Bolshaya Muksalma, the third-largest island in the Solovetsky Archipelago, is an uneven, sometimes marshy tract of land covered with meadows and scrub forest. Unlike the other islands of the archipelago, it has no lakes. The island has an area of 17 km². The name Muksalma is thought to derive from the Finno-Ugric words mux («bay») and salma («strait»).
In the first half of the 16th century, following a ban on keeping livestock near the monastery walls, the island began to be developed for economic purposes. The monks raised livestock, harvested hay, grew vegetables, and established a model farm. During the period of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp, an agricultural department was located on the island.
In the 19th century, the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh was built on Muksalma Island, and the Sergievsky Skete—one of the largest hermitages in the Solovetsky Archipelago—was founded there. Up to 35 people lived in the hermitage. Some of the skete’s buildings have survived, including two large two-storey residential buildings (one wooden and one stone) that housed the brethren and the trudniki.
The island’s main attraction is the kilometre-long boulder dam (the «stone road»), which was built in the 19th century and has been preserved to this day. With an average width of 6.5 metres, it connects Bolshaya Muksalma with Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. Its construction took six years. The dam was built to facilitate uninterrupted communication between the islands, particularly for herding livestock and transporting goods. Its total length is almost twice the width of the strait between the islands.
This entirely man-made hydraulic structure is rightly considered an engineering marvel, and its construction testifies to the skill and perseverance of the monastery’s monks, as huge boulders weighing several tonnes each had to be laid by hand. The dam was built without mortar: the largest boulders were placed at the base, and the gaps were filled with smaller stones and sand. Rising to a height of about four metres, the dam stretches across the shallowest parts of the strait. Five bends serve as breakwaters and icebreakers, and three arches in the centre of the dam allow water to pass through during both high and low tides. For more than a century and a half, the dam has successfully withstood the powerful forces of the water.
Where the dam meets the island of Bolshaya Muksalma, a Japanese-style rock garden has formed naturally under the influence of wind.
At about 40 metres high, Mount Tabor is the highest point on the island. It is named after the biblical mountain where the Transfiguration of Jesus took place. The summit offers panoramic views of the White Sea and the neighbouring islands.
The island is also home to the so-called «dancing forest», an area where low-growing birch trees with bizarrely bent trunks grow.
The island can be reached from Bolshoy Solovetsky Island by boat, or on foot or by bicycle via the dam.