The Solovetsky Archipelago lies in the northern part of the White Sea’s Gulf of Onega. It is made up of six large and many smaller islands. The islands are pierced by hundreds of fresh water lakes that swarm with fish, as does the surrounding sea. The forest produces an abundance of berries and mushrooms of many different sorts.

Archeological finds show that people have been visiting the archipelago since the third century BCE. The first inhabitants of the Pomor (seaboard) area used these remote islands for pagan rituals, very occasionally some would build small settlements there.

From approximately the 12^th century onwards, the shores of the White Sea have been settled by people from Novgorod who would occasionally come across Finnish tribes. At that time Solovki became a seasonal haunt for fishermen and for hunters seeking large marine animals.

The second half of the 15^th century saw the arrival of the first hermits, Saint Savvaty who had learned about monastic reclusive life from Saint Cyril of Belozersk, who in his turn, had been a pupil of Saint Sergei of Radonezh* himself. He was joined by Saint German, a young monk just setting out on his life’s vocation. Following Savvaty’s death, German brought a new companion to Solovki, Saint Zosima (died 1478), around whom the monastery started to take shape.

By the end of the 15^th century the Solovetsky Monastery had already turned into a centre of spirituality for the Christian North and was carrying out missionary work among the indigenous pagans.

The monastery become known throughout Russia in the middle of the 16th century when it was run by hegumen Philipp (Kolychev), a man of constant prayer, a theologian, builder and inventor. Under his leadership the monastery definitively adopted the community rule, became a centre for book writing, icon painting, as well as other crafts and skills, began its building programme in stone (replacing the original wooden structures), built roads and canals linking the islands’ lakes and used boulders to build a harbour for seagoing vessels. From this time onwards the monastery was the spiritual, cultural and economic capital of Northern Russia.

In 1566 Saint Philipp was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. He severely criticised the bloodthirsty oprichnina (special administrative elite set up by Ivan the Terrible), as a result of which he was exiled and in 1569 met a martyr’s death.

During the last decades of the 16^th and the beginning of the 17^th centuries the Solovetsky Monastery became a significant component in the defence of the Pomor area in the face of increasing Swedish incursions. It hugely fortified itself and maintained its own military garrison.

By the 17^th century it had become one of the three most influential and wealthy Russian monasteries and boasted a fine library. Those who hankered after the ascetic life would set up new sketes and hermitages in far corners of the archipelago.

The ecclesiastical reform of Patriarch Nikon in 1653 was not accepted on Solovki which led to a long drawn out dispute pitting the monastery against Church and secular authorities. In 1676 the monastery was taken by the Streltsy (military corps instituted by Ivan the Terrible) sent by the Tsar to deal with the rebellious brethren.

In 1702 the famous overland transportation of military ships from the White Sea to the River Neva began at the monastery walls. Peter the Great oversaw the operation which ended with Russia wrenching control of the Neva away from Sweden to whom she had lost it in 1617. It culminated in the founding of the city of Saint Petersburg.

In 1764 the authorities confiscated the monastery’s land holdings on the mainland.

In 1854 the monastery was attacked and came under shell fire from an English military squadron, however thanks to the steadfast monks and other defenders, the attackers were unable to put ashore and seize any land in the White Sea.

During the first five hundred years of its existence the Solovetsky Monastery produced many saints and pious ascetics for the Church, enriched Russian culture with splendid buildings, icons and literature, made significant contributions to the economy and improvements to seafaring practice in the Russian North. The monastery entered the twentieth century as a major centre of pilgrimage with its own fleet, educational facilities and a diversified economy.

In 1920 the new Soviet revolutionary authorities decided to close the monastery down. The last Solovetsky father superior, Archimandrite Veniamin (Kononov) met a martyr’s death in 1928 in a skete in the forest near Arkhangelsk.

From 1922 to 1939 the islands were a place of imprisonment. Between 1923–1933 there was the Solovetsky Special Purposes Labour Camp (known in Russian by its acronym, the SLON); from 1933–1937 it was replaced by the Solovetsky Special Prison Department of the White Sea-Baltic Combine which, in its turn, from 1937–1939 became the Solovetsky NKVD Prison (NKVD was the precursor to the KGB). During this period thousand upon thousand of camp inmates passed through Solovki, many of whom perished in the unbearably harsh living conditions, died of disease or were killed. The ranks of Solovki saints were swelled by dozens of new martyrs, religious men and women who died for their faith.

From 1942–1945 the famous Sea Cadet School belonging to the Northern Fleet was housed on Solovki. After the war the Solovetsky Islands remained under the Defence Ministry and until the mid-1960’s great damage was done to its architectural heritage. Buildings were knocked about at will or simply taken down and used as firewood.

In the 1960’s the process of restoring the buildings commenced. In 1967 the museum which is still working today, first opened its doors.

1990 marked the start of the monastery’s revival.

Nowadays, in addition to the monastery and the museum on Solovki, there is a village of some 800 inhabitants. During the tourist season, i.e. the three summer months, the population grows to several times its normal size, swelled by the ever increasing influx of pilgrims and tourists.

* Saint Sergii Radonezh (1314–1392) was one of Russia’s greatest ascetic monks who transformed monasticism in Northern Russia. He was the founder of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra (Russia’s most famous monastery, near Moscow). His pupils founded 40 or so monasteries, most of them in the Russian North.

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