Y. G. Sobina
Guides on the Arkhangelsk Kray:
the Present Century and the Century of the Past
Each of us, if only once, but becomes a traveler. Traveling has reasons – those who live
in huge cities and are tired of hustle and bustle long for comfort and quietness, lovers of extreme
wish to raft mountain rivers or walk through dense forests, those who love educational tourism
are attracted by historical monuments, photographers are in constant pursuit of beautiful
landscapes and unusual foreshortening. All of these can be found in the Arkhangelsk North.
A guide is the first source of information we address when we want to know more about
a city or a country, places of interest or transport routes while planning our holidays. Such book
is a good guide to everything new and of interest. The guides in the collection of the “Russian
North” Local History Department of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library named after N.
A. Dobrolyubov allow us to make a journey not only through space but through time.
First guide appeared in the Roman Empire in the 15th century. In Russia guide were
known only in the 19th century and were called “reference books”, “road books”, “way books”
“Baedeckers” (after the name of the German bookseller and publisher Baedecker in Russia),
“itineraries”, “guides”, etc.
It is true that the first travelers or tourists were pilgrims. The most popular pilgrimage
centre in the Russian North was the Solovetsky Monastery. Annually thousands of people came
here to pray in the holy place. This is why the Monastery published “A handbook on the
Solovetsky Island for pilgrims” for God-loving visitors of the Solovetsky Cloister in which
there was a short survey of “the Solovetsky Cloister with its Shrine and all the places of
interest”, a few “routes to the Solovetsky Monastery” and accommodation conditions for
pilgrims. “Handbooks” of 1864-1884 were truly very short.
Quite different is “A companion in the tour to the Solovetsky Monastery for pilgrims and
tourists” published in 1910. As it was meant for a wider public, the information it contained was
more diverse and complete. Here one could find the routes, prices, transportation to Arkhangelsk
and then from the city to Solovki. “A companion” acquainted people not only with the
Monastery, but told of places of interest on the whole of the island. The story is simple, but
written in a good, vivid language. When one reads it one easily imagines the places he reads
about.
The interest to the northern outskirts of the country in the 19th century, the lack of
information for travelers, a wish to describe the beauty of the Russian North, all these inspired
many extraordinary people of the past and the present day to compile guides. Thus in 1898 in
Saint Petersburg there appeared “A Guide tothe North of Russia”, it was written by a Russian
consul to Norway and Germany, a vice-governor of Arkhangelsk, Dmitry Nikolayevich
Ostrovsky. The first edition of the Guide was such a success that it disappeared from shops
immediately. The reason is clear. First, the book suggests a few variants of traveling routes in the
North by road, railway, river and sea; it contained descriptions of places of interest and historical
references. The guide mentioned conveniences and inconveniences on the way, distances
between places, time and price of travel, accommodation in hotels, and even the presence of
buffets at the stations. “For example, one can start the journey in Moscow, proceed to
Arkhangelsk, visit the Solovetsky Monastery, Murman, Vardø and other places in Norway and
come back via Stockholm and Petersburg to Moscow, spending about three weeks for the whole
journey”, we read it in the preface to the first edition. Thanks to numerous historical notes and
the author’s remarks the book is perceived as not just a reference but a belle lettre edition which
disposes to contemplation of slowly passing sights behind the carriage or cabin window, to
philosophical meditations. Second, the guide has many coloured maps and plans, even a
dictionary of the northern dialect can be found here. With full confidence one can call the guide
a wonder of polygraph arts and an unprecedented source of information on the Russian North not
only for the 19th century but for the 20th century as well. It is not surprising that in a year after its
publication it became a bibliographic rarity.
A peculiar kind of a guide is “A Pomor’s Companion”. The guide was an annual
publication since 1909, and as the editors’ preface told “without any pretence to financial
benefits” it was meant “to help seamen and the Pomors as much as possible”. This reference
book contained a great amount of very useful information on all the aspects of life – one could
find information on eclipses, administrative staff and institutions in Arkhangelsk, on sea and
river transportation, a calendar with all the holidays, geographic and historical information on the
Russian North and Norway, advice on kerosene engine maintenance and the scurvy cure. Of
course, it contained much specific information for the seamen – the Pomors.
I would like you to pay special attention to the “Guide to the North of Russia”, the author
of which was Ilya Ivanovich Tomsky, a man of good education (he finished a three year course
of the Petrograd Ecclesiastic Academy and graduated from the Petrograd Archeological
Institute), a founder and the first Director of the Solvychegodsk Museum. The “Guide” was
published by the author in 1920. One can find description of southern parts of the Arkhangelsk
Region, Vologda and the Vologda Region. The “Guide” offers road, river and sea routes as well
as railway journey. Much attention is paid to the churches and Monasteries so abundant in the
Arkhangelsk and Vologda Regions. The description of sacred places is full of love and
professionalism. Taking into account the time the “Guide” was published, 1920, the author must
have had much courage to write about and admire churches when the government was closing
them. He was punished for it, in the 1920s he cannot be traced anywhere.
