Bolshaya Muksalma is situated to the east of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island and is separated from it by two straits: Severnye Zheleznye Vorota and Yuzhnye Zheleznye Vorota (literally translated as Northern and Southern Iron Gates).

The Yuzhnye Zheleznye Vorota Strait is crossed by a dam which was built by the monks of Solovetsky Monastery between 1865 and 1871 and now connects the two islands.

The dam is several hundred meters long and 6.5 metres (21 ft) wide.

The area of Bolshaya Muksalma is 17 square kilometres (6.6 sq mi).

[1] In 1920, the monastery was shut down, and the skete later served as a department of the Solovetsky Gulag camp where women prisoners were confined.