Kizhi Pogost - World Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Kizhi is a small island, about 6km by 1km,on the east side of a large peninsula dipping into Lake Onega at about its midpoint. The Kizhi Pogost includes three wooden structures. The magnificent 22 domed wooden Church of the Transfiguration was constructed in 1714 to celebrate Peter the Great's victories over Sweden. The pyramid-shaped church rises from an octagonal base. Unheated, it was used only as a summer church. The adjacent rectangular Church of the Intercession, topped with nine domes, was built in 1764. Designed to be heated, it served as a winter church. The octagonal bell tower stands between the two churches. Built in 1874,and capped with a tower, not a dome, its architecture is different from that of the churches.

The onion shaped domes of the churches are covered with silvery grey, hand hewn, aspen shingles. Pine logs are used for the walls. Banks of stone surround the foundations. In the 19th century the walls of the churches were planked over and painted white to simulate stone structures. The domes were covered with roofing iron

The Pogost complex was included in The Kizhi Open-Air Museum, established in 1933 to preserve historic and cultural landscapes and buildings situated on Kizhi Island, near-by Lake Onega islands and part of the mainland coastline. The first restoration work to return the churches to the original appearance began in the 1940s. The complex was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.

The museum was designated the Kizhi State Open-Air Museum of History, Architecture and Ethnography in 1966. A number of historic wooden structures have been moved onto the Island near the Kizhi Pogost.

Type: Building Reference number: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/544

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/05/2008 NevaP visited it 03/03/2008 NevaP wrote comment for it

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