White Sea region. The capital of the White Sea region is Solovki, and on the way there from the Kemskaya Bay there are 16 uninhabited granite islands of the Kuzov archipelago. Among them, only three have names - Olyoshin, Russian and German Body. I visited both archipelagos at the end of August.
Solovki remains a territory intended for transition - initiations and transformations, death, physical or symbolic. This is a land of many legends, almost each of which requires verification, with the exception of the legends about the miracles of the founders of this place - the Monks Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.

Thus, records have been preserved that until 1429 there were wolves on the Solovetsky Islands. However, then Saint Zosima imposed an eternal fast on the Solovetsky land - all forest creatures should not eat slaughter, and he showed the wolves, who cannot live without hot blood, the way from the island: And you, wolves, are creatures of God, born in sin, living in sin. Go there, to the sinful mother earth, live there. And here the place is holy! Leave him!

The wolves obeyed, landed on floating ice floes in the spring and sailed to the Pomeranian coast, towards the Kem River. For them, one word from the saint was enough. And for 600 years now, wolves have avoided Solovki, and when they happen to find themselves on the islands against their will, they flee. They say that once on the island of Anzer they tried to settle a she-wolf to limit the herd of deer that had taken root here since the time of St. Philip (Kolychev). During the winter she left and was found on another island, cut up by ice floes. The she-wolf left the island, including by swimming. The island has an abundance of mushrooms, northern berries (cloudberries, lingonberries, crowberries, blueberries, blueberries), fishing grounds, curious seals and hares. But the abundance of food did not stop the beast from escaping - she could not contradict the word of Saint Zosima.

In our time, an American satellite indirectly confirmed the legend of the crossing of wolves from the Solovetsky Islands. Pomors say that the sea towards Kem does not freeze. However, it is not. There are, for example, satellite photographs dating back to March 30, 2002, in which there are continuous fields of ice from Solovki to Kem.

Low stone labyrinths (locally called “Babylons”) were found on all the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago. More than thirty of them have survived. On Bolshoi Solovetsky I went through a couple of restored labyrinths (remodeled according to the sketches of one Solovetsky archaeologist, Krasnov, it seems). And on Bolshoi Zayatsky Island I successfully completed three original (that is, made before our era) labyrinths.

Labyrinths are intricate paths made of stones the size of a head or smaller. Once in the center, you can’t immediately get out of there unless you cross borders.

On the boat that flew the St. Andrew's flag to Bolshoi Zayatsky Island - that is, to the place where the flag was invented by Tsar Peter, I met a woman who had fragmentary, but very vivid childhood memories associated with the labyrinths of Bolshoy Zayatsky Island.

She was kept in an orphanage Arkhangelsk region. Children were exploited there, forced to hold nets while fishing for salmon while standing chest-deep in cold water. The children rebelled, and some of the orphanage residents fled to the White Sea on a raft. Usually such voyages must end in death. But thanks to God's providence, the innocent children eventually landed on Bolshoy Zayatsky Island.
My friend with the sea name Marina sat in one of the labyrinths of this island for 16 hours, honestly trying to get back out without dying. In the process, I peed there and slept a little. And in the end she managed to find a way out. Then the police found them. And after sitting in the maze, Marina discovered her ability to draw.

Labyrinths were discovered on Bolshoye Solovetsky, in the area of ​​Kislaya Bay, on Anzersky - at its eastern end, near Cape Kalguev, and on Bolshoi Zayatsky. And in Pomorie outside Solovki: at the mouths of the rivers Verzuga, Kemi, Ponoya, near the village. Umba and near the village of Keret. With all the variety of forms, ancient labyrinths are always located near the sea - on islands and peninsulas, at river mouths; and the entrance to them is always from the mainland. Such labyrinths can be found all over the world. Their purpose is multifunctional, but their meaning is not clear to most people.

