Belaya Gora Monastery (White Mountain monastery)

Previous page - Arriving in Perm

 

Belaya Gora Monastery is huge

This monastery is also called White Mountain Monastery. It is out in the middle of nowhere and is located 120 kilometres south of Perm and is about 80 kilometres from Kungur.

Construction of the building began in 1902 but it wasn't consecrated until June 1917. 400 monks lived in the monastery back then. The monastery was captured by the Red Army in 1917 and then used as a mental hospital. The huge bells were smashed by sledge hammers and a lot of art was destroyed. In 1979 a mental patient burnt the roof of the monastery and it was then abandoned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Restoration of the monastery

In 1993 work began to restore the monastery and the restoration has been going ever since that time. We were not permitted to take photos inside the monastery, as is the case in most monasteries and churches in Russia. It is the biggest cathedral in the Urals and it looks like the restoration will take several more decades to finish. It really is a massive building. The walls were incredibly thick.

The scenery at White Mountain is stunning. The monastery is on top of a hill and everywhere surrounding the hill is forests. The day we were there is was very cold, partly sunny and partly cloudy. We could see for miles.

The sun highlighted certain areas and then moved along elsewhere. Everything had a 3D effect to it because it was so clear. It was like looking at those 3D pictures where you have to take your eyes out of focus and then the picture becomes three dimensional and layered. The countryside was every shade of green imaginable. The shadows from the clouds continually changed the hues of green. It was like looking at one of those 3-D pictures at the precise moment when the "hidden" picture comes into focus. It blew me away - as you can tell!

Whilst we there the girls bought a bottle of special monastery water. The monks bring the water up from an underground well and they bottle it and sell it. It was extremely cold water.

 

View from the Belaya Gora Monastery

Back to Perm

Then followed our drive back to Perm. We hopped out of the car at a shopping centre and we said our farewells to Marsha who is such a lovely girl. Dennis said he would be back again the next morning.

Inside the shopping centre we withdrew some money from an ATM and decided to buy our train tickets for the Kazan to Murom trip that was coming up in a few days time. We waited for ages at a train ticket kiosk in front of the supermarket. It ended up costing us 6,600 roubles for first class tickets for a one-night journey. It had only cost us 9,000 roubles for our three nights on a classier train, the Rossiya. However we are not in a position to argue, are we! The supermarket was huge. I think it had 30 check-outs!

Anna led us back to her flat which was only a few minutes walk away from the shopping centre. We had yummy potatoes and chicken for tea plus salad. Her mum had bought our bus tickets for us, as promised, which was so helpful. We would be leaving on the bus at 8 p.m. the next night.

 

Next page - Perm-36, the Gulag

 

....................................................................................................................................................................................