Ladoga Lake

Ladoga is the largest lake in Europe. The Lake is situated in the far northwest of the Russian Federation, in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad oblast (region), northeast of the city of St Petersburg. All of the water from every lake in Finland would fit into Ladoga. The area of the lake is 18,000 sq.km and the deepest spot in the lake is 225 meters.

Located on the heavily glaciated Baltic Shield, the lake has shores that are low and marshy in the south, rocky and indented in the north.

Chief among the many rivers that feed the lake are the Svir, descending from Onega Lake; the Vuoska, which forms the outlet of the Saimaa Lake system of Finland; and the Volkhov, coming from Ilmen Lake. The main outlet is the Neva, which flows west into the Gulf of Finland at St. Petersburg.

Ladoga Lake freezes at the edges from November-December, and in the centre between January and March. As the lake is subject to violent storms, a chain of navigable canals has been constructed around its southern shores. A 14th century monastery is situated on Valaam Island in the north of the lake. In 1941-43, the 'Life Road' (linking besieged Leningrad with the rest of the country) operated across Ladoga Lake, with vehicles driving across the ice in the winter months.