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Large-scale archeological digs on the river banks of the Svid and Onega, on the shores of the Vozhe and Lache Lakes, show that the area had been inhabited long before the foundation of the town. The most ancient settlements in the area belong to the 4th millennium B.C., to the Neolithic era. Many household objects, hunting and fishing tools have been found at the sites, among them remains of clay kitchen utensils, fishhooks, harpoons, arrow-heads, scrapers, chisels, axes made of horn and bone. The remains of hearths and burials have also been found. In 1959 parts of a furnace with the remains of bloom and slag were dug out at the Olgsky Cape of the Lache Lake. It is assumed that the find dates back to the 1st half of the first millennium B.C. The large number of archeological finds suggests that the culture in the area of the Lache, Kenozero Lakes and the upper reaches of the Onega River differs much from the cultures in the Belomorye, Karelia, Pechora areas. This culture which was formed in the period from 4000 till 3000 B.C. was called the Kargopol Culture.
Kargopol belongs to the most ancient Russian towns. It was first mentioned in 1146 in connection with the Belozersky Prince Vyacheslav’s campaign to the Northern Chud. The town is situated 420 km to the south-west of Arkhangelsk, on the left bank of the Onega River, in the centre of transportation corridor Finland - Karelia – Arkhangelsk. It appeared as a Novgorod outpost of the Krivich Slavs. Thanks to its geographical position and good water routes to it, the town was quickly growing and by the 16th century it had become the most important trading centre on the route from Ancient Rus to the Pomors’ Land. By the order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible of 1539 Kargopol received a right to self-government and was included into a list of «Oprichny gorod» (‘Oprichnina town’). It was not accidental that D. Fletcher, the ambassador of the English Queen, named Kargopol among the 14 largest Russian towns of his time. A unique monument of the white stone construction of the 16th century, the Khristorozhdestvensky (Christ’s Nativity) Cathedral is still dominating the town as a symbol of greatness of that era.
The first signs of Kargopol’s falling into decay appeared with the construction of Arkhangelsk in 1584. In 1613 the town was burnt by Polish and Lithuanian invaders; with the developeing of Saint-Petersburg in 1703 trading here died away. Nevertheless, up to the end of the 18th Kargopol had been the largest centre of the wholesale salt trade and was the 7th among the Russian towns in its annual trade balance.
The centuries-old history of Kargopol is rich in events. On the side of Novgorod it participated in the fight against Moscow for the northern lands. The Kargopol Regiment heroically fought in the Battle of Kulikovo. At the beginning of the 17th century the town repelled an attack of Polish and Lithuanian units many times, the evidence of which are the remains of the fortress walls, guns and cannon-balls.
Daniil Zatochnik and Prince Ivan Shuisky were exiled to Kargopol , Ivan Bolotnikov, the leader of a peasants’ riot, was executed here.
The Kargopol land gave birth to F.S. Pryadunov, the founder of the first oil prospecting business in Russia, and to A.A. Baranov, the first governor of the Russian colonies in the North America.
Kargopol is one of the few ancient northern towns which has preserved the whole ensembles of architectural and military monuments, elements of a Medieval Russian town plans. Unique monuments of the white stone architecture of the 16th - 17th centuries make the town landscape. The value of these monuments lies in the fact that they were a new approach to the facades decoration. The academician I.E. Grabar considered the Kargopol tracery a chef d’oeuvre of the wall decorations and to be highly competitive with those of the Renaissance Florentine Palaces.
The most outstanding is the architectural ensemble of the Cathedral Square which a Cathedral bell-tower dominates, the highest town building. Ancient buildings and shops once belonging to the local merchants and petty bourgeois set off the square, stone rows of stalls of the 18th century adjoin the square from the east. The second architectural ensemble is situated in the old trading square where there three churches of the 17th - 18th centuries have survived.
True masterpieces of folk architecture are wooden churches and ancient houses in the villages near Kargopol. Among them there are a church ensemble of Lyadiny church-yard (it is one of the four completely preserved ensembles in Russia), church ensembles and cult buildings in Oshevensk, Saunino, Bolshaya Shalga, Krasnaya Lyaga, Arkhangelo. All together, more than 200 monuments of white stone and wooden architecture have survived in the District; they all are preserved by the State, and 37 of them are of the federal importance.
The Kargopol Land has always been famous for folk crafts and arts. The flourishing of all the artistry was in the 16th - 17th centuries, in later centuries they developed further. There were workshops of icon painters and smiths, silversmiths and coppersmiths, potters and wood carvers. Kargopol was a centre of gold embroidery, the world famous were the Kargopol clay toys which had preserved some pagan symbols and rituals.
The living cultural landscapes, unique architectural and artistic monuments, the rich archeological heritage allowed Kargopol enter the list of small historic towns of Russia and the Federal Target Program «Preservation and Development of Architecture in the Historic Towns of the Russian Federation».
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