Arctic Russia - Journey into the world of the Terek Pomors

19.06.2023 // The urban settlement of Umba is located on the Tersky shore of the White Sea, at the mouth of the Umba River. The largest settlement and administrative centre of Tersky District is 120 km from Kandalaksha. It is one of the oldest Russian settlements on the Kola Peninsula.

The first mention of the Pomor settlement of Umba dates back to 1466. Once it was the fiefdom of the Solovetsky monastery, which erected the Church of the Resurrection on this territory in 1765. According to one version, the name 'Umba' comes from the Sami word 'umb' which means 'closed.' The birth date of the Umba settlement is considered to be 1898. It emerged at the same time as the first enterprise on the Kola Peninsula—the sawmill of the industrialist Belyaev. The original name of the settlement was Lesnoy, and it was renamed Umba in 1967.

The indigenous population of the settlement are the Terek Pomors, a special northern sub-ethnos formed half a millennium ago from Russian descendants from Novgorod and Pskov and Finno-Ugric peoples living on the shores of the White Sea.

Umba retains the atmosphere of the settlement's distinctive history: you can see traditional Pomor houses and boardwalks as well. Get to know the settlement first at the Museum of History, Culture and Life of the Terek Pomors. The museum was established in 1988. Its expositions tell how the Tersky land was in ancient times, about the emergence of Russian settlements on the Tersky shore, about the main trades of the Pomors in the 18th–20th centuries (fishing, hunting, shipbuilding, pearl harvesting). There is also an exhibition on the development of handicrafts: carpentry, joinery, woodwork, needlework and shoemaking. The centrepiece of the museum is an exhibition about the life and traditions of the Terek Pomors. In all, the museum's collections comprise more than 700 items: household items of the Pomors, children's toys, clothing, textiles, headwear, birch bark items, painted chests and carved spinners, interior items from the fishing hut. The museum has a local history club called Rodnichok for schoolchildren and organises master classes, theatricals such as Svyatki on the Tersky Coast and Maslenitsa with the Pomors, as well as exhibitions on Pomor themes.

In Umba, there is an exhibition room of the Kanozero Petroglyphs Museum-Reserve. The petroglyphs were accidentally discovered in 1997 by a history student, Yuri Ivanov, while rafting down the Umba River.

Research has shown that the petroglyphs date back to the 4th–2nd millennium B.C. In 1998, the rocks on the islands of Kamenny, Yelovy and Gorely were placed under state protection and given the status of a monument of history and culture of federal importance.

To date, more than 1,300 petroglyphs have been identified. Tourists are advised to visit the islands as part of an organised group.

The House of Culture and Folk Crafts is located in the centre of the settlement. There are numerous creative groups that have won awards at prestigious competitions and festivals: the Russian Song Ensemble 'Pomorye,' the academic choir, and the folk group 'Folklore Choir.' The House of Culture also carries out educational and research work and organises festivals, festivals, folk craft fairs, such as the Umba Folklore Festival, Pomor Antiquities, Pomor Kudesy, Pokrovskie gostebi, City of Masters and others.

The House of Culture houses the Museum of Stone (Amethyst Museum), which opened its doors in 2011. It was created on the initiative of Tamara Mitina, head of the children's district library. The first small exhibition appeared in the library's reading room in 2010—the exhibits were provided by Nikolay Frishman, an employee of the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute and author of the book The Amethyst Coast. The exhibition was dedicated to the minerals of the Cape Korabl deposit. The exhibition has gradually transformed into a museum in which stones from Russian northern deposits, especially amethyst, are displayed in all their glory. There are also exhibits from abroad - for example, an amethyst giant from Brazil weighing several tens of kilograms. The museum has exhibitions 'The Cape Korabl deposit,' 'Natural and artificial varieties of quartz,' 'Amethyst from different deposits of Russia and the world,' 'Products from amethyst and other minerals and rocks of the Tersky Coast.'

The museum offers guided tours and scientific conferences. The museum's visitors can not only admire the beauty of the stones but also learn about the legends, beliefs and omens associated with them.

The small settlement of Umba is a real centre of historical, cultural, ethnographic and natural monuments. And in order to navigate through this diversity, without missing out on the essentials during their journey, tourists can turn to the local Tourist Information Centre. The centre was created to provide information about the sights and museums of Umba, Tersky District and the Kola Peninsula as a whole, the activities taking place there, and the accommodation and catering options for tourists. The TIC will tell you about the offers of travel agencies, excursions and provide information booklets, brochures and maps.