In 2024-2025, there is a peak in solar activity, which directly affects the intensity and beauty of such a natural phenomenon as the northern lights. These photos were taken in the Kotlas district in the southeastern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast on the night of August 12-13, 2024. According to the author of the photos, this was the most active and brightest aurora he has ever seen.

Each northern light is unique. Sometimes they look like green stripes that encircle the night sky. Other times, the northern lights appear as a shimmering canopy or resemble a glowing fog. Their primary color is green, often with shades of pink around the edges and purple in the center. Photos by: Evgeny Smolsky.

amazingly strong northern lights

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast

Franz Josef Land is an archipelago (a group of islands located close together) in the Arctic Ocean, in northern Europe. It is the northernmost archipelago of Russia stretching for 375 km from east to west and 234 km from north to south.

It is part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of more than 200 islands with a total area of about 16,134 square km. Franz Josef Land on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

pristine nature of the Russian Arctic

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast

“Malye Korely” is an open-air museum of wooden architecture and folk art of the northern regions of Russia located in the Arkhangelsk Region, about 25 km south-east of the center of Arkhangelsk.

This is one of the few places where you can feel the unforgettable atmosphere of the old Russian North. The museum exhibits about 100 civil, public, and church buildings, the earliest of which date from the 16th century (peasant and merchant houses, barns, wells, hedges, windmills, etc.). “Malye Korely” on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Lipetskih.

snow covered wooden architecture

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · museum

Podporozhye is an abandoned village located on the bank of the Onega River in the west of the Arkhangelsk region. Some time ago there was a whole church complex in the village. But only the Church of Our Lady of Vladimir, built in 1757, has survived.

This huge and majestic wooden building is one of the landmark monuments in the development of the architecture of the Russian North. Podporozhye on Google Maps. Photos by: Vadim Razumov.

fly over the church

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches

The Russian North is a collective name for the northern regions of the European part of Russia, where a lot of folk traditions have been preserved since the times of Kievan Rus.

In the 16th-17th centuries, a peculiar northern culture developed here with its northern “schools” of painting, bone and wood carving, wooden architecture.

beautiful wooden church

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches

Serguei Fomine, a photographer from Russia, began his project “Russia From Above” in 2003. The project is an artistic photo shoot of the most visually attractive natural, historical and architectural sites located on the territory of the country.

A lot of his photos are unique because these hard to reach places have never been photographed before. Let’s take a look at some of these photos.

Acid lake in the crater of Maliy Semyachik volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

fly over Russia

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · Kamchatka krai · Khabarovsk krai · Krasnodar krai

“Malye Korely” is a state museum of wooden architecture and folk art of the northern regions of Russia. The area of ​​the museum is 139.8 hectares.

The museum is located in the rural settlement of Uyemskoye in Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, on the right bank of the Northern Dvina River, 25 km south of Arkhangelsk. Photos by: Denis Spirin.

explore the museum

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · museum

Petr Kosyh, an amateur photographer from St. Petersburg, traveled about 10,000 km on the Russian North and visited such places as Solovki, Kizhi, Valaam, Pushkinogorye, Vitoslavlitsy, Kenozersky National Park, Ruskeala, Ladoga Skerries, Veppsky forest, abandoned and forgotten villages.

As a result, you can enjoy the following picture collection of magnificent landscapes and monuments of wooden architecture united under a single name “the Soul of Russia.”

Parts 2 and 3

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · Karelia Republic · Leningrad oblast · Murmansk oblast

Kiprovo (formerly Saunino) is a small village with a population of about 200 people located in the Kargopol district of the Arkhangelsk region, 5 km from the town of Kargopol.

The village is known for its beautiful wooden church of St. John Chrysostom (1665) with a bell tower. The pictures of this architectural ensemble show how diverse wooden architecture can be depending on the view angle. Church of St. John Chrysostom in Saunino on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

wooden beauty of the Russian North

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches

This beautiful wooden church, Church of the Transfiguration, was built in 1786. It is located in a small village of Posad (the central part of the village of Turchasovo) in the Onega district of the Arkhangelsk region.

To get to this village with a population of only about 100 people, you can either go by boat or over the ice in winter. Transfiguration Church in Posad on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

magnificent church

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · churches