The Russian North through the eyes of artists (PICS)

“The North is harsh and unfriendly, but I am drawn to it. I will go again to the Arctic Ocean, to great strong people,” artist Vasily Perepletchikov wrote in the early 20th century.  

The so-called Russian North starts at the coast of the Arctic Ocean and the impenetrable forests of Arkhangelsk Region and stretches almost as far as St. Petersburg. Despite its geographic location, the city is not considered to be the Russian North, probably because of its distinctly Western European flavor.  

There, in an almost desolate land, monks sought refuge from the hustle and bustle of our world. For a long time, timber, wax and furs were brought from all over the country to the northern port of Arkhangelsk for shipment to Europe. Only with the founding of St. Petersburg and the incorporation of Riga and Revel (now Tallinn) in the first half of the 18th century as a result of the Great Northern War (against Sweden), commodity flows were redirected to the Baltic.