General information
Cultural and historical peculiarities
Nature monuments
Tourist potential of the region
General information
Olonetsky region is situated in the south of Republic of Karelia. In the south-west it borders with Ladoga lake, in the north-west – with Prjazjinsky and Pitkjarantsky regions and in the south-east – with Leningradskaja region.
Forests and bogs cover the major part of the region (90%). Olonetsky region is rich with water resources (49 lakes and 11 rivers, fish store – 150-200 tons). The main line of development of the region is timber cutting and processing. Large enterprises of timber industry are joint-stock company “Olonetsles” and Ilinsky timber mill.
The key lines of agricultural development of the region are plant cultivation, cattle breeding and fur farming. Agricultural lands make 27.7 thousand hectares of the territory of the region, 16.3 of them are arable lands. Eight farming are functioning in the region.
Cultural and historical peculiarities
The history of Olonetsky region is very rich. For many centuries Olonets have been an administrative center of a large Olonetsky district, the area of which was larger than the area of Karelia. In 1999 that was 350 years since Olonets got the status of a city. This is the oldest city in Karelia, written records of the city are more than 7-8 thousand years old.
Unfortunately, time didn’t spare the monuments: almost nothing is left from a very large Olonetskaja fortress, which played an important role during the war with Sweden. According to the data of Saint-Petersburg institution "Urbanistika", in 1992-93 the part of cultural heritage of Olonetsky region was rather small – 3.8 % (for reference: the part of Belomorsky region is twice as much, of Prazhinsky and Pudozhsky – three times as large, of Medvezhjegorsky – 6 times as much).
Another peculiarity of the region is that the Karelians prevail in its population. Tradition of Karelian people, their architecture and trades are well preserved in the region.
Nature monuments
In natural and historical opinion the region is an ideal plain with rare eminencies, the highest of which – Zheleznaja mountain is 97 meters high. The northern part of the plain is rather elevated in comparison with the southern part, where large bogs of Bolshoe, Sarmjagskoe and Ropakskoe are located.
Olonatskaja plain, which is nowadaus covered with agricultural lands, in spring and autumn becomes the place of geese habitat. Some of the geese species are included in the Red Book of Russia. These are ornithological lands of national significance, which makes it necessary to protect them and also makes them attractive for tourists.
From the southwest the region borders with Ladoga lake for 120 km. Almost all the rivers of the region flow into the lake. Two of them Vidlitsa and Tuloksa are the best salmon rivers of Ladoga lake.
Another valuable fish species also inhabit the rivers. Ladoga lake is a perfect fishing territory, which will satisfy the need of the most fastidious fisher-men.
The territory, which borders the lake, is covered with beautiful pine-woods rich with berries and mushrooms.
Tourist potential of the region
Olonetsky region has some peculiarities, which single it out of other regions of Karelia and form its image among tourists.
Nature characteristics of the region are best for organization of vacations in cottages. For tourists from middle and south Europe it will be interesting to visit the marshy territories of the region rich with cloudberries and cranberries. Dunes and sandy swells, which can be seen in the area of Olonka, Vidlitsa and other rivers, are also a kind of a tourist resource. In the north dunes can be rarely met so they are of a great cognitive interest.
Olonetsky region borders with Leningradskaja region, which makes inexhaustible tourist market. Easy transport accessibility of the region from the south, north and east is of great importance. Two of the largest highways join in Olonets. These are Kola, which leads to Saint-Petersburg, and Blue Road, which connects Karelia with the countries of Scandinavia.
Thus, Olonetsky region is rather prospective for organization of different forms of cultural and cognitive tourism. It is also possible to develop fishing, hunting and ecological tourism on this territory.
