Varzuga: Pomors, Wood and Holiness

Not all historical places make a proper impression. Their centuries-old character can be lost or completely erased, depending on the environment. For example, living in a megalopolis, many of which are the keepers of centuries-old history, passing by buildings of bygone eras and dynasties every day, you just might not pay attention to them. And even if the preserved artifact still attracted your attention, you often will not be able to get into its spirit. After all, being surrounded by modern buildings, millions of tons of concrete, thousands of glass panels, infrastructure, it loses its true appearance, the atmosphere goes away.

That is why, sometimes, even a very modest relic in its greatness and fame can make more impressions on the observer than the world's tourist bestsellers. It is only necessary to save the right environment around it…

And this is the beauty of our northern minimalism and modesty. There are no big cities, wide roads, dense development of tall buildings and immersion of the surviving "old men" in the shadow of the coming progress. To stumble upon a fisherman's house on the seashore, or a forester's hut at the foot of the mountains is almost always a pleasant surprise here. Not talking about the whole Pomeranian settlement, which has its chronicle since 1466… We will seeit today. Welcome to Varzuga.

The uniqueness of Varzuga is that all other Pomeranian settlements are located on the seashore. This makes sense, because initially the main activity of pomors was fishing. But Varzuga is located 22 kilometers from the White Sea, on the banks of the river of the same name, surrounded on different sides by sandstone hills, water and dense northern forests. And in these forests, little has changed over the past centuries.

Hermit monks founded the settlement in an effort to find harmony and peace through hardships. Why through hardships? Well, living here 700 years ago was a real challenge. Gradually, hunters and fishermen began to build their permanent homes around the monastic settlement. Still, it was easier to endure winters away from the coast, moving away a little deeper into the peninsula. Moreover, the settlement was located on a hill and the bell tower and churches already built here were an excellent landmark in wild places. And, of course, a certain sense of closeness to God and holiness.

In the center of the village there is a so-called churchyard-tee, consisting of a bell tower and two churches. This is an original architectural ensemble peculiar only to the cold northern territories. What is its peculiarity? Southern church ensembles usually included only two buildings - a Church and a Bell Tower. In the north, two churches were being built instead of one. A large church is a summer church and a small church is a winter church. As you may have guessed, only a small, winter church worked in the cold season, because it was easier to heat it and maintain constant heat in it, for church services and retouals.

Once there were more than 150 church tees in the northern lands of the empire. Now only 6 have been preserved in a more or less suitable condition, and one of them is in front of us. Of course, it does not consist 100% of the initial materials from which it was built 500 years ago, and has been restored more than once. But its appearance and construction technique during restoration are reproduced as accurately as possible.

Modern masters have preserved and transmit the technique of wooden architecture in our days. And this is something unimaginable. In their hands, a tree can acquire any shape. It would seem impossible to create a round church dome using only wood, but as you can see, a way out has been found.

A wooden piece resembling a tile is called a plowshare. It is made of aspen. Each ploughshare is handmade. The carpenter puts the parts in a circle, the last part should fit perfectly in size to complete the circle. This is the most time-consuming work. The rule "one dome — one master" always applies in order to get the most uniform product.

At the very beginning, such wooden churches were built without a single nail. There is one trick here, nails (or rather small bars for connecting elements) were wooden, because iron was in short supply. But it's over now, this technology is not being observed. Still, it is more convenient and faster to work with nails, especially when you consider that such a wooden dome becomes unusable about once every 50 years. I know of only one wooden church, during the restoration of which nails were not used in our time.

The masters of a bygone era, having limited resources at hand and the impossibility of obtaining them through logistics, tried to bring the appearance of wooden churches as close as possible to the Byzantine prototypes of the main temples. And it seems to me that everything worked out. Maybe they even surpassed their colleagues who erected huge temples of marble and gold, because wood, in my opinion, is a very "sincere" and warm material.

In the sense that it is able to absorb emotions and feelings from space, maybe even thoughts and intentions of people. Not to mention the smells accumulated over the past centuries in these walls, the smell of incense, fire, wax, grief and joy of many people.

And judging by the welcoming and kind natives I met, there were a lot more joyful moments in this place than sad ones. People really are an integral part of the history of Varzuga.

For many generations they have carried a truly northern character, hardy, stoic, but at the same time they are always ready to help travelers, and just happy to chat with you about everything in order to learn news from the big world and once again make sure that their life, though full of hardships, is still perfect.

While I was taking pictures early in the morning in the fog of the house around the square, an old man came out to meet me, who invited me to have breakfast with him, unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to join his meal, but the invitation was really sincere and he was even a little upset. You can freely pass through their gardens, all the gates are open. Even the dogs here are kind of peaceful, and wave their tails affably when they see a stranger.

On the bank of the river, even at such an early hour, it is already very busy, boatmen transport people to the other bank for a very nominal fee of 18 cents. I think they would love to do it for free, but you need to buy fuel.

I learned from one of the locals that the domes that I photographed earlier at the church, which are preparing for restoration, are not made by some expensive craftsmen from a large city, but only by one local man. A carpenter with golden hands who lives in a big city, but every year he comes here for a few months and does all the work for free, just because he likes it, it's a rest and a joy for him.

In the end, I can't help but mention one of the main participants who gives Varzuga its historical and magical atmosphere - this is of course the surrounding north nature.

Ancient forests literally project images from the past in your imagination. It is easy to imagine how, coming out from under the canopy of trees, the hunter moves with his prey to the center of the settlement. Or how young girls come back from picking berries, through these beautiful meadows.

Small fishing boats and large vessels moving slowly along the calm waters of the river, going fishing to the White Sea, or returning home. And the cries of animals and birds can be heard above the crowns of the trees.

The grandeur and scope of these landscapes hide the elements of modernity, which are becoming more and more in these parts. And sometimes a helicopter flying past a private tourist base nearby breaks the harmony. But his trail and noise are quickly lost in the vast taiga, returning you to an amazing world in which the air is so fresh and clean that you can see both the present and the past to the horizon…