Arkhángelsk-horód // Pomórye of Winter

Sometime in October, even before leaving for two months in Kavminvody, I had already started planning my next vacation, as I had actually accumulated quite enough vacation days by then, nearly reaching the 28-day limit.

The best view from a hotel, as it can be

The idyll of a Brezhnev-era microdistrict courtyard~

And in this search, I recalled the travel notes of a blogger I admire, Ilya Buyanovsky. You could say he is my primary source of inspiration for my interest in certain extraordinary but hardly-mentioned regions, whether it be the Rudny Altai, Starodúbshchina, or the KVJD. I was reading his work about 10 years ago, and even then, the Mezén region struck a chord with me—essentially the very edge of the Russian North, with a developed, distinct culture and history, both material and spiritual, yet very modest and isolated today, at the very edge of the taiga zone (the port of Mezén itself is in the forest tundra). Those summer photos from 2010 felt so cozy and harmonious, as if the market economy and the economic boom hadn't touched the town at all.

And lo and behold, I found a winter tour there! And it's during the week of my birthday (February 21st). When I also saw that there's Kimzhá, the decision was made instantly.

Chumbarov-Luchinsky Avenue (formerly Pskovsky Avenue) is the local Arbat; a pedestrian street where many of the city's architectural monuments were relocated in the 1970s and 1980s.

Building 4 -- "KONTI" shopping center; if I remember correctly, it's a new building.

Of course, the program here includes not only the "capital" of Mezen, which takes a whole day. We stayed in Arkhangelsk for the first day. Our local guide was Galina, a very expressive and spontaneous woman with a lively interest in the city and the region. I say all this with a positive undertone, of course.

Across the intersection from KONTI is the Sports Palace, which was actively under construction in the 1970s.

Arkhangelsk is rich in more than just merchant architecture ❤️

On the opposite side is the Central Market — already established at the turn of the 1970s and 80s.

This projector structure is one love, of course.

The weather in Arkhangelsk is unstable. A snowstorm can occur at any time, and although the temperature outside remains at minus five, the feeling will be distinctly different from such a temperature, say, in winter in Novosibirsk, where it would be a thaw with calm winds and glimpses of sunshine.

Basically, I didn't bring gloves (I made do with just mittens) and I regretted it, and even a simple beanie wasn't enough to keep my ears warm.

Ioann Kronshtadsky Street -- view of the embankment

And as for the local dominant -- The Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, or the Michael the Archangel Cathedral

Built in our time, liturgies have been held here since 2011.

Looking back at the market... we see a severe storm.

A curious transformer

The center was well preserved, and it is generally understandable—the city was far from the main fronts. Only the Civil War directly affected the city, when, in addition to Miller's Northern Army (the Whites), troops of the Entente were stationed here. By 1920, they had left, and the White troops had been defeated.

The courtyard of the Nikolo-Karelsky Monastery surprised me with its style—I saw in it a Moorish style and a resemblance to similar houses in the Transcaucasia region.

The Mauritanian style here is, of course, very stylized, and it seems to be present only in the rounded window frames and openings, but God, how beautiful!

A 1910 commercial building that reminds me entirely of the interwar factory complex on Fabrichnaya Street in Novosibirsk (unfortunately, in its condition as well).

Don't be scared! As soon as you pull up next to this crimson Toyota, the driver will get out and... hand you a business card for the Academy of Bell Ringing Museum!

One of many piers

A distinctive square is formed at the intersection of the embankment and Karl Liebknecht Street by the square in front of the Lomonosov Drama Theater.

Obelisk to the victims of the intervention — previously, there was a statue of Peter I on its pedestal

The monument itself didn't go anywhere — it was moved slightly closer to Gostiny Dvor (aka shopping arcades), if I'm not mistaken, back in the Stalin era, when the first emperor was "rehabilitated".