The history of Kinerma
Kinerma is located around 100km South-West of Petrozavodsk, 6km from Vedlozero via the road to Kinelahta. Kinerma, in Karelian - Kinnermy, dates back to 1496, when it was first mentioned in transcript books of Obonezskaya Pyatina. Even there it was said to be already well established, meaning that the village can already be around 520 years old.The village is located on the land in the past occupied by korelian livviks, and since XIII century it belonged to the monasteries of Novgorod, later Moscow.
The history of the village doesn't differ much from the history of other Russian villages. However, the North didn't have serfdom and all of the countrymen were public. In comparison to maky other villages, ours was not the biggest. In 1911 the village accommodated 168 people in 25 yards. For 25 yards we had 68 horses and 62 cows. The countrymen historically tended to farming, grew rye, oats, barley, and flax; fished and hunted for food, not for selling. The village is far from big tracts and everything was done at the spot whenever and however possible.
In the centre of the village a small and modest 260 years old chapel is located. It is the second chapel after the first one burnt down. For around 300 years Kinerma stored the icon of Odigidriya of Smolensk, the only icon of Olonetsk. The icon cured people and because of that the chapel had a lot of pilgrims come to see it. Due to that, the chapel was rich and a beautiful wood carved iconostasis has survived to our days. Since 1979 the icon is displayed in the museum of Fine Art of Petrozavodsk.
The history of the village doesn't differ much from the history of other Russian villages. However, the North didn't have serfdom and all of the countrymen were public. In comparison to maky other villages, ours was not the biggest. In 1911 the village accommodated 168 people in 25 yards. For 25 yards we had 68 horses and 62 cows. The countrymen historically tended to farming, grew rye, oats, barley, and flax; fished and hunted for food, not for selling. The village is far from big tracts and everything was done at the spot whenever and however possible.
In the centre of the village a small and modest 260 years old chapel is located. It is the second chapel after the first one burnt down. For around 300 years Kinerma stored the icon of Odigidriya of Smolensk, the only icon of Olonetsk. The icon cured people and because of that the chapel had a lot of pilgrims come to see it. Due to that, the chapel was rich and a beautiful wood carved iconostasis has survived to our days. Since 1979 the icon is displayed in the museum of Fine Art of Petrozavodsk.
In 1931 the village had established "Red Kinerma" collective farm: after uniting all the land they had 701 hectar of land, 419 of which were suitable for farming, the rest used for cattle. The collective farm existed until 1956. That year smaller collective farms were united under the Vedlozerski state farm. Only because the village was close to Vedlozero (6 km) it managed to avoid being considered unpromising and getting taken down. The villagers from kids to elders would every day walk to school and work to the nearest bigger village.
In 60s-70s the youth, after finishing school, would leave the village and never come back. Their parents pass away in 80s-90s, and the village grows abandoned. Nowadays only one original villager lives here - Ershov Ivan Alekseevich (age 82). If it wasn't for the started in 1999 village preservation program, Ivan Alekseevich would have most likely moved to live with his children in the city, since it is hard to manage all by himself.
Nowadays the village counts 15 houses, 6 of which are now considered architectural monuments, along with the 113 years old smoke sauna. All of the houses are private property, belonging to the descendants of the locals, who come to the village for the summer seasons. Throughout the whole year 14 people reside in the village - 3 families. Ershov I.A, the Kalmiykova family of 4 and the recently arrived Pritypov family - currently the biggest in the village (2 parents and 7 children).
In 60s-70s the youth, after finishing school, would leave the village and never come back. Their parents pass away in 80s-90s, and the village grows abandoned. Nowadays only one original villager lives here - Ershov Ivan Alekseevich (age 82). If it wasn't for the started in 1999 village preservation program, Ivan Alekseevich would have most likely moved to live with his children in the city, since it is hard to manage all by himself.
Nowadays the village counts 15 houses, 6 of which are now considered architectural monuments, along with the 113 years old smoke sauna. All of the houses are private property, belonging to the descendants of the locals, who come to the village for the summer seasons. Throughout the whole year 14 people reside in the village - 3 families. Ershov I.A, the Kalmiykova family of 4 and the recently arrived Pritypov family - currently the biggest in the village (2 parents and 7 children).
On the 3rd of September, 1941, a USSR war plane crashed in the village. The witnesses of the event told that the plane didn't catch on fire and one of the pilots could have survived. The pilot was later identified as Korolyov Simeon Petrovich, born in 1917.For multiple years invested villagers were searching for information about the pilot, his fate after the crash and possible family anywhere.
Multiple Russian and Finnish archives requests have been sent and after almost 7 years of searching
the family of Korolyov S.P. was found: living in Taganrog.
