Osudareva doroga (the Czar's road)

The story of Osudareva doroga (the Czar's road) is covered with glory and shrouded in mystery. When Peter the Great became Czar of Russia, the country was cut off from the sea coasts. Of course, Pyotor Alekseevich decided to change the situation. Russia needed the Baltic. So the Czar's road was built in empty and rocky place in 1702.

The watershed road of the White Sea and Onego lake helped to gain the first major victory over the Swedes and provided the desired route to the Baltic.

The road with a length of 265 km was built within two weeks. About five thousand people from the Arkhangelsk, Olonets and Novgorod provinces worked on the construction of the road. It is interesting that the road was built at both ends, and completed in the middle. Thousands of people cut down the forest, laid causeways, bridges, filled the swamps with sand, and leveled the terrain.

The work was led by a Sergeant of the Preobrazhensky regiment, M. Shchepotev, . It is noteworthy that initially Pyotor Alekseevich was offered a more comfortable version of the road through Vytegra. But the king did not like the way through large settlements, since it was necessary to make all the transitions secretly.

It is believed that even frigates were brought to the coast by the road. But, in fact, there is no documentary evidence of this fact. During the Northern war, Osudareva doroga was used to transport troops, cargo and weapons from Olonets province to Arkhangelsk, and from there to Saint Petersburg. But in the 19th century, the grandiose creation of the peasants was abandoned as unnecessary.

The modern state of Czar’s roads leaves much to be desired. Despite the fact that the memory of Peter the Great is alive in the village of Nyukhcha, it is impossible to know exactly what the route of the 17th century was.

The Czar's road is a stunning place of the swamp, stones, moss, rocky rivers and scenic streams, forests...However, there is no asphalt, or even primer. You can get there only driving UAZ Patriot. And it really worth it, since the Czar's road is not only a distant and abstract concept history route, it is a story about great power of Russian people.