Solovetsky Monastery in the context of "Hegumen"

The Russian North (Russian: Русский Север, Russky Sever) is an ethnocultural region situated in the northwestern part of Russia, north of Vologda. It spans the regions of Arkhangelsk Oblast (including Nenets Autonomous Okrug) and Murmansk Oblast. It also includes parts of the Vologda Oblast, Komi Republic, and Republic of Karelia.

The region is known for its traditions of folk art – in particular, Russian wooden architecture, wood and bone carving and painting. Due to its remoteness, the rural parts of Russian North preserved much of the archaic aspects of Russian culture during the 19th and 20th centuries, making it of particular interest to historians, culturologists and ethnographers.

The Solovetsky Islands (Russian: Соловецкие острова, IPA: [səlɐˈvʲetskʲɪj ɐstrɐˈva]), or Solovki (Russian: Соловки, IPA: [səlɐfˈkʲi]), are an archipelago located in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, Russia. As an administrative division, the islands are incorporated as Solovetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Within the framework of municipal divisions, they are incorporated as Solovetskoye Rural Settlement within Primorsky Municipal District. The administrative center of both divisions is the settlement of Solovetsky, located on Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. Almost all of the population of the islands lives in Solovetsky. As of the 2010 Census, the district had a population of 861 inhabitants.

The Solovetsky Monastery (founded in 1436), in 1923 became the site of the first Gulag establishment, the Solovki prison camp.