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публикации о музее-заповеднике «Кижи»

The world famous Kizhi open air museum is known for its monuments architectural heritage and rich collections of the cultural history. But the nature of this land is not of any less interest. This was a real fount of inspiration to the local carpenters who lived here in the past. A picturesque coastal landscape and a great variety of plant and animal life leave nobody indifferent.

On route you will:

• Enjoy gorgeous landscapes of the Island of Kizhi.
• Learn more about the history of the relief formation of the area.
• See the evidence of a glacier that melted about 11,000 years ago and some results of an early history earthquake.
• Learn more about plants and animals of the island.

Island of plants and animals

The Island of Kizhi is one of the numerous islands of the Kizhi skerries in the southern part of Onego Lake. Its length from north-west to south-east is 5.5 km. The widest part from north-east to south-west is 800 meters. The highest point of the island is Naryina Hill. It rises 22 meters above the level of Onego Lake. The total area of the island is 209 hectares.[текст с сайта музея-заповедника "Кижи": http://kizhi.karelia.ru]

There are a lot of both southern and northern plant and animal species typical both for the southern and the northern habitats. Kizhi Island is a habitat for more than 350 plant species and 149 moss varieties. There are rare and protected ones among them. A row of elms growing along the shoreline is a real beauty of the island. A smooth-leaved elm (Ulmus laevis Pall) is quite rear for Karelia. It is listed in the Red Book of Endangered Species of the Republic of Karelia (1995).

About 70 bird species nest on the island. Birds listed in the Red Data Book of the USSR are of special interest. In summer one can see a golden eagle, a white-tailed eagle, a peregrine falcon and a fish hawk. Nesting of the first three ones on the island has not been studied but adult birds are regularly seen in the summer. But a fish hawk is rather common here. In addition to these birds there is a gray crane, a pigeon hawk, a common kestrel, an eagle owl and a Siberian gray owl. These birds are also listed in the Red Book of Endangered Species of the Republic of Karelia.

There are just a few animal species on the island. One can see a little grass frog, a moor frog, a common newt, a common northern viper and a viviparous lizard here. The biggest mammal – a wolf – can come to the island across the ice covered lake.

Now it is very important to study the historical landscape of the island with its evidence of long formation and development. The scene started to take present shape immediately after the Great Valdai Glaciation 12-10 a thousand years ago. The first settlements appeared on the islands of the Kizhi Archipelago in 7,000 B. C. in the Mesolithic Age. At that time the local people lived on hunting reindeer, fishing and collecting berries, mushrooms and roots. These activities didn’t affect the environment much.

The ecological path tour on the Kizhi Island was developed in 1994. In 2006, “Ecology and natural resources of the Republic of Karelia for 2004–2010” Program con-tributed to the improvement of the tour. The tour goes along the southern part of the island up to the highest point (Naryina Hill) and then it comes back to the pier along another route.[текст с сайта музея-заповедника "Кижи": http://kizhi.karelia.ru]

The ecological path is waiting for its visitors!