The history of monasteries in Russia has always been dramatic. Neither time nor people with their ideologies have spared the cloisters. Desolation came after many centuries of greatness. It is always difficult to restore the past in the present. But people always try to do this, although history and time change religion and the nature of many things. For more than five centuries, the Solovetsky Monastery has experienced a lot. It has been a place of spirituality and human cruelty. Some people gained faith here; others met their doom.
The chronicle of the monastery is fascinating and tragic at the same time. There is room in it for both great managers and adherents of Orthodoxy. And if you are interested in the unique story of the monastery, you will find out that the history of the Solovetsky Monastery is about religion and faith, architectural and hydraulic marvels, great navigation, successful investments, war and peace, friendship and enmity.
The story began in 1429. Two old monks, Herman and Savvatiy, from the Soroka Village (now Belomorsk), were wandering in the White Sea and found an island. They moored at Sosnovaya Luda. Here, on Big Solovetsky Island, they decided to spend many years in prayer. They were not the first to visit these islands, though. In summer, Karelian fishermen liked to fish here, but in winter, they preferred to stay on the mainland. Six years later, Savvatiy felt that his time was up and it was time to go. After his death, Herman decided to leave the island. Very soon, in 1436, he returned, though not alone. His companion was the Reverend Zosima. During the very first night on the island, Zosima had a vision: he saw a temple floating in the air. By the way, on the Solovki Islands, it is still possible to observe the natural effect called “Fata Morgana”, in which it seems that the islands rise above the water.
At the exact place that Zosima saw in his vision, the monks started to build the first temple — small and wooden. That was the beginning of the Solovetsky Monastery's history. However, the first Solovetsky temple existed for just under a hundred years before it burned down.
Hegumen Philip, who was known as a boyar from a rich noble family of the Kolychevs before taking his monastic vows, gave rise to the incredible prosperity of the Solovetsky cloister. During his 18 years of running the monastery, he turned it into a successful venture, a group of companies (as they would be called today) that became very rich. Salt production with three salt works operating in the monastery became the most important industry. The monks were evaporating salt from seawater (it is very salty, you know — 27 grams of salt per litre!). They sold 25,000 poods a year (410 tonnes), and Philip successfully invested the profits in additional land purchases. Plus, the Solovetsky Monastery was the favourite of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Thanks to these connections, Philip had the whole archipelago in his personal ownership throughout his lifetime. Little by little, estates throughout the entire White Sea became the property of the monastery. All Western Karelia, farther from Murmansk, right up to Pechenga, paid a church tithe to the Solovetsky Monastery's coffers. The monastery on Solovki became the largest landowner in Russia.
In addition, Ivan the Terrible and top-ranking benefactors donated a lot of money to the monastery. Under Philip, two large stone churches were built: the Uspensky Cathedral and the Preobrazhensky Cathedral. He also opened the famous refectory, where large and small convocations gathered. In 1566, when the Preobrazhensky Cathedral was finished, it became the tallest church in Russia — 45 metres high. Its walls were 3.5 metres thick. Stone architecture developed pretty well because of the monastery's own brick factory: these bricks, made of local clay, were very strong.
Then the hegumen again asked the tsar for a favour and received approval for tax-free salt trade. This gave the monastery fabulous new profits. The abbot also developed many other industries that eventually provided him with a very high income. During his reign, for the first time, reindeer from Lapland were brought to Big Solovetsky Island and the Zayatsky Islands so that clothes and shoes could be made out of their skins. A tannery was opened immediately. Soon, an icon-painting workshop was opened, which could accept wholesale orders for up to 100 icons of the same subject. A smithy was opened; it produced everything for household needs: staples, door hinges, horseshoes, nails, axes, crowbars…
And the most important thing: thanks to Philip, a unique hydraulic system of drinking water reservoirs was constructed: lakes were connected to each other, dams were built, rivers were reversed, canals were deepened, and as a result, the monastery had its own water supply. And then they opened mills, laundries and bathhouses with their own water pipes. It is still a mystery how such a project was implemented at that time.
In that century, the first political church prisoners were sent to Solovki and the first monastery prison was opened in the cloister. From that time until the end of the 19th century, more than 500 prisoners served their time in cells. However, relations between the tsar and Philip went bad: Ivan the Terrible called on the Solovetsky abbot to serve as the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus’. But political games were too tough for a northerner. He was deposed as head of the Russian Orthodox Church, exiled to Tver and was later strangled by Malyuta Skuratov. Nowadays, a movie about Hegumen Philip, “Tsar”, has even been filmed.
