Kizhi island is situated in the northern part of Lake Onega where it is home to the Open-air Architecture Museum featuring a collection of different examples of Russian wooden architecture. Included is the oldest Russian church, The Church of Lazarus (14th century) so-called because the pagans kept tearing it down and the builder kept rebuilding it.

Extraordinary too is the twenty-two domed Church of the Transfiguration (1744) made entirely of wood and without nails reputed to be the work of one Nestor by name who, when his work was finished, is said to have thrown his axe into the river.

The buildings here are the work of Karelians (a Finno-Ugrian people) whose wooden architecture represents an entire epoch in the cultural history of Russia. Kizhi is a world heritage sight under the protection of UNESCO.

Sights

The open-air museum of architecture contains examples from various regions of Russia and the Transfiguration Church is a pure delight, with its 22 domes and erected without a single nail or piece of metal by Nester