Leningrad Oblast of two great lakes of the European Part of Russia, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. Its northeastern part, between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, occupies the Karelian Isthmus. Some islands in the Gulf of Finland (including Kotlin, on which the city of Kronstadt has been built) and Lake Ladoga (including Konevets) also belong to the oblast. Much of the area of the oblast belongs to the drainage basin of the Neva, which is the only outflow of Lake Ladoga. Whereas the Neva, which flows to the Gulf of Finland (the city of Saint Petersburg is located in its
Staraya Ladoga House of Creativity Alexander Samokhvalov was in Staraya Ladoga many times in 1924–26. He took part in the restoration of St. George's Church. That experience gave a great deal to this artist: it helped him to understand the effect of joining a monumental painting with the architectural forms. He painted his "Staraya Ladoga" (1924) and "Family of Fisherman" (1926, Russian Museum) there. The restoring works continued 15 years since 1946, meanwhile Leningrad artists began to work in Staraya Ladoga since 1940s. Primarily artists stayed at the native country houses. The most popular was a house of an old woman Tatyana Egorovna, whose portrait