In the middle of the labyrinth there is often a structure made of stones. Alexander Bryusov, an archaeologist and brother of the symbolist poet Valery Bryusov, told the truth in one of Bolshoi Zayatsky’s labyrinths. He dug up stone structure in the center, I didn’t find a damn thing inside, and I threw the taken out stones at the entrance to the labyrinth, where they still lie.

Scientists have put forward, as usual, a bunch of hypotheses explaining the purpose of labyrinths. Everyone is delusional, which can be felt even from the first phrases of the presentation. But unlike the Tunguska wonder, where their authors like false hypotheses so much that they do not want to part with them, in the case of the Pomor labyrinths the hypotheses look unreliable even in the eyes of their authors. Therefore, an unprecedented event in my memory happened - the scientists decided not to touch anything else until new ideas about the meaning of the labyrinths or new research methods appeared.
Do you know of another case where scientists refused to take apart, break, or dismantle something unknown in order to find out how it worked while it was intact?
And here it turned out exactly like this - all the labyrinths that survived the Solovki camp period are intact and densely overgrown with lingonberries.

But the fate of new theories will not be easy. After all, the only thing that is clear now is that the labyrinths were used for rituals. And it has usually never been possible to unravel the meaning of rituals within the framework of the scientific paradigm. After all, she doesn’t want to know anything about sacred spaces, techniques for diving into the lower worlds, working with individual time...

On Kuzovy, the main attractions are not the labyrinths, but other stone monuments. They were discovered (in the scientific sense of the word) and studied by an expedition of the Karelian Museum of History and Local Lore led by I.M. Mullo in the 60s. Since then, the archipelago has been famous for its ancient sites, religious complexes, as well as the abundance of sacred stones - seids. In total, about 800 different stone structures were discovered here. On the German Kuzov, which I visited, there are about 300 of them. And I managed to see less than two dozen - galloping across northern Europe.

A seid may be an ordinary stone, but placed in such a way that it marks the path. So it was extremely desirable for a person to see him in the tundra.
Flat stones are also popular, on which you are tempted to sit.
The remaining types of seids can be divided into four groups.

The first is huge boulders placed by man, and sometimes by a passing glacier, on the so-called. “legs” are small stones. They look very impressive.

The second is seids-idols in the form of a rough sculpted bust of a person. These are boulders resembling the shape and size of the upper part of a human torso, on which sometimes head-shaped stones lie. It seems that I saw such a seid through binoculars on one of the nameless Kuzovsky islands.

The third is zoomorphic seids - “crocodiles, hippos...”. Moreover, crocodiles are presented in an assortment, and I saw one stone hippopotamus.

The fourth, most numerous group is medium-sized boulders on which several smaller stones are installed.

Seid on the island of German Body is about a meter high. The lower stone, judging by the mosses, was laid a couple of thousand years ago, the upper stones are a remake, a stylization of how it usually looked.

On Russian Kuzov, the sanctuary is located on the top of a granite mountain called Lysa. On its slopes there are more than 350 seids, approximately the same as on the Nemetsky Kuzov. The only difference between the sanctuary on Bald Mountain is the presence there of “stone women” - seid-idols, which got their name from their resemblance to the Polovtsian stone women of the Eurasian steppes.

In general, the discovery of Sami sanctuaries on the German and Russian Kuzovs was important: for the first time, cult monuments of the ancient Sami were discovered in areas where the Sami had not lived for a long time. This means that the discovered sanctuaries date back to ancient times and are not ethnographic objects.

View of the Russian Kuzov island from the German Kuzov.

The highest points of the archipelago: German Body - 134 m and Russian Body - 123 m. These are the highest points in the entire Karelian White Sea region. This is what the boat that brought us to Kuzova looked like from a height of 130 meters.

A unique cult complex was also discovered on the top of Oleshin Kuzov Island. There are 2 labyrinths and 8 dolmens here. One of the labyrinths in its own way design features has no analogues in Northern Europe.

