Azerbaijan International

Winter 2005 (13.4)


Solovetsky Monastery

Date:1930

The Solovetsky Monastery prison camp was located at the port of Arkhangelsk in the Arctic region of the White Sea in northwestern Russia. Originally, the monastery complex was used by Russian Orthodox monks, but in 1926 Stalin converted it into a "special purpose camp" which made it one of the first "corrective labor camps" in what became the vast Gulag system of prisons, which spanned the breadth of the entire Soviet Union.  After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Orthodox Church reestablished the monastery in 1992. The monastery complex was also included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO at this time.  Artist Alakbar Rezaguliyev was imprisoned for 10 years at the Solovetsky Monastery around 1928. Because of his exposure to so much blinding white snow in the Arctic climes, Rezaguliyev lost his ability to perceive the nuance of color later in life, and chose to make black and white linoleum prints as his art medium.

The Solovetsky Monastery prison camp was located at the port of Arkhangelsk in the Arctic region of the White Sea in northwestern Russia. Originally, the monastery complex was used by Russian Orthodox monks, but in 1926 Stalin converted it into a "special purpose camp" which made it one of the first "corrective labor camps" in what became the vast Gulag system of prisons, which spanned the breadth of the entire Soviet Union.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Orthodox Church reestablished the monastery in 1992. The monastery complex was also included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO at this time.
Artist Alakbar Rezaguliyev was imprisoned for 10 years at the Solovetsky Monastery around 1928. Because of his exposure to so much blinding white snow in the Arctic climes, Rezaguliyev lost his ability to perceive the nuance of color later in life, and chose to make black and white linoleum prints as his art medium.

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