Between Lakes Ladoga and Onega, in the forested country of the Russian north, the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery has stood since the end of the fifteenth century, when the hermit whose name it carries settled in these woods. Over the centuries it became one of the region's principal monastic centres, endowed with churches, refectories, a bell tower and cells, and enclosed within white walls that read strikingly against the dark line of the forest. The architecture belongs to the vocabulary of the Russian north: compact volumes, steep roofs designed for snow, small windows, drums carrying onion domes above them. Inside, icons and painted decoration organise the space of worship according to the Orthodox rite. Confiscated and repurposed during the Soviet period, the monastery was returned to the Church at the end of the twentieth century, and restoration has proceeded alongside the return of a resident community. The programme films it through the changing light and seasons of a demanding northern landscape.
