Kem, Port city on White Sea in Karelia, Russia
Kem is a coastal town in the Republic of Karelia, where the river of the same name flows into the White Sea. Trains connect it with Petrozavodsk to the south and Murmansk to the north, while ferries run to the Solovetsky Islands during summer months.
Marfa Boretskaya, a powerful ruler from Novgorod, transferred the settlement to the Solovetsky Monastery in 1450. By 1657, monks and local settlers had built a wooden fort to protect against Swedish raids.
The Russian Orthodox wooden church from the early 18th century shows the building methods carpenters developed in the far north to deal with cold and snow loads. Its dark walls and tower-like structures rise above the low houses in town and can be spotted from a distance.
The railway station offers connections heading south and north, while ferries to the islands run only when the sea is open, usually from June to September. The town is small enough to explore on foot, and the streets lead from the station down to the pier at the river mouth.
From 1926 to 1939, ships left from here carrying political prisoners to camps on the Solovetsky Islands. Today, only a few plaques and old photographs recall this dark chapter in the town's past.
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