The Blue Village: On the far side of Lake Onega

What first captivated me about Karelia was its special quality of light. However, it wasn’t the light that struck me initially, but rather a January in the mid-80s when I first encountered this extraordinary city. Petrozavodsk possessed something I hadn’t seen elsewhere—a particular genius loci, imbued with a quiet, unassuming dignity and discreet charm. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Petrozavodsk is a place with an unusually high concentration of culture.

The magic of the light revealed itself to me at the start of my first summer. For someone born in more southerly latitudes, discovering this northern light was a revelation, coinciding with my first glimpse of the vast expanse we call Lake Onega. This discovery profoundly influenced the way I perceive color in Karelia. Despite the varied greens of the forest, the landscape will always remain, for me, cast in shades of white: white, whitish, grey, even transparent. It’s no coincidence that the sea here is the White Sea. To my eye, Karelia appears more drawn than painted.