By that time, the Solovetsky Monastery owned the largest fleet in medieval Russia. It consisted of 36 large sea vessels (lodias), cargo rowing vessels (soimas) and lots of smaller boats — karbasses, wooden sailboats, etc. They sailed across the stormy White Sea to Arkhangelsk, Onega and Kem, and along the northern rivers for fishing and cargo transport. In the 17th century, 350 monks and almost 700 peasants and lay brothers (novices) lived in the monastery. At the end of the century, a very important guest visited the monastery — Peter the Great. Soon, as a result, the Solovetsky Monastery came to own a few more cloisters and some lands on the mainland.
In the 17th century, a bloody massacre took place in the Solovetsky Monastery. Monks and peasants — followers of the rebel leader Stepan Razin, those who did not want to accept the church reform of Patriarch Nikon — were killed in the monastery’s cells. From that time on, the Solovetsky Monastery became a place of exile for all “personae non gratae”, i.e. the only official state prison in Russia.
According to the Solovetsky Monastery charter, it was forbidden for women to visit the cloister or even step onto the holy land. Usually, they stopped at Babiy Island in Well-being Bay and prayed right on the shore. Only a century later, the charter was changed and women were allowed to attend services. In the 19th century, they were allowed to walk into the temples, but only to the part that was fenced off with a silk cord and only under surveillance.
The policies of Peter the Great greatly affected the order in the monastery. However, a radical change happened during Catherine the Great’s reign. Suddenly, she deprived the cloister of lands in the White Sea area. The monastery lost its income pretty fast, and the number of monks declined rapidly. From 1764, the Solovetsky Monastery was no longer an independent economic enterprise. Plus, it became a stauropegic monastery, i.e., directly subordinate to the Synod. Archimandrites had to do a little belt-tightening and control life in the monastery.
When the abbots left the monastery, in order to visit the higher clergy, they had to sign written instructions for their deputies, cellarers and bookkeepers. For example, Archimandrite Gennadiy clearly instructed them to control discipline: to prevent thefts, fights or fire, not to forget to give honey and mulled wine to monks for temple holidays, and to prevent parasitism. Notes by the cautious Archimandrite Dosifey were also found: he was worried about whether the gates and towers were closed at night, and often checked whether the guards were sleeping at their posts. Both gave clear instructions on how to stop boozing among monastery workers. Apparently, there were some drinking problems.
The Solovetsky Monastery became one of the most famous monasteries of that time. But pilgrimage to the north was pretty difficult — the islands were too far and the trip to the cloister was way too dangerous. Every year in the summer, thousands of pilgrims visited the monastery. They donated livestock and large amounts of money. The most important construction project of that period was the dry dock, a system that is one of a kind even nowadays.
The pilgrimage to Solovki reached its peak. Thousands of pilgrims rushed to the edge of the world. Most of them were peasants from the northern provinces; they took monastery ships to get to Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. In 1860, the monastery even owned two steamboats — Vera (faith) and Nadezhda (hope), as well as schooners and dozens of rowing ships. The monastic fleet was the largest on the White Sea, of course. Crews were formed from monks, novices and monastery workers. Every day, the hieromonk held a service on large ships; each ship had its own iconostasis. Passengers were not allowed to smoke or booze on board. Well, just like on Russian domestic flights nowadays.
In the middle of the century, the first illustrated guide to the Solovetsky Islands for pilgrims was published. The “road book” included maps of the islands, the history of the monastery, travel recommendations and much more.
During the Crimean War, the monastery was attacked by the British. The buildings were fired at with cannonballs from frigates. But after a useless nine-hour cannonade, when 1,800 bombs and cannonballs were fired, the British had to weigh anchor and leave Well-being Bay. The walls of the monastery and the towers survived the attack without any difficulty. Funny or not, the masonry at the base of the White Tower is almost 8 metres thick!
In 1859, the construction of the Spaso-Troitskiy Cathedral was finished. The relics of the first Solovetsky monks — Zosima, Savvatiy and German — were stored there. The church was destroyed half a century later, though. In 1883, the monastery prison was officially closed, but the church prisoners were exiled to the islands for a long time. At the end of the century, Archimandrite Meletiy founded a biological station, a meteorological station and a geophysical observatory at the monastery.
