ARCHITECTURE
wooden architecture — research, maintenance and restoration

About 300 meters long, the fence encircles both the churches and the bell-tower of the Kizhi Pogost. The fence is a log-walled structure set on a rock-rubble foundation, and covered with a wooden gable roof.From inside the Pogost, the log framework looks like a wall built between a number of triangular log cribs. The cribs support trussed rafters and purlins on which the guttered boards for the roof are attached. A log ridge covers the joint where roof-boards meet at the peak.

The main entry through the fence and into the Pogost is on the western side, close to the front of the Church of Intercession. The entry’s appearance is accentuated by its size, and by a gable roof that is higher in elevation than the fence. The main entry’s overall dimensions are 14 m. x 2.25 m. The entry roof is, like the fence’s roof, composed of boards running from ridge to eave, and the roof boards have been shaped to be long gutters. Each board has a carved, lance-like end at the eave. The fascia boards are neatly hewn.

In the center of the main entry is a double gate with a semi-circular top and wicket, all fixed on massive posts. To the left and the right of the double gate are log annexes used as candle-stores. Each annex is rectangular in plan and has a cross wall inside. The logs in the annexes are constructed according to the traditional method in which the log-ends do not extend past the corners of the wall (“v lapu”). The logs of the annex walls are hewn flat on the exterior, and are round on the inside.

On the main facade of each candle-store there is a window with the jamb composed of two posts. Hinged shutters fabricated from boards can be folded down. There is a planked-deck floor and overhanging eaves supported by brackets to cover the decked area. The brackets are hewn on the underneath. The only doorway is in the southern candle-store; and to enter other rooms one has to climb through a window. The interior surfaces of the walls have not been hewn flat — the logs are round. Shelves are found along some of the inside walls.

Besides the main entry, there are small openings, or wickets, in the northern and eastern part of the fence. The northern wicket is situated between square log cribs and is covered by a helmet-type roof with a cross. The door is latticed. The roofing is made of hewn boards, and the decorative part of the roofing has lance-like endings. The eastern wicket is constructed in a similar fashion to the northern wicket. The brackets facing the log cribs support a gable roof whose ridge is at right angles to the roof of the fence itself. Fascia boards are plain with some fretwork on the endings. The door of the eastern wicket is a trellis.

In addition to the three entrances, there is a turret in the northwestern corner of the fence.It is a square, log-walled structure with its walls gradually widening at the top; the logs in its lower part are built according to the traditional method, “v oblo, “in which the log-ends extend beyond the log wall corners; and, in contrast, the logs higher in the walls are built with the traditional method, „v lapu“. The turret walls are topped by a steeple featuring a helmet roof, with eave decorations.