Dinner in the Pomor Forests of Lomonosov’s Homeland — a Fantasy Only the “Salt of the Earth” Festival Could Bring to Life
To make it happen, we headed to the village of Kholmogory, the birthplace of Mikhail Lomonosov — just 1.5 hours from #Arkhangelsk. More precisely, to an emerald coniferous forest nearby, home to the northernmost berry plantation in Russia:
📍 Arkhangelskaya Klyukva Farm.
In a scenic clearing deep in the woods, set tables awaited us, along with two chefs: Andrey Anikiev, head of the kitchen at Roomi — the top gastronomic spot in Arkhangelsk — and Anton Kovalkov, flown in from Moscow, head chef at Deep Fried Friends and one of the main pioneers of modern Russian cuisine.
Then came the tale:
Pomor-style blini called alabashniki with goose and a rich forest mushroom broth known as sushya.
Fresh, firm cod from the White Sea, paired with local kelp.
Delicate venison fillet with juicy sauerkraut and tart lingonberries.
Between courses, festival founder and food journalist Ivan Glushkov shared stories about northern specialties and mingled with guests. The cranberry farm owners led a tour of the boggy plantations and treated everyone to massive, juicy northern cranberries and a fiery tincture made from the same.
But the most memorable moments of the evening weren’t just on the plate, in the bogs, or even at the field kitchen. The Salt of the Earth festival in Arkhangelsk Oblast proved not only how exciting this region is for food lovers — it also revealed the big, warm heart of the Russian North.
And everyone left that forest dinner carrying a little piece of the North — in their heart.
🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️
📌Malye Korely, just a 30-minute drive from #Arkhangelsk, is not only one of the largest open-air museums of wooden architecture in Russia — it’s also a stunningly scenic area with forests and wormwood-scented fields.
You’ll want to arrive early, while it’s still quiet. Book a one-hour tour with a guide in a bright, traditional sarafan, who speaks fluently and in the style of Old Russian, bringing to life the daily life of the Pomors.
And don’t forget to pack a picnic: grab a sandwich from 📌Olio in the city — either the mortadella & pesto (₽460) or the cod rillette with fries (₽520). They’re a dark kitchen operation, so call the day before, place your order, and let them know what time you’ll be picking it up.
Plan to spend 2–3 hours for a full walk and picnic. And if you happen to catch a local holiday or festival in Malye Korely — listen to the village choir. It’s pure music, in every sense.
🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️
Here begins the Arctic!
And ends the former greatness.
#Arkhangelsk — the city where Russia’s grand conquest of the Arctic began. The gateway to the Arctic, a key northern seaport. The birthplace of Semyon Dezhnev and Mikhail Lomonosov. A land of heroism and great expeditions.
But sadly, today this legacy is recalled only by the views from the embankment over the Northern Dvina, the massive ships, the Northern Maritime Museum, and the exhibits at the visitor center “Arctic Embassy” — which, frustratingly, is closed on weekends.
Turn away from the river, and you’ll see an autumn city. Quiet, cozy, a bit unkempt, sparsely populated — charming in its own way, wrapped in what literature calls a gentle melancholy. You walk the streets on a sunny summer day and can almost physically feel yellowing leaves falling from the trees.
Above the faceless blocks built in the 1980s and ’90s, occasional seagulls cry out as if giving one last warning before flying off to sea. But no one listens. Only in the upscale central district can you spot beautiful runners early in the morning, an older couple playing basketball, and retirees walking small dogs.
Arkhangelsk feels like a mirage of a city. Like the pedestrian ice crossing to Kegostrov that suddenly appears on Yandex Maps — and just as suddenly disappears.
🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️
🇷🇺 Un diamant pesant 228,62 carats a été découvert et extrait par la société AGD Diamonds dans la région d'Arkhangelsk, dans le nord de la Russie
#russie#diamant#arkhangelsk
This is the rib of a bowhead whale. The skull of a polar bear. A narwhal’s tusk. A nest of an eider duck — complete with an egg from which a chick once hatched. All of them real. All of them 2,000 to 5,000 years old. All of them from the Arctic islands of Franz Josef Land.
And just imagine — they sit millimeters from your eyes.