According to the belief of the Sami, the ancient inhabitants of the White Sea region, seids help people in fishing and hunting. Therefore, they were placed on high banks and islands so that they were visible from afar.
And the very possibility of people appearing on the Kuzovs is ensured by the presence of springs and forests there. In particular, on Nemetsky Kuzov there are three weak springs and some forests in the crevices (“and trees grow on the stones”).

Stone monuments of supposed Hyperborea are found in Karelia, on the Kola, on Kuzovy...
In the case of the latter, researchers sail there all the time in motorized and rowing boats. The fact is that you can moor to the German Body by boat, which is what I did. And you can only moor to the Russian Body on a yacht or motor boat. No other way. And that’s why I couldn’t get there this year.
It’s a pity, of course: after all, it is on the Russian Body that there is an ancient stone throne, which is found in three films about the search for Hyperborea. And there is another film ("Mirages of Hyperborea") about how enthusiasts raised this multi-ton throne...

The stone throne on the Russian Body weighs about fifteen tons.

In general, in Kemi on the street. Frunze, house 1 there is a restaurant "Kuzova". It is decorated with photographs of the restaurant owner on this (presumably Hyperborean) throne. He sometimes takes his friends or guests on the Russian Body, but then he takes a small boat on a large boat in order to moor to the island.
And the German Body is leased. There is a caretaker there, and during the season there live commercial tent clients who pay 1,000 rubles a day for this pleasure.

In 2005, Konstantin Sevenard’s expedition to the White Sea also took place.
This is a public figure in St. Petersburg who says that since childhood he has had the memory of a past life, and the life of a very specific subject, his name is Fab or Fab. I respect people who remember past lives only if in that past life the person does not remember himself as Nefertiti. This already resembles a mental disorder, you will agree. And the boy Kostya shocked his parents by talking about some things that a child cannot know. So, in Tajikistan, he talked about the assault on a certain city, which was located next to the entrance to the underworld, where the souls of the dead go. They say that this entrance really exists, just as the image of the sphinx exists opposite the entrance to this tunnel. According to Sevenard's insights, before his death in that life, he managed to dictate and depict to his subordinate Aryans a dictionary of petroglyphs that Fab used when creating the Stone Book on the shores of the White Sea. All the events of Fab’s life after leaving the North are described in a rock text, which is located in the area of ​​​​the town of Santuda in Tajikistan. It is proof of the existence of Fab, since the petroglyphs of the text allegedly coincide with the text of the Stone Book, which is located at the bottom of the reservoir of the Belomorskaya hydroelectric station. The Santudinskaya hydroelectric power station is being built, the reservoir of which will flood these inscriptions, but for now they are still accessible. And the entrance to the underworld and the sphinx in Tajikistan were flooded by the reservoir of the Nurek hydroelectric power station, whose dam is the highest in the world. Such a height of the dam leads to thoughts that are already useless... For example, about why the Aryan city of Arkaim in the Southern Urals almost ended up in the flood zone of reservoirs.

And there are legends about the Stone Book. There is a legend, completely crazy in my opinion, that Lomonosov saw the book, which explains his career. And also that Nikolai Gumilev saw her, at the age of 18, in 1904, traveling through the Russian North. Here, perhaps, there is at least a half-truth, they say, he did not read it, but made inquiries about it. Because Gumilev was allegedly hosted by Emperor Nicholas II with a report on the Stone Book. Further research is funded by the Russian treasury. An expedition is organized to the Kuzovskaya archipelago, which opens a tomb there and finds a unique comb made of gold. Sevenard claims that during a trip in the summer of 2005, he discovered an open tomb (which he calls for some reason “the tomb of Queen Mob”) at the top of one of the hills of the Russian Body.