With the years, with the political changes the guides’ form and contents were changing,
too. Here is a book by Aleksandr Gavrilovich Seleznev “Excursuion to historical places of
Arkhangelsk and the Arkhangelsk Region”, published in Arkhangelsk in 1961. Alongside the
task “to help visitors in their study of the past of the Arkhangelsk Region” there was also the task
to show “the huge changes which have taken place in the North under the Soviet power”
(quotation from the preface to the book), these tasks actually determined the coverage of the
events and the choice of historical places and places of interest to satisfy the Soviet ideology.
Naturally the latter influenced the contents of the excursions: the one-sided history of the
Arkhangelsk Land was presented in the book. Later A.G. Seleznev published a guide called
“Across Arkhnagelsk and the Region", which had three editions. This guide gives less
politically biased information on the places of interest in the city and the region; there are
references and many photographs. In any case he was the only author to write the guides on
Arkhangelsk in the era of socialism.
The Guide “On the Arkhangelsk Region” by Yury Aleksandrovich Shtuermer, published
in 1967, is addressed to the tourists who love trios to taiga, rafting, etc, in a word “extreme”
tourism, though such word did not exist in the Russian language then. There are 25 routes across
central and western areas of the Region; they have sports, education and excursion character.
The text is illustrated with maps. The guide does not have any information on river voyages
along the Dvina River, or sea voyages along the coast of the White Sea. It also lacks description
of cities and towns, the author sends his readers to other sources for such information
Three reference books “Arkhangelsk guide” by Aleksandr Vertyachikh were also
publishe in the 20th century, in 1996. They give short but more truthful information on the past of
Arkhangelsk. The author plays the role of a guide and takes his readers to the main streets and
avenues of the city, to places of interest and historical monuments, tells about the present
Arkhangelsk. A big section belongs to reference information on government, business, public
health, food, shopping, entertainments and transportation. It is a pity; there are no maps or
illustrations in this edition.
At the beginning of the 21st century a guide “Arkhangelsk. Kholmogory. Lomonosovo”
by Lyudmila Dmitriyevna Popova was published to celebrate the 11th Congress of the Russian
Geographic Society in Arkhangelsk. The journey starts in Arkhangelsk, the author gives a short
account of the memorial places and historic events, on architectural monuments, both existing
and lost, in Arkhangelsk, an important centre of trade and a military strategic point in the part,
and a huge industrial, transport and culture centre at present. Then the journey takes us to
Kholmogory and Lomonosovo villages by road. Lomonosovo is a native place of Mikhailo
Lomonosov, a Great Russian scientist and writer. The guide has maps with places of interest
marked and many photographs.
In 2000 in Moscow there was published another guide in the series “The World around
Us”, which is called “Guide “The Arkhangelsk Region”. We are proud that our capital shows
much interest to our Region and entered Arkhangelsk into the series. Popular and entertaining
information on history, culture, reserves, national parks and other places of interest in the
Arkhnagelsk Region is given in the “Guide”. One can find transportation schedules, hotels and
tourist lodges information, river routes along the rivers of the North, information for anglers and
hunters. Unfortunately, there are some mistakes and incorrect information in the “Guide”. It is a
shame this often happens with the central publications. The literature published locally is more
correct and reliable. It is important before starting a journey to check the information given in
this “Guide”.
A special place among the guides on historical and cultural monuments of Arkhangelsk
takes the book by Yury Anatolyevich Barashkov “Did you say ‘Arkhangelsk’?” which was
published in Arkhangelsk in 2001, the second edition of it was made in 2003. The peculiar
feature of this guide is the fact that it has parallel text in English in 2001 edition, and a text in
French in 2003 edition, which multiplies the numbers of its readers. In his preface the author
says that “in spite of the growing interest of the city population to their history, there is a lack of
information on memorial places. The guide tells about some of them, including those which are
not existing now, and those which are situated outside of Arkhangelsk but are closely connected
with its history, about events connected with the monuments, about who, when and how erected
them, about the fate of the memorial places”. Though the book is called a guide it is rather a
collection of well written stories full of respect and warmth to the city and the region history. A
reader will certainly feel that the Russian North has always been and is an integral part of sociocultural entity of the Barents-Region. The book became a winner of the nomination “The best
book on Arkhangelsk” in the Second Publishers and Polygraphers Competition.
Advertising booklets of most tourist companies are also some kind of guides which
attract visitors to the Arkhangelsk Region. Many guides are not only beautifully published and
informative but also translated into English which makes them useful for tourists both at home
and from abroad.
Today one can find necessary information on our wonderful land in traditional form as
well as in the e-recourses.
The Arkhangelsk Region Administration and the Tourist Information centre are the
publishers of the multi-media CDs on the Arkhangelsk Region called “Destination” and “The
Pomor Land”. History of the Land, natural resources, present situation in the main branches of
economy, transportation, culture, tourism and international relations of our Region with far-away
and neighbouring foreign countries can be found in it. Looking at the monitor of your PC one
can make a virtual journey in the North which some day may become real.
Coming to an end of my speech I would like to say that there does not exist a guide on
Asrkhangelsk or any district of the Region that would meet all the requirements. And here lies a
huge opportunity for us to compile such a guide. There are people in every district, true patriots,
who are collecting information and are ready to illustrate it with photographs, maps and
sketches. We must make a visiting card of Arkhangelsk worthy of the city both for home and
abroad.