Description of the attraction
The famous chapel of the Sign of the Virgin is one of the monuments of federal significance in Russia and is located near the village of Korba, located in the very depths of the small bay of Zaonezhie and bounded on the north by a long forest spit. The chapel is one of the old buildings made in the style of the "Kizhi necklace". It stands behind the western coast of the Bolshoi Klimetsky Island, just north of the village of Korba and not far from the picturesque spruce spit. The Chapel of the Sign of the Virgin was built in the 17th century.
All designs of the Church of the Sign are canonical. From the east to the west were lined up: a chapel, a refectory, and then a vestibule. The majestic appearance of the chapel bears in itself a unique originality, the secret of which lies in the unsurpassed skill of juxtaposing volumes: the entire horizontal array of the refectory and the chapel is balanced by a tented bell tower directed upwards.
As you know, the largest number of chapels in the Russian North that have survived to this day is directly related to the Kletsk type. To the refectory, namely to its western side, there is a vestibule with a belfry made in the form of a tent. The frame of the chapel and the refectory is covered with a gable roof made in the form of an onion dome. The four-piece canopy, made in the form of a square, on which the octagon is placed, serves as the base of the hipped belfry. The octagon has a small fall of the upper rims, covered with pointed policemen. The belfry has eight openwork pillars, which are skillfully executed in duplicate. A single-emerging porch adjoins the southern side of the vestibule, which has a small platform and a gable asymmetric roof supported by five unusually carved pillars. The entire silhouette of the tent has been brought to perfection.
All the interior decoration of the bell tower is reduced to the endings of the police, made in the form of various figures, the usual cutting of the edge of the piers and carved valances. Each of the chapel rooms is illuminated by several windows facing north and south; there is a window in the western part of the vestibule. The roof over the frame of the refectory and the chapel is plank and built without nails. The most important decoration of the chapel is the bell tower with all the harmony of volumes and the harmony of smooth lines.
The chapel was built in several stages. The very first period of construction falls on the 18th century. During this time, a simple cage building was built. The second period of construction took place from the beginning to the middle of the 19th century, when the addition of the frame of the belfry and the vestibule was completed. The third period took place in the period of the late 19th - early 20th centuries - the chapel is sheathed with planks and several additional window openings are cut through. Approximately during the third period of construction, the domes are covered with special roofing iron, the facades and some decorative details are painted.
Throughout 1962, restoration work was carried out under the leadership of A. V. Opolovnikov. At this time, the covering of the plowshares was completely restored, the planking of the plank frame was removed, the crowns located in the lower part were replaced, and the roof of the chapel was also largely reinforced. At the moment, the famous chapel is either modestly lost in the spruce grove, or proudly seen in the vastness of the Zaonezhsky Bay.
