Explore Kizhi, an island in Karelia, Russia. The KIZHI museum is one of the largest open-air museums in Russia. This is a unique historical, cultural and natural complex enlisted on the Code of the Most Significant Cultural Heritage Sites of the Peoples of the Russian Federation. The basis of the museum collection is the architectural ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO.

The State “Kizhi” Museum is located on the Island of Kizhi in Lake Onega, in 68 km. distance from Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia. The Museum has been researching, preserving and popularizing culture of the native peoples of Karelia for more than 40 years.

The collection of the Open-Air “Kizhi” Museum includes 89 monuments of wooden architecture: old chapels and houses, windmills and granaries, threshing barns and racks for drying crops…The gem of this collection is the 22 domed Church of the Transfiguration of Our Savior, 37 meters height. The Church of the Intercession of Holy Mary and the Bell-Tower located nearby emphasize the harmony and magnificence of the main Church.

The guests of the museum can visit the Church of the Intercession of Holy Mary and peasant homesteads. Traditional crafts are demonstrated in peasant houses; wind flows bell-ringing over the island. Wonderful performance of the Museum folk ensemble supplements the impressions of the traditional peasant culture. The visitors whose stay on the island concurs with one of the Museum festivals will have the most lasting impressions.

The Kizhi Pogost Ensemble was enlisted into the World Heritage List of UNESCO in 1990. In 1993 by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation the Kizhi Museum collection was included into the State Code of Cultural Heritage Sites of Special Value of the Russian Federation.

From Jun to Aug, Hydrofoils makes 75min trip three times a day from Petrozavodsk’s ferry terminal. The departure and return times can be found on Tourholding Kerelia’s website (but it’s in Russian)