Description of the attraction
On the banks of the Yandoma River, namely in the village of Ust-Yandoma, surrounded by a fence of huge boulders and large trees, there is the St. George Church. The chapel is located on a promontory right next to the lake. If you look at the chapel from afar, you will immediately notice its grandeur and dominant position, especially in comparison with the tall fir trees located next to it over a vast area. St. George's Church was erected in the 17th and 18th centuries in the farthest part of the peninsula so that it could be seen from the lake. After the completion of construction work, the chapel was consecrated and named after George the Victorious. There is a small old cemetery not far from the church.
One of the distinctive features of the chapel of St. George the Victorious is the high hipped belfry, which further emphasizes the majestic stand of the entire structure. This feature during the construction of churches was inherent in all church buildings in the southern part of the Zaonezh Peninsula. In addition, such belfries can be found in the chapels located in Tyambitsy on Crow Island. As mentioned, this kind of feature is due to the desire of the local population to make a certain landmark out of the church, which could be seen from the vast expanses of the entire Onega Lake. For example, so that a fisherman returning home could immediately identify his village precisely by the location of the high tent of the village church belfry. At the location of the church, the bell tower had to be built separately from the church frame.
The hipped bell tower was cut down in the first half of the 19th century. Another important feature of the chapel is its fusion and reunification with the rectangular shape of the chapel itself. You can enter the chapel only by going through the bell tower, to which a small porch adjoins.
At the entrance to the Ust-Yandomsky churchyard, you can see small and especially touching gates, which are decorated with various kinds of carved policemen and a high roof. The location of the gates is in such a way that they are built at a slight angle to the axis of the chapel itself, so that it is possible to simultaneously see some part of the cemetery and the adjacent porch. With the help of this method, the gates carry the unifying function of the cemetery and the St. George chapel into one common and single ensemble, each of the elements of which cannot be located independently. The gates of the chapel, located under the gable roof, are "escorted" to the porch, which has a flat canopy over the steps. The porch area is completely covered with a gable roof.
