The beauty of Russian nature, 12 amazing islands

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

From the polar arctic coasts to the tropical forests of the Far East, from open-air whale alleys to island monasteries, here are a dozen of Russia's most striking islands.

1. Sakhalin

Cape Giant on Sakhalin - Legion Media

The largest island in Russia with an area of 76, 5 thousand km ². After the Russian-Japanese war of 1905, Sakhalin belonged to half of Japan and half of Russia, but after the Second World War it became fully part of the USSR, and then of modern Russia.

Now it is home to about half a million people, a third of whom live in the largest city on the island - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Winter here lasts 7-8 months, short summers are usually cool and windy. Sakhalin is rich in oil, gas, gold and coal deposits.

Mainly ecotourists come here - there are several large reserves with untouched wildlife, wildlife sanctuaries and many ecological resorts. The island also attracts alpine skiing fans - right in the city limits of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk there is a resort "Mountain Air" with 25 km of slopes.

2. Iturup

Penny Cape of Iturup Island - Geo Photo

Located in close proximity to Japan, Iturup Island is the largest in the Kuril Islands' Great Ridge archipelago. Like all Kuriles, Iturup was formed by volcanoes that rose from the sea: on the Inkito cape of the Kuril island there is a "land of frozen lava", which can be used to trace what the archipelago was like millions of years ago.

Iturup has nine active volcanoes, one of the highest waterfalls in Russia, Ilya Muromets (141 m), many hot springs and boiling lakes. Now the island is home to just over 6,000 people.

Until 1945, Iturup Island, like the entire archipelago belonging to Japan, was annexed to the Soviet Union as a result of the Kuril Landing Operation. Since then, Japan has not abandoned its claims on the territory, which prevents the conclusion of a peace treaty between it and Russia.

3. Wrangel Island

Waring Cape on Wrangel Island - Legion Media

Wrangel Island is one of the most inaccessible reserves in Russia. To visit it, you need several special government permits, and getting here is not easy: in winter you have to fly by helicopter, and in summer - sail on an icebreaker.

An island of 7,510 square kilometers, lying on either side of the 180th meridian, is the northern twin of the Galapagos Islands: thanks to the harsh climate, it remains an oasis of wildlife. Wrangel Island is the world champion in the number of polar bear dens. In addition, the world's largest population of Pacific walruses and the only nesting colony of white geese in Asia have settled here.

According to paleontologists, Wrangel Island was also the last stronghold of woolly mammoths. A special dwarf subspecies lasted here until the 18th century BC. - 6 thousand years after the mammoths became extinct in all other parts of the planet. Coiled mammoth tusks can still be found on the island.

By the way, Wrangel Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. Ratmanov Island

The American island of Kruzenstern is visible on the other side of the Bering Strait - Legion Media

The easternmost point of Russia, Ratmanov Island, is located in the middle of the Bering Strait, just 3.7 kilometers from the United States - Kruzenshtern Island. Administratively, Ratmanov Island belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous District, however, the permanent population does not live here anymore: the island only hosts a base of Russian border guards. Half a century ago, the indigenous population of the island was the Eskimos, who then moved to the mainland of Chukotka and the American island of Kruzentstern.

One of the largest bird colonies in the region is located on Ratmanov Island, that is, a massive nesting site of seabirds, with a total number of over 4 million individuals. In June 1976, an ocher hummingbird was even spotted here - the only hummingbird species recorded in Russia.

5. Solovki

"Pearl" of the White Sea - Big Solovetsky Island - Legion Media

On the main island of this archipelago, there is the Solovetsky Monastery, through which the colonization of northern Russia took place.

Existing almost autonomously, the monastery was rich and influential, had its own schools, factories, army and navy, and the local library was one of the most valuable in tsarist Russia. But after the Revolution of 1917, the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON) was founded here, the first of a network of concentration camps that later entangled all of Russia. Later, the Second World War began, and on Solovki, a cabin boy for the northern fleet began to be prepared from street children.

But the harsh period in the history of these islands is left behind. Today, monks live here again, and the famous Solovki have become one of the main tourist attractions in Russia. The reason for this is not only the marvelous northern nature of these protected areas, but also the decision of UNESCO to classify the islands as World Heritage Sites.

6. Kizhi

Amazing 17th century wooden architecture - Sergey Smirnov / Global Look Press

The ensemble of the Spaso-Kizhi Pogost, located on one of the 1650 islands of Lake Onega, is one of the main attractions of the north-west of Russia. More than 20 years ago, it was also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

For most Russians, it is the 37-meter Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the main monument of the island, that has become a symbol of medieval wooden architecture. 22 church domes of various sizes, according to legend, were arranged in tiers on a wooden base without a single nail. In fact, nails are still used for fixing decorative boards, but not in the supporting structure. In 2020, they completed a complete restoration of the church.

The Kizhi Pogost became the basis for the creation of the first open-air museum in Russia - the Kizhi State Reserve.

7. Moneron

The whole island can be covered on foot in 5-6 hours - Strana.ru

From the sea, the Russian island with the French name Moneron resembles a picturesque landscape from the TV series Lost. It is located near Sakhalin and its area is only 16 km². You can go around the whole island by boat in half an hour, and in 5-6 hours to get around on foot - even including the ascent to the highest point of the island, Mount Staritsky (440 m). However, this “photographer's dream” attracts many travelers who are ready to overcome a long and tiring journey along the waves of the Tatar Strait.

