Recently, I found some photos of a Russian monastery on the lake island of Valaam, near St Petersburg. They are amazing.
The monastery is known as the Valaam Monastery, and the lake is called Ladoga.
Ladoga is the biggest lake in Europe (15th largest lake in the world by surface area). At over 200 km long, Ladoga is longer than 2,000 football pitches.
Ladoga’s deepest spot is about 200 metres, which is deeper than the deep end of 100 swimming pools sat directly on top of each other.
The monastery was founded at least 500 years ago but may be as old as 1,000 years, which is older than Paul McCartney x 5.
Enjoy these moody shots:
They have a distinct form of chant on the island, referred to as the Valaam chant. They also boast a professional choir that raises money for bits and bobs around the monastery.
The chanting is incredible, and the video at the bottom of this post has some more enchanting pictures and chanting.
According to those in the know, the songs combine Byzantine and Znamenny styles.
Znamenny is a word I have never seen, spoken, or written before today.
Just so you know, the Znamenny chant was the principal chant of the Russian Orthodox Church dating to the time Christianity was first imported from the Byzantines, all the way up to the late seventeenth century.
And this is how it was notated:
Here’s what the monastery looks like today. It’s a little less creepy in colour:
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