After the renovation of the cell buildings, the monks got the opportunity to live separately — one per cell, but two novices in one cell. At the very end of the century, almost every monk was contributing greatly to the monastery's progress. Some carved spoons for sale, some painted icons, made candles, did carpentry, some forged and worked as locksmiths. Among the monks, there were even agronomists — they tried to grow watermelons, melons and grapes on Solovki.
The easiest task for boys was spoon-washing. This was despite the fact that 1,000 people could eat at the same time in the refectory — 400 monks, 600 workers and pilgrims. But there was even a dishwasher in the monastery! Perhaps the first one in history. No detailed descriptions have been found, but the facts are absolutely reliable — the boys, called “spoonwashers”, collected dirty dishes, put them in a machine and pumped water with a pump. It was not the only invention in the Solovetsky Monastery: in the kitchen there was an automatic potato peeler!
In the refectories, things were very good too. At the end of the 19th century, monks ate their fill during lavish meals. On non-fasting days, they could have at least 4 fish dishes, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream, bread from the monastery bakery and much more for just one meal. Novices served like professional waiters: they ran between tables, offering vinegar, pepper and greens to the monks. It was also not forbidden to have a herring sandwich and tea in their own cells between prayers and obedience. In winter, the monastery was heated only once a week. But very thick masonry with air ducts kept it warm for several days. They say it was so hot inside the refectory that the monks wiped sweat from their foreheads. Unfortunately, nowadays, the heating system has not been restored.
The monastic fleet became the most profitable business of the Solovetsky Monastery. The cloister already owned 3 steamboats that cruised along the White Sea and could take on board 500 pilgrims, as well as a cargo ship, fishing schooners, about one hundred boats and karbasses. Several factories were opened at the monastery — brick, candle, pottery, coal, leather and baking ones, a kvass brewery, where they brewed the drink 10 times a year, a forge, a dozen different workshops, a laundry, a fur farm, a sawmill and much more. At the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery had about 542,000 rubles in cash!
A hospital was opened instead of the monastery prison. Pomors cooperated with the monastery quite well; they supplied the monks with lard, marine animal skins, fish, coal and tar. Pomor wives sewed linen, undershirts and trousers for the monks by hand. They also collected wild thyme near the monastery and exchanged it for bread and groceries. In the labour school of the Solovetsky Monastery, young Pomors served as monastery labourers.
The Solovetsky Monastery was not only a monastic community; many lay people lived on its lands. But the monks ruled everything. They managed artels and workshops. The monastery labourers worked without respite, though: in cowsheds and gardens, they mowed hay, knitted nets, cut firewood and repaired monastery buildings. They didn’t earn any money there; they worked for food and shelter. Those labourers who had just arrived at the monastery were distributed to different jobs according to their health and intelligence — as tailors, shoemakers, icon-painters, locksmiths, blacksmiths, etc. Young skinny men became church singers; big, strong men were taken to the kitchen for heavy work. There were various jobs just in the monastery’s kitchen, for example, “kvassnik” — a kvass manager; a “horseradish-maid” was responsible for mustard and horseradish; a “herring-maid” was responsible for cutting herring, and so on. All food for the monastery was carefully counted and inventoried. And if somebody wanted to steal something, he had to be very careful and sneaky. For example, milkmen at the barnyard on Bolshaya Muksalma Island would secretly pour fresh milk into the samovar and pretend to be drinking tea.
The further, the more! In 1912, the Solovetsky monks built one of the first hydroelectric power stations in Russia in collaboration with German engineers from the Siemens company! Most parts and turbines were brought from Germany, but a special square pipe was forged right in the monastery. From then on, the cloister had its own heating and electricity.
In April 1920, after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, the monastery was immediately closed. Instead, they organized the Solovetsky (or Kemsky) kolkhoz (collective ownership) there. All the valuables from the monastery were seized, stolen or destroyed. Officially, this campaign was called “the removal of relics and church property.” All monastery treasures disappeared: icons in silver frames, 2,500 kg of silver and gold, a large library, Russian tsars’ gifts, for example, altar crosses made of pure gold and decorated with jewels that Ivan the Terrible donated to the monastery; a sabre of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky; a collection of ancient weapons, art masterpieces.