Hundreds of rare birds have freely settled on the coastal rocks, local fish are also not afraid of people. The grasses on Moneron grow taller than human height in the summer months. But the main asset of Moneron is its underwater world. It is the marine fauna of the island that ecologists are primarily trying to preserve: some of its underwater inhabitants are not found anywhere else in Russia.

8. Franz Josef Land

Russia's northernmost point is located on Franz Josef Land - Legion Media

Franz Josef Land - an archipelago of 192 islands with a total area of more than 16 thousand km² - is located in the Arctic Ocean and is one of the most northern territories of Russia and the world. The island is part of the Primorsky District of the Arkhangelsk Region. There is no permanent population on the island; researchers, border guards and military personnel of the air defense unit that is carrying out anti-missile defense of Russia from the north live here temporarily. In 2005, the world's northernmost post office "Arkhangelsk 163100" was opened on one of the islands of the archipelago.

On the territory of the archipelago, there are many summer bird colonies, among mammals there are polar bears and arctic foxes. Seals, walruses and beluga whales live in the waters around the islands. 87% of the territory is covered with glaciers.

9. Sviyazhsk

The Assumption Monastery of the Mother of God on the Island-city of Sviyazhsk - Geo Photo

Thirty kilometers from Kazan, up the Volga, there is an island with steep banks. In the middle of the 16th century, here, at the mouth of the Sviyaga River, on the high right bank of the Volga, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a military citadel was built.

Having earned the title of the city - the conqueror of the strongest in those days Kazan Khanate, having survived the troubled times, the fortress quickly lost its significance. Since the 17th century, the lands of monasteries have grown in Sviyazhsk, trade and handicrafts flourished. At the beginning of the 18th century, the walls of the fortress were dismantled as unnecessary, and in 1781 the former citadel received the status of a city, in which almost 10,000 people lived at that time.

After the 1917 revolution, the monasteries of Sviyazhsk were abolished and turned into transit prisons and concentration camps, and later into psychiatric hospitals. By 1926, the population of Sviyazhsk had become so small that it lost its status as a city. In 1957, with the construction of the Togliatti hydroelectric power station, most of the surrounding villages were flooded, and Sviyazhsk, erected on the mountain, turned into an island.

Today Sviyazhsk is a village with a population of 200 people. Connoisseurs of Russian antiquity come here from all over the world. This is not surprising, because the look of the uyezd Russian city has been preserved here practically unchanged - since the beginning of the 20th century, no new buildings have been built on the island.

In 2017, the ensemble of the Assumption Monastery of the Mother of God was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

10. Olkhon Island

Cape Burkhan on Olkhon - Legion Media

Olkhon is the largest and only inhabited island of Siberian Lake Baikal. In the Buryat language, its name means "dry", because on the island, surrounded by a fifth of the planet's fresh waters, there is not a single river or even a tiny stream.

Khuzhir is the largest village on Olkhon; according to the 2019 census, just over 1,700 people are registered in it. Those who live there jokingly call it "the capital". There are several grocery stores, several restaurants, a church and even a nightclub.

The island has all the variety of natural landscapes: steppe, sandy beaches with dunes and pine groves along the coast, dense forests with areas of rarely growing larches and relict spruce forests, marble rocks covered with thick red mosses, swamps.

11. Yttygran

Whale Alley on Yttygran Island near Chukotka - Geo Photo

In the Bering Strait, not far from the Chukchi Bay of Providence, lies the small mountainous island of Yttygran. The famous Whale Alley is located on it, a unique cultural monument of ancient whalers. The beginning of its appearance is presumably attributed to the XIV century. There is nothing like it not only in Chukotka, but in the entire Arctic.

It consists of two parallel rows 300 meters long. The row closest to the sea is formed by bowhead whale skulls, collected in 15 groups of 2-4 pieces. They are dug into the ground with their bows and rise above it by one and a half meters.

Higher up the slope, there is a row of whale jaw bones, dug in vertically and towering 4-5 meters above the ground. And for another half a meter, they go into the ground. The weight of one such jaw is 250-300 kilograms.

12. Balaam

View of the Nikolsky skete of the Valaam monastery - Legion Media

Valaam is the largest island of the eponymous archipelago of Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. Due to the peculiarities of the geological structure and geographical position, the archipelago has a special microclimate. This is due to the rocky base of the islands and the Ladoga Lake itself, the largest in Europe.

Valaam is known primarily due to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery with a majestic cathedral and a 72-meter bell tower. For centuries, monks have erected sketes, chapels and worship crosses around the monastery and on the islands of the archipelago. Engineering structures occupy a special place in the history of the monastery: rock wells, navigable canals, drainage systems.

Arriving at Valaam, you can admire its rocky shores, pine forests. No wonder the artists Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Nicholas Roerich, Rockwell Kent found inspiration here, and in the 19th century, graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts wrote their theses here. Writers and poets came here, in particular Fyodor Tyutchev, Nikolai Leskov, Alexander Dumas (father), composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Alexander Glazunov, traveler Nikolai Miklukho-Maclay and author of the table of chemical elements Dmitry Mendeleev.