Panozero (russian: Панозеро; krl, Puanajärvi) is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

(a settlement) in

Kemsky District Kemsky District (russian: Ке́мский райо́н; krl, Kemin piiri) is an administrative district (raion), one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.Constitution of the Republic of Karelia It is located in the northeast of the ...

of the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia (russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya; ; krl, Karjalan tašavalta; ; fi, Karjalan tasavalta; vep, Karjalan Tazovaldkund, Ludic: ''Kard’alan tazavald''), also known as just Karelia (rus ...

, located along the

Kem River The Kem (, ) is a river in Republic of Karelia, Russia. It starts from Lake Lower Kuyto and flows through a number of lakes into the White Sea. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . There is a cascade of 5 hydroelectric power plants. The to ...

. Nowadays Panozero belongs to the Krivoy Porog municipality. Panozero is also called Old Panozero to make a difference to the new settlement of Panozero which is located 1.5 kilometers further away. The population of the village was approximately 100 in the year 2000. Panozero has preserved its old Karelian village outlook and is regarded as an important and endangered representative of the old style villages of Karelia. The plans to build the Valkiala hydroelectric power plant would destroy the village under a huge water reservoir. The proposed hydroelectric plant would not inundate New Panozero, but the settlement would become an island. Panozero is one of the most valuable old style villages in Karelia and the only one remaining along the Kem river. In the year 1996 Panozero was selected to the

World Monuments Watch World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and traini ...

(WMW) list of 100 most endangered sites. Panozero village was also on the list from 1998-1999 and 2000-2001, after which the threat was considered to have passed. Due to its endangered status the village has received restoration funds from the

Samuel Henry Kress Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian R ...

foundation.

History

The village of Panozero was inhabited in prehistoric times. In 1886 J.W. Juvelius brought some Stone Age objects found in the village to the collections in the Finnish National Museum in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. According to some historical sources the coast of the

White sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...

was occupied by

Karelians Karelians ( krl, karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset, Finnish: , sv, kareler, karelare, russian: Карелы) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russi ...

as early as the ninth century A. D. Before that time the area was inhabited by

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(Lapps). According to tradition, Panozero was the oldest village in eastern Karelia and its inhabitants spread from there to Yushkozero and Soposalma villages. Panozero was also the site of the first Christian church built in Viena district, and it was the administrative center of East Viena for centuries. In 1879, Panozero had 64 houses. In 1905, according to the official census, it had 73 houses and 427 inhabitants. At that time, the Panozero district included eight other villages, yielding a total population of 1,029 people. When the Uzhma Rapids, the largest on the Kem River, were harnessed and the village of Poduzhemye inundated, Panozero became the only remaining Karelian village along the river.

Footnotes

{{Authority control Rural localities in the Republic of Karelia