The
Solovetsky Islands (or Solovki) are a group of six islands located in the
Onega Bay of the
White Sea, with a population of only 861 inhabitants. They have been the setting of the
Russian Orthodox Solovetsky Monastery complex, founded in the second quarter of the 15th century by two monks from the
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. The existing stronghold and its major churches were erected in stone during the early reign of
Ivan the Terrible at the behest of
St. Philip of Moscow.
By the end of the 16th century, the abbey had emerged as one of the
wealthiest landowners and most influential religious centres in Russia.
At the onset of the
Schism of the Russian Church,
the monks staunchly stuck to the faith of their fathers and expelled
the tsar's representatives from the Solovki, precipitating the
eight-year-long siege of the islands by the forces of
Tsar Alexis. The architectural ensemble of the Solovetsky Monastery is located on the shores of the Prosperity Bay on
Solovetsky Island,
and is surrounded by massive walls with 7 gates and 8 towers, made mainly of huge boulders up to 5 m in length.
