Kholmogory
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Kholmogory (Холмого́ры) is a historic village and center of the Kholmogory district in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on the left bank of the Northern Dvina, 75 km to the south-east of Arkhangelsk. The name is derived from the Finnish for "the rock of death".
As early as the 14th century, the village (then spelled as Kolmogory) was an important trading post of the Republic of Novgorod in the Far North of Russia. Its commercial importance further increased in 1554 when the Muscovy Company made it a center of its operations in furs. The Swedes besieged the wooden fort during the Time of Troubles (1613), but had to retreat in shame. In the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, the settlement was also a place of exile, notably for ex-regent Anna Leopoldovna and her children.
The oldest building in Kholmogory is a 17th-century white stone church. Many ancient wooden shrines and mills are dotted in the neighbourhood. One of the nearby villages is a birthplace of the great Russian scientist Mikhailo Lomonosov. Local artisans have been famed for their craft of carving the tusks of mammoths and walruses. The Lomonosov Bone-Carving Factory preserves the medieval tradition of this folk art.
External links
- An 18th-century walrus-ivory chess set from Kholmogory (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/09/eue/hod_60.146.htm)
- Modern works of Kolmogory craftsmen (http://lomonosov.pomorsu.ru/kost/cost.html)