The comb, called “Hyperborean,” was found on Kuzov by an expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences led by the explorer of the Russian North, Wiese, in 1898. This is how Wiese himself describes this find: “For excavations, we chose a stone pyramid on the island, which is called Russian Body, unfortunately, the pyramid turned out to be empty, and we were about to finish the work on the island when I asked the workers, not for anything in particular counting, turn over the big one stone slab not far from the pyramid. Under the slab, to my incredible joy, there were stones tightly fitted to each other. The very next day we managed to open this burial. The Vikings did not bury their dead or build stone tombs, so I concluded that this burial belongs to an older civilization. In the grave was the skeleton of a woman, no objects except one. Near the woman’s skull was a golden comb of amazing workmanship, on top of which a girl in a tight-fitting tunic sat on the backs of two dolphins carrying her.”

According to legend, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich presented this comb (at the request of Nicholas II) to Matilda Kshesinskaya. And there is reason to believe that the comb still lies in the hiding place of Kshesinskaya’s mansion in St. Petersburg.
In the fiction book “Fragile Eternity” (I understand that in terms of authenticity this is the same as referring to “The Da Vinci Code”) for this comb in 1904, the American Association of Masonic Lodges offered 6.5 million gold rubles, which corresponds to approximately $300 million in purchasing power in modern times.

In less than a week of my stay on the White Sea, I received only fragments of meanings, for example, while we were driving to the Kem, we passed the Indomanka - the left tributary of the Kema. In its name I immediately saw the typical Sanskrit root “indus”. There are many rivers with this root in the places where the Aryans supposedly settled: from Indigirka, Indoga, Indega, Indiga, Indichjok in the north to the famous Indus River in India.

And “North” is an exciting word that is close to the meaning preserved, perhaps, in Sanskrit: “to sparkle, shine, radiate, burn.” As meaning is lost, extra links appear, some kind of duplication. For example, when hearing the word “north,” many people see a picture of the northern lights appear. But according to the original meaning, “north” is already “radiance, sparkling,” and “ northern lights"It turns out to be a 'service'...

“Do you remember how the Aryans walked from North to South?” one woman from Kaluga suddenly asked me this year, for some reason intuitively deciding that I came from a northern civilization.
“I don’t remember, I was little,” I answered...

But if I don’t remember anything - unlike Konstantin Sevenard - why not use this for artistic purposes?
I conceived such a text last summer (see preface). But, alas, there are not enough words yet.

And Grebenshchikov has already used it a little for artistic purposes.
“On stone fires the wind kisses the grass of the seven winds,” he begins the album “Hyperborea.”
Indeed, bones could not have been preserved from Hyperborea, but stones remained...
Now a near-horizon observatory of the Hyperboreans has already been found, which is possibly similar to the near-horizon observatory of Ulugbek, the ruins of which I studied for an hour near Samarkand in August 1986.

“After that, after staying here, we went to two small islands, which are located in the south of the Big Solovetsky Island... they are visible from the shore... German and Russian Body. Here we found “tours” - stone pyramids made of boulders But the search for labyrinths turned out quite funny. We knew that they were described, that they existed on Zayatsky Island... we looked for this labyrinth for a long time... then we looked... we were standing in this very labyrinth... That's it. It was so overgrown that it wasn’t noticeable. It’s all cleared out now.” (. Solovki of the Sixties. Interview "Solovki Encyclopedia", Toronto. 04/04/2009)

Solovetsky witness
Briefly about Solovki
"The conference participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the most interesting monuments ancient history Kuzova archipelago, visit the labyrinths on the island. Zayatsky (Solovetsky archipelago)... In order to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of Kuzov, some of the islands were recommended to be closed to visitors." (Bodies that beckon. )
Navigation, ships and the history of shipping off the Solovetsky shores
ELEPHANT Fleet
Neva
New Solovki