Where else can you examine whale baleen or every tiny crack in the fearsome tusks of a walrus? Not even in the wild is that possible. That’s why I made my way to 📌the Arctic Embassy in #Arkhangelsk — which normally doesn’t open on weekends, but thanks to the wonderful staffer Elena, it opened just for me.
This is the main visitor center of the “Russian Arctic” National Park — the northernmost specially protected nature reserve in Russia. It includes the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land, and the Embassy houses remarkable finds from both.
It’s a genuinely one-of-a-kind #thisiswhatarealmuseumlookslike — focused entirely on one region. Here, you can see corals and volcanic rocks aged 200 to 500 million years, collected from islands in the Arctic Ocean, and trace the gripping history of their exploration.
Chills run down your spine when you see fragments of a 16th-century Barents expedition boat, old chess pieces, coffee beans, skis, crates of canned food, and handwritten journals from explorers and scientists from the USSR, Norway, Scotland, and the U.S.
And just like them, you feel an unstoppable urge to see the Russian Arctic with your own eyes — no matter how high the price.
🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️
Arkhangelsk, la città dell’architettura in legno
Testo di Enrico Festa
Fondata nel 1584, per svariati secoli è stata il maggior collegamento commerciale marittimo della Russia verso l’Europa. I suoi abitanti si fanno chiamare Pomory, ossia “marittimi”, e sono considerati i discendenti dei primi coloni russi. Il principale materiale da costruzione di Arkhangelsk è sempre stato il legno, che abbonda nelle foreste circostanti e che ha dato vita a svariate tipologie di architettura lignea nordica. Nonostante la maggioranza delle case in legno stia scomparendo dal paesaggio cittadino, il museo Malye Korely ricrea gli interni storici degli edifici, a salvaguardia dello stile costruttivo tradizionale di tutta la vasta regione. In epoca sovietica, vennero erette le prime strutture costruttiviste utopiche in legno, che tutt’ora sopravvivono in via Severodvinskaja 3-7. Un altro richiamo nostalgico e tratto distintivo delle vie cittadine sono i mostòchki, ossia degli stretti marciapiedi fatti con tavole di legno. Sopravvivono inoltre attività come la lavorazione del legno, l’intaglio dell’avorio, i ricami, la tessitura o la pittura popolare decorativa, le cui creazioni sono visionabili nella scuola di artigianato “Burchekovskij”. Anche il Museo d’Arte ha una notevole collezione di oggetti domestici tradizionali e molte bellissime icone, prelevate dalle piccole chiese dei villaggi di tutta la regione.
Cultura Italia-Russia
#lecittarusse#arkhangelsk#architettura#nord
Various Artists — Chants Des Femmes De La Vieille Russie (Maison Des Cultures Du Monde, 1990)
#traditional#chanting#russian#Bryansk#Arkhangelsk#Buryatia#Russia
Часто случается так, что в России женщины остаются последними носителями очень старых сельских музыкальных традиций, практически не подверженных влиянию городской песни. Среди таких песен — деревенские песни о любви, свадебные песни и причитания.
На этом французском сборнике представлены три традиции русской песни. Первая традиция родом из деревни Кеба в Архангельской области на севере России. Вторая традиция — из города Брянск на западе Среднерусской возвышенности. Третья традиция — из деревни Большой Куналей в Западном Забайкалье.
В названиях композиций с этого альбома допущены ошибки. Песни из деревни Большой Куналей содержат в названии Simielski. Правильнее было бы написать Semeiskie. Семейские — старообрядцы, высланные правительством Российской империи в Забайкалье в XVIII веке при разделе Речи Посполитой. В деревне Большой Куналей как раз они и проживают.
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Дело в том, что территория парка - это единственный путь с автобусных остановок к жилым домам, рядом расположена 95 школа, меньше чем через неделю начнется новый учебный год, отсутствие освещения небезопасно для жителей. Люди вынуждены ходить с фонариками, и это в 21 веке в новом благоустроенном парке в центре субъекта!🔦
Направила соответствующие обращения в Администрацию Архангельска для решения вопроса с подключением освещения в парке как можно скорее!
#архангельскаяобласть#ldpr_arkhangelsk#лдпр#arkhangelsk#arkhangelskregion#arkhangelsk_ldpr_29#лдпр29#архангельск#АрхангельскаяГорДума#депутатыЛДПР#депутатАЦС_лдпр_9#МарияХарченко#МайскаяГорка