Multiple Russian and Finnish archives requests have been sent and after almost 7 years of searching
the family of Korolyov S.P. was found: living in Taganrog.
In all the "Karelian" fashion, Kinerma is quite unusual. Its secret is in the planning: round with a graveyard and a chapel in the centre, even though traditionally they were put outside of the villages.
In 1998 the idea of restoring the village was created, but the problem was that all of the houses in the village are private property. An owner of a private estate has to take care of it by themselves and can not apply for any financial support from the government. That all considering that a lot of the buildings require urgent restoration, and the owners are mostly elders with no money to spare on such expenses.
Then in 2000 the Public Foundation of Karelian Cultural Heritage Preservation was created, with its goal being preserving the village of Kinerma. The foundation works on the advertisement of the village as well as spreading of Karelian language and culture overall. With the financial help new activities were brought to the village: the village day (August 10th), Karelian language theatre festival "Nerokassali" ("Box of talents") takes place twice a year, along with youth and kids camps, carpentry workshops, and etc. In 2001 Kinerma got good partnerships with the city of Oulu (Finland), creating a "Kinerma's friends" organisation, with help of which multiple projects on infrastructure have been completed inside the village and on nearby land (natural path to the lake).
By the initiative of sisters Olga Gokkoyeva and Nadyezhda Kalmykova, the ancestry line of their family dating back to over 220 years back in time, a private company was established to host tourists in the village. For the tourist infrastructure the smoke sauna was restored along with a traditional countryman house dedicated to the ethnic culture centre, summer dining area in the lived house, winter dining, recreated authentic barn, traditional well, fences, and etc.
"Even though the village is compact (only 5 houses), it is "spread apart" - there are no straight roads and parallel buildings. It is believed to be due to the choice of most even land while allowing the building to face the sun side. That is, in some way, a compromise between human and nature. The houses themselves are traditional, they are archaic, with the exterior appealing to the tourists and the interior fascinating to the specialists and researchers"
- Irina Grishina, architect
The living houses have the same planning as centuries ago. The buildings are made of two log frames, with all the living and working space united under one roof. The front is in two rooms: perti and gorniccu - the big room and the upper room, each with an oven. And those are the only heated rooms in the house. Behind them is a cold corridor leading to the storage room and further in - to the cattle. On the lower floor the Karelians kept their cattle: coes, sheep, horses. The higher level served to store the hay. Anyone can feel this atmosphere of an authentic old house: tourists in Kinerma are accommodate in he guest houses by 2 or 4 people. All in all the village can accommodate 10 people in the winter, and up to 20 in the summer. That is why all visits should be planned in advance, since there are queues and bookings reserved.
Then in 2000 the Public Foundation of Karelian Cultural Heritage Preservation was created, with its goal being preserving the village of Kinerma. The foundation works on the advertisement of the village as well as spreading of Karelian language and culture overall. With the financial help new activities were brought to the village: the village day (August 10th), Karelian language theatre festival "Nerokassali" ("Box of talents") takes place twice a year, along with youth and kids camps, carpentry workshops, and etc. In 2001 Kinerma got good partnerships with the city of Oulu (Finland), creating a "Kinerma's friends" organisation, with help of which multiple projects on infrastructure have been completed inside the village and on nearby land (natural path to the lake).
By the initiative of sisters Olga Gokkoyeva and Nadyezhda Kalmykova, the ancestry line of their family dating back to over 220 years back in time, a private company was established to host tourists in the village. For the tourist infrastructure the smoke sauna was restored along with a traditional countryman house dedicated to the ethnic culture centre, summer dining area in the lived house, winter dining, recreated authentic barn, traditional well, fences, and etc.
"Even though the village is compact (only 5 houses), it is "spread apart" - there are no straight roads and parallel buildings. It is believed to be due to the choice of most even land while allowing the building to face the sun side. That is, in some way, a compromise between human and nature. The houses themselves are traditional, they are archaic, with the exterior appealing to the tourists and the interior fascinating to the specialists and researchers"
- Irina Grishina, architect
The living houses have the same planning as centuries ago. The buildings are made of two log frames, with all the living and working space united under one roof. The front is in two rooms: perti and gorniccu - the big room and the upper room, each with an oven. And those are the only heated rooms in the house. Behind them is a cold corridor leading to the storage room and further in - to the cattle. On the lower floor the Karelians kept their cattle: coes, sheep, horses. The higher level served to store the hay. Anyone can feel this atmosphere of an authentic old house: tourists in Kinerma are accommodate in he guest houses by 2 or 4 people. All in all the village can accommodate 10 people in the winter, and up to 20 in the summer. That is why all visits should be planned in advance, since there are queues and bookings reserved.