“The highest point of the rocky Kuzov archipelago is located on the largest of the islands - Russian Kuzov. Its height is 123 meters. It is like the roof of the entire Karelian White Sea region. Above this mark there is only the sky. It is difficult to say why these rocks remote from the mainland turned out to be attractive to our ancestors , but a couple of thousand years ago people lived on this harsh land. They left an amazing memory of themselves. Two percent of the entire territory of the archipelago is occupied by various kinds of religious objects: sacred stones (seids), mysterious labyrinths..." ( Author unknown. About the monuments of the historical and cultural heritage of Northern Europe. Newspaper "Karelia", Petrozavodsk. 02/06/2001)

German and Russian Body:
"Kuzovki" - part of the Solovki archipelago



German Body or Legend
about petrified Swedes

“The stones are called seids. They are often found in the Kuzov area... Not far from Solovki there are Kuzov islands... These Kuzovs have the most luxurious stones, but the monks of the Solovetsky monastery did not take stones from the Kuzovs for the arrangement of the monastery, although they are much closer to them They preferred to travel 60 kilometers to pick them up...

Why?
- when one Swedish detachment decided to attack the Solovetsky Monastery. The Swedes landed on one of the islands (Kuzov) and decided to suddenly attack the monks. The Russian detachment tracked them down, the effect of surprise was broken, and the Swedes decided to abandon their plan, but... So the German Body and the Russian appeared... There are stones here and there." And you can’t touch them! ( Galina Sokhnova. As a child, she dreamed of learning the mysteries Egyptian pyramids. Newspaper "Karelia", Petrozavodsk. 02/20/2003)

"The labyrinths and holy seids on the Kuzov archipelago are evidence of the most ancient northern civilization. These amazing islands located in the White Sea. From the old small boat on which you can get here, you first see only rocky shores and peaks, and then lonely spruce trees and unusual bush-like multi-stemmed birches. And there are so many berries and mushrooms here! Rare birds listed in the Red Book nest here.

But the main thing that literally attracts archaeologists from all over the North-West and from the Scandinavian countries is the mystery of the archipelago - ancient religious buildings. They testify that the Russian North was not a wild, barbaric region. It turns out that the islands in the White Sea are the cradle of an ancient culture, the main content of which was the spiritual insight of the aborigines - religious and, apparently, the same thing, cosmic. The first written evidence of historical monuments I wrote down bodies - labyrinths and seids dating back to the nineteenth century, then many people talked about them Russian travelers. Locals have long known about the existence of bizarre stone structures and called them “petrified Germans,” connecting them with the events of the Swedish intervention in the White Sea region in 1611." ( Svetlana Tsygankova. Epiphany of the Lapps. Newspaper "Russia", Moscow. 05/22/2003)

Body - a combination of landscapes
and ancient monuments

“The Kuzova archipelago on the White Sea coast is distinguished by a unique combination of amazingly beautiful natural landscapes and numerous ancient monuments. Traces of ancient culture have been found here, Various types Sami shrines (seids, labyrinths). Man-made monuments are a kind of man-made addition to the natural environment.

Each island of the archipelago has its own unique appearance. Climatic conditions White Sea, more severe than those located to the north Barents Sea, contribute to the formation of specific natural communities here. On individual islands There are unique spruce forests that have retained their original appearance. The fauna and flora of the archipelago are distinguished by the abundance and diversity of Arctic species compared to the mainland. Thus, in Kuzovy the proportion of Arctic birds is higher than in other regions of Karelia. The population of the great auk (this species is listed in the Red Book of Eastern Fennoscandia) on one of the islands of the archipelago is the largest in the White Sea. Marine mammals such as seals, bearded seals, and beluga whales are found in coastal waters. The list of rare and vulnerable representatives of birds and mammals that are regularly found on the Kuzova archipelago and require special protection includes 27 species, of which 17 are listed in the Red Books of Russia, Karelia and Eastern Fennoscandia.

