24/7 Tass 181a
PETROZAVODSK, July 24 (Itar-Tass) —— From July 23 regular flights connect the legendary Solovetsky Islands, a place of pilgrimage of tourists and believers, and Petrozavodsk.
An An-28 plane will make flights to the Solovki /a colloquial version of Solovetsky Islands/ and back on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov said.
The one-way air fare is 3,875 roubles, and a return ticket costs 7,150 roubles.
On July 20, Karelia’s capital, Petrozavodsk, launched regular flights to St. Petersburg, which are operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. A ticket costs 3,175 roubles and a return one – 5,650 roubles.
Karelia “has been negotiating with the Russian government an option to use the federal budget’s funds to finance modernisation of the airport in Petrozavodsk,” Nelidov said. The airport should have wider runways to serve various planes.
UNESCO General Assembly included the historic and cultural complex of the Solovetsky Islands in the list of the organisation’s world heritage. Thousands of tourists from Russia and foreign countries come to visit this unique part of Russia.
The Solovetsky archipelago comprises six islands in the western part of the White Sea, covering 300 square kilometres. They have been inhabited since the 5th century B.C. and important traces of a human presence from as far back as the 5th millennium B.C. can be found there. The archipelago has been the site of fervent monastic activity since the 15th century, and there are several churches dating from the 16th to the 19th century.
The Solovetsky complex is an outstanding example of a monastic settlement in the inhospitable environment of northern Europe, which admirably illustrates the faith, tenacity and enterprise of late medieval religious communities.