Kondostrov, Solovetsky Islands, Arkhangelsk Oblast Russia
[Russian Orthodox]
Saint Nicholas Skete, on the small Kondostrov island in the Solovetsky archipelago, belonged to the Solovetsky Monastery. The wooden church was built from 1904-1908 and consecrated in 1908 with a capacity of 500 worshippers. The monastery was closed in the post-revolutionary period and usedwas a place of detention from 1924-1931. It was then part of the Solovki prison camp from 1931-1938, housing several hundred "informers" and the sick and disabled. Inmates nicknamed it "Mogilev province", meaning a death trap. The island is now uninhabited and all that remains is evidence of the old stone quarries.