Kizhi Pogost is a historical site dating from the 17th century on Kizhi Island. The island is located on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. The pogost is the area inside a fence which includes two large wooden churches and a bell-tower. The pogost is famous for its beauty and longevity, despite that it is built exclusively of wood. The pogost was built on the southern part of Kizhi island, on a hill 4 meters above the Lake level. Its major basic structural units is a round log of Scots Pine about 30cm in diameter and 3 to 5 meters long. The Kizhi Pogost was built without using a single nail. Many thousands of logs were brought for construction from the mainland, a complex logistical task in that time.
The church which you can see on the postcard, is the Church of the Transfiguration, which is the most remarkable part of the pogost. It is not heated and is therefore called the summer church and doesn't hold winter services. Its altar was laid June 6, 1714, as inscribed on the cross located inside the church. The church was built on the site of the old one which was burnt by lightning. The church has 22 domes and with a height of 37 m is one of the tallest wooden buildings of the Russian North. It is considered that the 18-dome church on the southern shore of Lake Onega was a forerunner. That church was built in 1708 and burned down in 1963. According to the Russian carpentry traditions of that time, the Transfiguration Church was built of wood only with no nails. All structures were made of scribe-fitted horizontal logs, with interlocking corner joinery - either round notch or dovetail - cut by axes.
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Ivan1999 (postcrossing) sent from Gzhel (Russia) on 06.09.2013
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