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| 0897 Kizhi Pogost in the springtime |
Posted on 26.11.2013, 11.12.2013, 11.05.2017
The term pogost has several meanings in the Russian language, but initial appoint a coaching inn for princes and ecclesiastics. It is assumed that originally pogosts were rural communities on the periphery of the Russian state, as well as trading centers, but at the end of the 10th century pogosts transformed into administrative districts, and when Christianity spread, churches were built there. In 1775 the last pogosts that served as administrative districts were destroyed. In the central uyezds of 15th-16th centuries pogosts were small settlements with a church and a graveyard, like Kizhi Pogost.
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| 0879 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (1) |
Kizhi Pogost is located on the southern part of the island with the same name, on Lake Onega, the second largest lake in Europe (after Lake Ladoga), and was built in the 17th century. It is a narrow strip of land inside a fence which includes two large wooden churches, the 22-dome Transfiguration Church (the big one) and the 9-dome Intercession of the Virgin Church (the little one), and a belfry (with conical tip). The structures were built exclusively of wood, without using a single nail, around a log of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) about 30 cm in diameter and 3 to 5 meters long.
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| 3046 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (2) |
It is regarded an "outstanding example of an architectural ensemble typical of medieval and post-medieval orthodox settlements in sparsely populated regions", and for this reason was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1990. These amazing structures, in which the science of carpentry created a bold visionary architecture, perpetuate a very ancient model of parish space. Chronicles from the 16th century are the first to explicitly mention the existence of two wooden churches there. Destroyed by lightning in 1693, they were rebuilt on the same site. The Church of the Intercession is a heated (winter) church, where services are held from October 1 until Easter.
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| 0898 Kizhi Pogost in the falltime |
As Max say, there is two legends about the building of the Church of the Transfiguration.
Legend 1 (for tourists): The church was built by master Nestor, only with a hatchet and without nails. When he had finished the construction work, he threw the hatchet into Onega Lake, saying: "There was nothing like this before and will never be again!”
Legend 2 (probably true): The architects were Peter Nevzorov and a peasant named Buniak, both elders, each of them being 80 years old. The church construction involving 63 men and 12 women.
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