The Kiy island is located in the Onega lip of the White sea, 15 km from Arkhangelsk. The island stretches for 2 km with a width of up to 500 meters, it grows to 500 species of plants, coastal waters are rich in fish and in the summer warms up to 24 degrees. Amaze granite gray hair 25-metre cliffs, wide sandy beaches and gorgeous, rich berries, pine forests.

The history of the Kiy island is closely linked with the name of a famous religious figure of the seventeenth-century reformer of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Nikon. According to legend, the Nikon is caught in a violent storm near a mysterious island, and losing companions, took refuge on the island. In memory of his miraculous escape Nikon was founded on the island Kiya stations of the cross monastery.

Founded in 1656, the ensemble of the monastery buildings was almost completed by the end of the XVII century. The monastery occupied a small area and therefore the internal layout of its buildings was very compact. For use as a building material granite slabs abode resembled a fortification and fit perfectly into the rocky terrain of the island.

To this day preserved the Cathedral, consecrated by Patriarch Nikon on 4 September 1661; Nadkladeznaya Church (g.) with adjoining stone cells above the stone cellars; two-tiered Church of the Nativity of the blessed virgin Mary (1689) with the refectory and the steward's chambers, and adjacent to the massive bell tower and the crypt; wooden Rectory building (1871), two-storey with mezzanine, at the boulder Foundation. Also survived and All Saints Church (1661) - the oldest surviving wooden monastery buildings. Now she is unrecognizable rebuilt for housing, and the walls are hidden under the later plating.