The last archimandrite of the Solovetsky Monastery, Veniamin, was arrested. He was exiled to the Kholmogory labour camps, where he spent several years. After Veniamin was released, he and the monk Nikifor settled down at Polkozero and built a small skete there. Later, they were shot by two Komsomol members who found out about the monks living there. Looking for church treasures, the murderers destroyed the monastic cells and set them on fire. They didn’t get any serious punishment, though.
In 1923, due to arson, a massive fire destroyed the treasury building of the monastery. According to one version, the purpose of the arson was to destroy evidence of looting. A lot of archival documents burned in the flames; the St. Philip Church collapsed; all wooden structures and the roof of the Preobrazhensky Cathedral burned down. Later, a simple pyramid-shaped roof was built by prisoners, former White Guard officers. This exact view of the architecture of the Solovetsky Monastery was pictured on the 500-ruble banknote. The design was changed only in 2010.
From 1923, inside the Solovetsky Monastery, there was the Solovki Special Camp — SLON. The same year, the first 350 prisoners were brought in. In 1937, the place was renamed; only one character had been changed in the acronym: it became STON — the Solovetsky Special Purpose Prison. Two years later, it was disbanded, though. In 1942, the buildings of the former special camp were converted into a cabin boys’ school for the training squad of the Northern Fleet.
In 1967, the Solovetsky Islands received the status of a national park-museum. Only in 1989 was the first reconstructed church consecrated — the Chapel of St. Philip. From 1990 on, year by year, the monks started to move into the monastery again. Two years later, the architectural complex of the Solovki museum was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. That same year, the relics of the monastery were returned to the Solovetsky cloister from St. Petersburg.
Today, only 19 monks live in the monastery, with 60 in total across all the islands and hermitages. There is not a single trace of its former prosperity and profits. Lost artefacts are slowly returning to the monastery; for example, the miraculous 17th-century icon “The Transfiguration of the Lord” by the Solovetsky artist Alexander Borisov was brought from Kolomna.
The monastery is still under reconstruction and is trying to raise money for this on its own. The main sources of income are now pilgrimage tours and donations. But there is not enough money to finish the renovation. The restoration of 18 historic structures is financed by the state. However, the architectural complex of the Solovetsky Monastery includes 200 monuments in total!
There was a scandal recently about how the cleaning of the towers and walls caused damage to the ancient moss. Archimandrite Porfiry, the current abbot, reacted to the criticism pretty fast, and now the restoration team uses a soda-blasting method — a gentle cleaning that does no harm to the moss.
The monks are now taking care of improving the infrastructure — building a runway, a sewer system and treatment facilities, because until now the sewage from the village has flowed directly into the White Sea. According to the plan, the main restoration work of the Solovetsky Monastery should be finished by 2029.
Earlier, the only duty of a hieromonk was to conduct church services. Today, he can carve wooden spoons, repair a tractor, or mow hay. There is a Sunday school in the monastery and different craft schools where museum employees work.
People are still afraid of fires there. In the churches, candles can be lit only during the liturgy; at other times, parishioners can only pray with an unlit candle.
They say people’s fates still change here: some gain faith, but most people start to believe in themselves. Relations between the laity and the monks are still difficult. Each side has its own vision of life there, far from the mainland, on the island in the White Sea. For five centuries, the Solovetsky Monastery has completely changed the islands, their small world and local traditions. But its story continues, and the chronicle is… to be continued.
In summer, most travellers go via Kem in Karelia, then continue to Rabocheostrovsk and take a boat to Solovki. There are also flights from Arkhangelsk: in the 2026 summer schedule, planes fly from Vaskovo Airport to Solovki several times a week.
Yes. In summer, the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve runs guided tours of the monastery. The main walking tour lasts 2 hours 45 minutes and costs 800 rubles. A shorter tour on the history and architecture of the monastery lasts 1 hour 50 minutes and costs 600 rubles.
In 2029, Solovki will mark 600 years since the first monastic settlement on the archipelago. The jubilee is linked to the arrival of Savvatiy and German in 1429.
Yes. The official UNESCO name is the Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992.
The project “Four Seasons of Russia” is supported by the Russian Geographical Society www.rgo.ru
The route to Solovki is recommended by the Russian Geographical Society.
You can buy a tour to Solovki on the “Russia Discovery” website www.russiadiscovery.ru
More about Solovki:
Solovki: To feel soulful and come back
Beluga Whale watching
Travel reportage
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