Ladoga, Lake

Largest lake in Europe, and the second largest in the Russian Federation after the Caspian Sea, situated in the far northwest of the Russian Federation, in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad oblast (region), northeast of the city of St Petersburg. Lake Ladoga covers an area of 17,700 sq km/6,834 sq mi (with its islands, 18,135 sq km/7,002 sq mi). The main feeder rivers are the Volkhov, Svir, and Vuoksa, and the lake's outlet is by way of the Neva River into the Gulf of Finland. Its average depth is 51 m/167 ft, and its maximum depth 230 m/755 ft. A valuable commercial fishing industry is based here.

Lake Ladoga freezes at the edges from November–December, and in the centre between January and March. As the lake is subject to violent storms, a chain of navigable canals has been constructed around its southern shores. A 14th-century monastery is situated on Valaam Island in the north of the lake. In 1941–43, the ‘Life Road’ (linking besieged Leningrad with the rest of the country) operated across Lake Ladoga, with vehicles travelling across the ice in the winter months.