Kizhi Pogost

Kizhi is a small island in Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, north-west Russia. On a narrow spit at its southern end, two 18th-century wooden churches and an octagonal bell tower stand inside a fence. Churches on the island are first mentioned in 16th-century chronicles; the earlier ones were destroyed by lightning in 1693, and the present churches were built on the same site.

The Church of the Transfiguration, the summer church, had its altar laid on 6 June 1714, according to the inscription on a cross inside. It is 37 m high, carries 22 domes and was built of logs without nails, and it holds an iconostasis of 102 icons. The Church of the Intercession, the winter church, took its present nine-domed form in 1764, and the bell tower was rebuilt in 1862.

In the 19th century the walls were covered with boards and painted white and the domes were clad in metal sheets, but restoration in 1949 to 1959 returned the churches to their original appearance. In 1980 to 1983 a steel frame was installed inside the Transfiguration Church. The churches were used for services from their construction onward, except in the Soviet period from 1937 to 1994. The ensemble was inscribed in 1990.