Kizhi (Russian: Ки́жи, IPA: [ˈkʲiʐɨ]; Karelian: Kiži) is an island near the geometrical center of Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia.

The population was rural, but was forced by the government to assist development of the ore mining and iron plants in the area that resulted in a major Kizhi Uprising in 1769–1771.

In the 1950s, dozens of historical wooden buildings were moved to the island from various parts of Karelia for preservation purposes.

Nowadays, the entire island and the nearby area form a national open-air museum with more than 80 historical wooden structures.

The name Kizhi is believed to originate from ancient Veps or Karelian word "kizhat" or "kizhansuari" ("social gathering" or "island of games").

The numerous settlements on Kizhi and neighboring islands (about 100 by the 16th century) comprised an administrative entity called Spas-Kizhi Pogost.

By the early 18th century, as a consequence of the industrial reforms of Tzar Peter I, several ore mines and metallurgy plants were built on the Onega Lake, in particular on the place of modern Medvezhyegorsk[6] and Petrozavodsk cities.

[7][8] Those plants required hard physical labor such as cutting forests for wood, coal burning, ground works, etc., which was mostly provided by the local peasants.

The largest one occurred in 1769–1771 and is known as Kizhi Uprising, which was sparked by a governor order to send peasants during the harvest season for works at Tivdiysk marble mine and construction of the Lizhemsky metallurgical plant.

On one occasion in the 18th century, two villages were moved from Kizhi island to the nearby infertile mainland to free land for farming.

This document describes two domed wooden churches with a bell tower standing in the southern part of the island (on the site of the present Kizhi Pogost), and mentions their earlier description of 1496.

In 1714, the 22-dome Transfiguration Church (Russian: Церковь Преображения Господня) was constructed and soon after the bell tower was added, thereby completing the Kizhi Pogost.

[14] Much earlier, some time in the 17th century, a 300 metres (980 ft) long fence was built around the churches, which then served as a protection ground against Swedish and Polish incursions.

Their major basic structural unit is a round log of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) about 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter and 3 to 5 metres (9.8 to 16.4 ft) long.

The logs were cut and shaped with axes and assembled without nails, using interlocking corner joinery — either round notch or dovetail.

[18] Open-air museum Kizhi is one of the first in Russia, which started functioning on the island in 1951 and currently contains about 87 wooden constructions.

[21] The museum conducts a wide range of scientific studies in the history, archeology, ecology, nature and other fields related to the island.

Clergy announced the monk Lazarus as a local saint, and every summer, on 23–24 June, the church was attracting pilgrims.

By the early 1900s, their number reduced to nine, which were named Pogost, Bachurino, Bishevo, Bosarevo, Vasilyevo, Kyazhevo, Morozovo, Navolok and Yamka.

Nowadays, on their place stands a historical house of Oshevnev, which was moved here in 1951 from Oshevnevo village, and which became the first exhibit of the Kizhi museum opened in 1960.

It is characterized by numerous small islands, which reduce the water flow, and relatively shallow and uneven lake bottom.

Because of the weak flows and shallow depth, water is relatively warm and quiet that promotes growth of aquatic vegetation.

There are no forests on the island, but only individual trees of elm, spruce, pine, birch, aspen and alder.

[47][48][49] Most of the island is covered in meadows, which are quite varied and rich in colors and species, including rare and protected.

Most of them are migratory and stop on the island either for rest or nesting, such as swans, geese, ducks, lake seagulls, sterna, but there are also more stationary birds like house sparrow, Eurasian siskin, common chaffinch, skylark, jackdaw and crow.

Low temperatures suppress bacterial activity, which is one of the major factors behind the longevity of the wooden structures of Kizhi.

Access to Kizhi is provided by hydrofoil (several trips a day from Petrozavodsk during the summer months), cruise ship, helicopter and snowcat (in the winter).