Lake Svetloyar

Lake Svetloyar is a protected natural landmark of federal significance in the Voskresensky municipal district of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 1–1.5 km west of the village of Vladimirskoye and about 130 km northeast of Nizhny Novgorod. This small, regularly oval lake (sources give its size as anywhere from 315x350 to 410x470 meters) is famous less for its size than for a legend: according to tradition, the invisible city of Kitezh lies on its bottom, submerged to escape the army of Khan Batu.

The legend of the city of Kitezh

According to the legend, when Batu's army approached the city of Kitezh, its inhabitants did not prepare to defend it but began to pray instead — and the water closed over the city, hiding it from the invaders. The city is said to have remained intact underwater, and on a quiet day, as people tell it, the ringing of its bells can be heard from the lake's depths. The myth of the submerged city of the righteous was first recorded in writing at the end of the 18th century in the chronicle "Kitezh Letopisets"; the researcher V. L. Komarovich traced the core of the legend to events of 1164. The legend of Kitezh was shaped by Old Believers of the Nizhny Novgorod Trans-Volga region, for whom Svetloyar became a place of spiritual worship. The story inspired Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya" (1907), Konstantin Gorbatov's painting "The Invisible City of Kitezh" (1913), and Yuri Norstein's animated film "The Battle of Kerzhenets" (1971); Werner Herzog's documentary "Bells from the Deep" (1993) is about modern-day seekers of Kitezh.

History and theories of origin

The lake's first researcher, in the late 19th century, was the geologist and soil scientist Vasily Dokuchaev; later, students from Kazan University carried out fieldwork on its shores, and amateur archaeologist A. P. Polivanov found Stone Age tools on the hills around the lake. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a research expedition organized by the newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta worked at the lake: in 1968 divers studied the bottom relief, and a geoacoustic survey in 1969 showed that the lake's lower terrace had subsided about 700–800 years earlier — that is, around the time of Batu's invasion. According to one theory, the lake itself was formed roughly 3,000–3,200 years ago by a meteorite impact, suggested by the regular shape of its basin, its depth, and the structure of the surrounding hills; the conclusions were published in 2009 following field studies. The lake's water is of the hydrocarbonate-calcium type, clear to a depth of more than 5 meters, and cold even in summer — at depth it never warms above +2°C — with a maximum depth of 33 meters. In 1965 Svetloyar was declared a natural landmark, and in 1997 a natural landmark of federal significance, the only one of that rank in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Since 2008 the lake has been part of the Voskresenskoye Povetluzhye nature park, the region's first and so far only nature park, which forms part of the Nizhny Novgorod Trans-Volga biosphere reserve.

Pilgrimage and festivals

Old Believers have long come to the lake: according to tradition, "God-loving elders" would appear here with books, crosses and icons to read the psalter and sing canons. The first mass gathering of Old Believers at Svetloyar was documented in 1870, and to this day the largest numbers of pilgrims gather in May and on the eve of Ivan Kupala. On the shore stands a wooden chapel dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, recreated from a 1905 drawing by the writer Vladimir Korolenko; the current building was built with public donations in the late 1990s. On July 6, the feast day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, a religious procession circles the lake, and on the Ivan Kupala holiday, July 6–7, the shore hosts festivities with round dances, wreath-making and concerts. Nearby, in the village of Vladimirskoye, the Kitezh museum occupies a former village school building and displays the everyday life and traditions of the area.

Getting there

The lake cannot be reached by car: vehicles are left in a parking area about 1.5 km from the water, and the rest of the way is on foot. From Nizhny Novgorod a direct bus runs to the village of Vladimirskoye from the Kanavinsky transport hub bus station (about two hours' travel), or one can take a suburban train to Semyonov and then a bus via Voskresenskoye. An ecological trail about 3 km long encircles the lake and is open year-round, though it can be hard to pass in places during winter and spring; the Svetloyar visitor center in the village of Vladimirskoye provides route information and helps arrange guided tours.