Set on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, Kizhi Island is home to the Kizhi Pogost — a globally recognized masterpiece of traditional log and timber architecture inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990. The 18th-century ensemble is celebrated as the only surviving historical complex in Russia featuring two multi-domed wooden churches enclosed within a single precinct: the 22-domed Church of the Transfiguration (1714), rising 37 meters with structural log joinery executed entirely without nails, the nine-domed Church of the Intercession, and an octagonal wooden bell tower. Beyond the central Pogost, the surrounding open-air museum reserve preserves over 80 vernacular timber monuments scattered across the northern lake landscape.
The Lens, an installation designed by Evgeny Makarenko Timber Architecture Workshop, is located at the southernmost tip of Kizhi Island, in a remote part of the museum reserve. This vantage point offers an uncommon south-to-north perspective of the Kizhi Pogost ensemble: from here, the domes of the Church of the Transfiguration and the Church of the Intercession visually merge into a single sculptural volume. The panorama also takes in the historic monuments along the island road — an ancient windmill and the Chapel of the Archangel Michael.
The art object is designed as a spatial portal with a bench, serving as a viewing frame for panoramas of the Kizhi Pogost. The inner contour of the cut-out echoes the recognizable silhouette of church cupolas, interpreting the historic sculptural quality through a contemporary architectural language. Placed at a viewpoint, this micro-structure works as a living focal aperture: it frames the surrounding landscape, turning it into a natural architectural composition and offering visitors a unique perspective on the historical monuments.
The object’s tectonics are rooted in the traditional wooden lemekh of the Russian North — small individual shingles that historically covered the curved surfaces of church cupolas. This principle has been scaled to the entire volume of The Lens: while retaining its basic inner frame shape, the whole object is a rhythmic structure of modular wooden slats that reinterpret the traditional lemekh. The relief surface creates a play of light and shadow and a sense of depth that changes with the viewing angle and lighting conditions.
Photography by Evgeny Makarenko.
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