Karelia. The most, the most... karelia

The largest deciduous tree in Karelia can be considered a lip-giant, with a height of more than 30 meters and a trunk diameter of about 150 cm. The tree is believed to be 300 years old. It's in the vicinity of the lakes. Long, on the territory of the resort forests "Martial Waters". Together with a plot of deciduous forest (26 hectares), it is protected as a botanical monument of nature.

The largest and most stable spring of Karelia is Kroshnozersky, located near Kroshnozero p., near the highway to the district center of Pryazhu. The volume of high-quality fresh water poured out by several powerful griffins reaches 70 liters per second.

The largest protected marsh monument of nature in Karelia is the Zapovednoe swamp. The area is 1371 hectares, located on the border of Kaleval and Kemsky districts. It has a marsh system unique for North Karelia; the place of growth of a marsh-green sedge listed in the Red Books of Russia and Karelia, a buttock of cloudberries and cranberries. The age of the swamp is about 9 thousand years.

The most famous tree of Karelia is the Karelian birch (patterned, royal, "curly koyva"), a special form of birch hanging, characterized by high density of wood, twisting (twisting of annual layers), knotty trunk and branches, cape growths, exceptional strength. In total, more than 13 thousand specimens of trees are registered in the republic. Most of them grow on the territory of 4 state forest reserves of Karelian birch in South Karelia, the total area of which is more than 59 hectares.

The highest wooden church in Karelia is the Assumption Church in Kondopoga (1774). It has a height of 42 m (higher than all surviving Russian wooden churches, except the church in the village of Piyala, Arkhangelsk region). In addition, the church stands on the highest point of the coast of the Bay of Lake Onega.

The oldest meteorite crater in the former territory. The USSR is Lake Janisjärvi. Astroblema ("star wound") is located 30 km north of Lake Ladoga and is occupied by a body of water of the same name with a diameter of 13-17 km, elongated in a southeastern direction. The radiological age of rocks bearing traces of a celestial body impact is about 780 million years. The asteroid that formed it had a diameter of about 1 km and had a mass of more than 1 billion tons.

On the territory of the Republic there are:

- the largest lake in Europe, Ladoga; the volume of water in it - 908 cubic km, the area - more than 18 thousand square km. The average depth is 50 m, the greatest is 260 meters, more than 650 islands (of which almost 500 are in the Karelian northern Ladoga region).

- the largest plain waterfall in Europe - Kivach, on the Suna River, about 10.7 m; the highest in Karelia is the Vdp. White Bridges on the Kuolismajoki River (north-eastern Ladoga region) - almost 19 meters

- the southernmost in Europe cult sanctuary of the Sami - pagans, dating from I thousand AD. It is a complex of stone artificial compounds (more than 500) from untreated natural blocks, fragments of rocks, boulders and cobblestones in the city of Vottovaara, near the lakes. succozero

The oldest resort in Russia, the Martialnye Vody water hospital, was opened by decree of Peter the Great in 1718.

- the largest national park in Europe - "Vodlozersky", characterized by the presence of one of the largest in Europe arrays of coniferous forests, untouched by human influence. The area of the protected area is 404 thousand hectares. Partially located within the administrative boundaries of the Arkhangelsk region

- the world's only quarry of raspberry quartzite (porphyry), from which the tombstone of the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Parisian House of Invalides is carved.

- the largest in Russia (and one of the most significant in Europe) accumulation of rock paintings (knocks), made by the hand of a stone age man. The earliest date from IV-III thousand BC; are on the coast of the White Sea and Lake Onega.

- the highest peak in Karelia - Mount Nuorunen (577 m), in the north of the republic; rises in the southern part of the Paanajärvi National Park. The park (104 thousand hectares) is formed almost at the junction of the borders of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Murmansk region and the state - with Finland.

- the smallest indigenous people - Veps, descendants of the legendary chronicle tribe of the whole (Finno-Ugric language group), who settled the lake isthmus from Ladoga to Onega in the I millennium AD. Today in Karelia lives a little less than 5 thousand Veps of the total (according to the materials of the All-Russian population census of 2002) number of 8.4 thousand inhabiting Russia.

- the longest water artery of the region - the Kem River, flowing into the White Sea, 360 km

- one of the longest canals in the world - the White Sea-Baltic, built by the forces of prisoners of Stalin's concentration camps in a year and 9 months. On this waterway, 19 locks, 15 dams, 12 waterways, 51 dams were built; the average depth at the time of its commissioning (1933) was only 5 meters. Now the depth of the canal during its reconstruction has been significantly increased, today BBK is recognized as a monument of cultural heritage and included in the state register of the most significant objects of industrial history of Russia.

- the deepest artificial cavity on the surface of the republic - a quarry of open iron ore mining of the Kostomuksha mining and processing plant (North-West Karelia) with a depth of 1,500 meters

- the oldest complex of mining in Russia (mines, galleys) for the extraction of mica-muscovite (White Sea Karelia), which began to work in the XV century

- the only mountain park in European Russia - Ruskeala. (Northern Ladoga region, 24 km from the state border), formed on the territory of the monument of nature and industrial history "Marble breaks of the XVII-XX centuries". Here is the Marble Canyon, the sides of which permeate several horizons of tunnel development in the array of marble deposits (submarine and land, general exploration - up to 1.5 kilometers). In one of them nests the only colony of bats in Karelia.

The longest Russian border with the country of the European Union (Finland), more than 600 km. From Finland along the state border line are located (from south to north) provinces: South Karelia, North Karelia, Oulu and Lapland. For crossing the border organized and equipped several international road checkpoints (MAPP) - Lutja-Vartius (Sev. Karelia, ok. Kostomuksi), Niirala-Värtsilä (Sev. Ladoga, ok. Sortavala) - for buses, personal vehicles, trucks, as well as others - for heavy vehicles, providing regular transportation in the mode of long-term economic cooperation. The southernmost pagan sanctuary of the Sami in Europe (I thousand AD). The oldest resort in Russia is Marcial Waters (1718). The oldest in Russia marble breakers (XVIII). The largest national park in Europe is Vodlozersky. The first recordings of Russian epics (XIX). The first recordings of the runes of the epic "Kalevala" (XIX).

The largest cluster of rock paintings in Europe is more than J000 images (IV thousand BC).

From local humor.

Two residents of Karelia are talking:

They say that this year it will be a little snow and only one day.

I wish this summer was on a Sunday.

June is not summer, July is not summer.