For almost six hundred years monks, pilgrims, peasants, hunters and gatherers, soldiers and intellectuals close to and even in the pentagonal castle on this island in The White Sea. It was bound to develop into a special community - with a dramatic history of loyalty and treason, war and peace, famine and affluence, freedom and slavery, creativity and decay.

Our great neighbour in the east offers adventures off the beaten track and out of the ordinary. The country holds countless cultural treasures . In many ways, time has stood still here at Solovki. This island is Russia’s old focus of religion with a monastery from the 15th century. The monastery and the many churches surrounding it, the fortifications, mazes, and the canals between the lakes are all on the UNESCO World Heritage List.