Kem (russian: Кемь;

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and krl, Kemi) is a historic

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

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 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located on the shores 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 ...

where 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 ...

enters it, on the railroad leading from

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

. It had a population of 13,051 as of 2010, which was down from previous years.

History

Kem was first mentioned as a

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

of the

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

posadnik Posadnik (Cyrillic: посадник, (literally: по-садник - ''pre-sident'') was the mayor in some East Slavic cities or towns. Most notably, the posadnik (equivalent to a stadtholder, burgomeister, or podestà in the medieval west) was ...

Marfa Boretskaya Marfa Boretskaya, also known as Martha the Mayoress (russian: Марфа Посадница - Marfa Posadnitsa), was the wife of Isaac Boretsky, Novgorod's posadnik in 1438–1439 and again in 1453. According to legend and historical traditi ...

in 1450, when she donated it to the

Solovetsky Monastery The Solovetsky Monastery ( rus, Солове́цкий монасты́рь, p=səlɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪj mənɐˈstɨrʲ) is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christ ...

(situated in the White Sea several kilometers off shore). In 1657, a wooden fort was erected there. Also wooden is the town's remarkable cathedral, built in 1711–1717. It is a fine example of the

tented roof A tented roof (also known as a pavilion roof) is a type of polygonal hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak. W. Dean EastmanHometown Handbook: Architecture./ref> Tented roofs, a hallmark of medieval religious architecture, wer ...

-construction so popular in old Russian architecture. The cathedral's

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis ( gr, εἰκονοστάσιον) is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand t ...

features precious 17th-century icons from Novgorod. Town status was granted to Kem in 1785. Kem, 1916

On April 10, 1918 the town was reached by Finnish troops during the

Viena expedition The Viena expedition ( fi, Vienan retkikunta, sv, Vienaexpeditionen) was a military expedition in March 1918 by Finland, Finnish volunteer forces to annex White Karelia (''Vienan Karjala'') from Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Bols ...

in an attempt to join

White Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 1926–1939, Kem was used as departure place for boats headed to

Solovetsky Islands The Solovetsky Islands (russian: Солове́цкие острова́), or Solovki (), are an archipelago located in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, Russia. As an administrative division, the islands are incorporated as Solovetsky District of ...

carrying political prisoners. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the town was the site of the

Poduzhemye Poduzhemye (also Kem/Uzhmana or Uzhmana) is an former air base in Karelia, Russia located 16 km west of Kem. It was an interceptor airfield which became operational in 1957 with the 265th Fighter Aviation Regiment (265 IAP) which flew Sukho ...

air base, a key

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...

airfield covering Karelia.

Climate

Kem has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Dfc''). It has a significant maritime influence compared with areas further east in the country with cool summers and less severe winters. The temperature regime has more in common with maritime areas on similar parallels in the Nordic countries to the west. It is some way above polar climate due to the milder summers with three months above in mean temperature.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kem serves as the

, to which it is directly subordinated.Law #871-RZK As a municipal division, the

of Kem, together with three rural localities, is incorporated within Kemsky Municipal District as Kemskoye Urban Settlement.Law #813-RZK

In popular culture

Kem was the filming location for the 2006 film '' The Island''.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Official website of Kem

Kem Business Directory
{{Authority control Cities and towns in the Republic of Karelia Kemsky District Kemsky Uyezd White Sea