On the archipelago there are six ancient human sites of the late Mesolithic and Bronze Ages, 2 labyrinths, 2 large and 2 small religious complexes, as well as an abundance of sacred seid stones. In total, about 800 different ritual stone structures were discovered, traces of the life and activity of people who lived here thousands of years ago. According to Scandinavian archaeologists, the stone structures on Kuzovy are similar to the sacrificial complexes of Northern Fennoscandia, which suggests a common origin as a material manifestation of the ancient Sami culture. Wherein cultural heritage The Karelian White Sea region is unique in terms of the number and diversity of archaeological finds.

Research by scientists indicates the international significance of cultural and natural heritage of the Kuzov archipelago, as well as the need for further comprehensive scientific research. Thus, from a botanical point of view, the islands continue to remain largely a blank spot; the inventory of religious objects has not been completed, and detailed excavations of settlements have not been carried out. There is no doubt that the study of the Kuzov archipelago by specialists of various profiles will reveal many of its secrets." ( Evgeny Ieshko, Nadezhda Mikhailova. Bodywork that beckons. Newspaper "Karelia", Petrozavodsk, 07/19/2001)

The Solovetsky regatta goes through the Kuzova archipelago

“The 32nd edition started today in the White Sea... Its length is 120 miles. The route ran from Blagopoluchiya harbor through the islands of Sennukha Bolshaya, Rovnyazhy, Beloguzikha, Verkhniy (Kuzova)... Before the first start of the regatta on Solovki, its grand opening took place. Yachtsmen race organizers and veteran submariners congratulated him, and flowers were laid on him.

The 32nd will last until August 12 in the waters of Dvina, Onega Bay and Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea. It is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Russian submarine fleet. The Solovetsky Regatta is the northernmost sailing regatta in Russia. Her route takes her just a few miles from the Arctic Circle. The first Solovetsky regatta started in the summer of 1974." ( Andrey Ruzhnikov. Solovetsky Regatta: all ages are submissive to the sea. News Agency "Dvina-Inform", 08/03/2006)

The warships of the Swedes and the British fell in love with Kuzov

“In the summer of 1611, a Swedish detachment entered the White Sea by boat; however, this time the Swedes did not dare to attack either Solovki or the Sumsky fort. After standing for some time near the Kuzov Islands, they turned back, destroying a number of settlements in Lop Pogosts." ( Zherbin A. Migration of Karelians to Russia in the 17th century. Gosizdat. Petrozavodsk, K-F SSR, 1956)

“In the summer of 1611, the Swedes made a second campaign to the White Sea, about which, unfortunately, fragmentary and meager information has reached us. It is only known that in June - July, along the river”, the Swedish infantry on boats sailed into the White Sea and landed on the Kuzov Islands, which is 30 versts west of Solovki, but did not dare to attack the fortress, guarded by artillery. Having stood near the monastery without any benefit until the fall, Stuart's bollards returned to their places." ( Froomenkov G. ).

“The last time during the navigation of 1855 the British appeared at the Solovetsky Monastery on September 9. As in previous visits, they landed on Bolshoi Zayatsky Island and stayed on it on September 9, 10 and 11... On the morning of September 11, the English frigate weighed anchor and went to the Kuzov Islands. The Solovetsky Monastery no longer saw enemy ships. The ships of the Anglo-French squadron left northern waters Russia..." ( Froomenkov G. Solovetsky Monastery and the defense of the White Sea region. Northwestern book publishing house. 1975).

From Krasnoyarsk via Solovki and Kuzova
kayak to St. Petersburg

Oleg Igoshin covered 6.5 thousand kilometers from Krasnoyarsk through Solovki and Kuzov to St. Petersburg in a kayak in 100 days... The White Sea, reached the Solovetsky Islands, and then to the Russian Kuzov Islands. Next is the White Sea-Baltic Canal, Lake Onega, the Svir River, the Novo-Ladoga Bypass Canal and the Neva! ( Love Cancer. Captain of the Polar Butterfly. "Truda", Moscow, 02/26/2004)

 

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