Solovki

Solovki is located at Solovetsky Islands, White Sea, Russia.

Historically it was a location of the famous Russian Orthodox Solovetsky Monastery complex.

The historical monasteries were turned into Solovetsky Lager' Osobogo Naznachenia (SLON), Solovki Special Purpose Camp. The acronym of the camp name is a sullen word play for those who speak Russian: slon means "elephant". It was one of the first "corrective labor camps", a seed of the Gulag system.

In 1926 the Solovki camp was turned into a prison, which was closed in 1939 because of the construction of a naval base.

The Orthodox Church reestablished the monastery in 1992, and in 1992 the monastery complex was included into UNESCO's World Heritage List.