Description of the attraction
The main attraction of the village of Megrega is the old church of Frol and Lavra. Megrega is a village that actually became the southern outpost of Olonets. This village is the first after the southern exit, located in the direction of Olonets. The village of Megrega warmly welcomes all guests of the city who come to see the wooden church of Frol and Lavra.
The church was built in 1613 in honor of the victory of the Russian army in the war with Sweden. The construction of the temple took place on the ancient path leading from Novgorod to the northern lands, located 12 km from the city of Olonets. The name of the church was given in honor of Saints Frol and Laurus, who were especially revered by the peasants as guardians not only of livestock, but of the entire peasant economy. The church is located on a hillock, it is practically invisible at the distance of the nearby road, since its entire view is obscured by the trees of a pine grove, which is also a cemetery.
The Church of Frol and Lavra is a unique and rarest monument of wooden architecture, known throughout the country; it is a temple of the Novgorod type. In the typical Novgorod appearance of the church, the distinctive features of the famous stone church named after Fyodor Stratilat are especially vividly and clearly expressed, presented in the form of intersecting pediments, an entrance with a porch located on the north side, as well as an octagon with a hipped roof located above the refectory room. Initially, the temple was a simple building, chopped from logs, but already in the 19th century, a wooden building was sheathed with planks. The octagon of the church is very small in size and has a hole installed directly above the center of the main frame of the quadrangle. The octagonal tent, made in austere style, has an onion dome and is majestically crowned by the church building.
The refectory room of the Church of Frol and Lavra is adjacent to the main frame of the church, located on the west side. The entrance, which has a spacious porch and leads to the refectory, is located on the north side, which is especially rare in the Karelian Republic.
As for the entire space-planning solution of the church, the building has a biaxial composition. The horizontal axis of the building is formed by the rather extended volume of the rectangular altar, refectory and temple parts. The layout of the building has an enfilade structure, and the width of the altar itself is much less than the width of all other rooms.
As for the constructive solution, we can say that the refectory room and the altar are completely covered with a gable roof, and above the temple part of the building, which is slightly higher than the refectory and the altar, there is an eight-pitched roof with four triangular pediments. Directly above the center of the eight-pitched roof there is a small octagon with a fall, which is crowned with a slender tent with a dome. On the side of the northern facade, immediately under the gable roof, resting on the pillars, a window is carved. The ceilings in the church are planked and laid on beams. The temple part has two windows, located at different levels: one on the south and the other on the north. Mowing windows. The tent is rafter, the roofs are slatted, and the entire covering is iron.
There are no decorative elements at all. The walls were cut in strips, and the outer part is completely sheathed with boards.
Inside the unique monument of ancient wooden architecture, only the rarely found three-tiered tyablo iconostasis, which dates back to the beginning of the 17th century, has survived. The beautiful delicate carving of the ancient iconostasis is correctly superimposed on the red tyablo, which is a wooden block of the altar barrier used to install icons. The rest of the interior decoration has practically not been preserved.
At the moment, the majestic and famous Church of Frol and Lavra is active; periodic services are held in it.
