Strategic masterplan for the World Heritage site up on the edge of the Russian Artic Circle.

click here to download a copy of the report

The Solovetski Archipelago covers 300 square kilometres of islands set in the White Sea north west of Archangel close to the Arctic Circle. It is a remote and magical place which has been sacred for over 7,000 years. Neolithic labyrinths and burial mounds survive alongside one of Russias greatest monasteries, founded in 1429.

During half a millennium of monastic occupation, churches, hermitages and sketes have been built in key positions in the islands. Following the Revolution, Solovki was commandeered as the first camp of what became the notorious Gulag Archipelago (1920-39).

In 1990 the monks returned. The buildings and landscape are now being restored by the Museum-Reserve. In 1992 Solovki was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and in 1995 the Archipelago was included by Presidential Decree in the List of Exceptionally Valuable Sites of Culture Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation.

The islands form a landscape of great natural beauty and cultural complexity. The fragile environment of the Far North supports a rich variety of flora and fauna, not only on the islands themselves, but also in the surrounding sea and the interconnecting fretwork of fresh water lakes.

The monastic ethic has led to the stewardship of the islands in a sophisticated and innovative system of sustainable land and water management. A mosaic of habitats has been created and, until the last century, man was living in an easy balance with nature.

The initiative at Solovki will restore one of the most remote, sacred and environmentally sensitive parts of the world. Historically the monastic complex was designed to host large numbers of pilgrims and could set the pattern for an exemplary kind of cultural and educational tourism. If restored and managed imaginatively, the historic cultural landscape should be able to conserve both the natural environment and the historic monuments, while sustaining the island population and economy in a way of life which has evolved over many centuries and remains particularly relevant today.