Onega Lake

Onega Lake is located in the far northwestern Russia, near the Finnish border. With an area of some 9,800 sq.km / 3,800 sq.mi, it is the second-largest lake in Europe. It is c.150 mi (240 km) long with a maximum width of c.60 mi (100 km) and a maximum depth of c.360 ft (110 m). Onega Lake is connected by the Svir River with Ladoga Lake (the largest lake in Europe) and the Baltic Sea, and by artificial waterways with the White Sea and the Volga River (the Mariinsk's system).

The lake is located on the heavily glaciated Baltic Shield. Its shores are low and sandy in the south, rocky and indented in the north. It is frozen from November to May. The lake receives the Vytegra and the Vodla rivers and drains SW through the Svir River into Ladoga Lake. The Baltic-White Sea Canal has its southern terminus at Povenets on the lake's northern shore. Petrozavodsk is the chief city and port on Onega Lake. Parallel to the southern shore of the lake runs the Onega Canal, 45 mi (72 km) long, which joins the Svir and Vytegra rivers and forms part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway.

There's one of the best known tourist attractions Kizhi Island on the Onega Lake. Kizhi is famous for its many churches and old wooden architecture. The Kizhi ensemble is one of the masterpieces of the world folk architecture.