Arkhangelsk Oblast eventually spread well beyond the Arkhangelsk Region. The Mezen horses, bred in the Mezen River valley, are rather small but suitable for difficult work and easily survive cold winters. The area of current Arkhangelsk Oblast has always been located on the trading routes connecting central Russia to the White Sea, and, in fact, in the 17th century the White Sea was the main sea export route for Russia. The whole course of the Northern Dvina is navigable, as well as the lower course of some of its tributaries, most notably the Vychegda, the Vaga, and the Pinega. The Mezen is
Arkhangelsk Gospel in satisfactory condition - the ink and vermilion has crumbled in places, but the parchment does not have signs of contamination or moisture. The Archangel Gospel was reproduced in 1912 as a facsimile and in 1997 as a scientific publication. The early history of the manuscript and place of its provenance are unknown before 1876. There are some suggestions that it came from the scriptorium of the Lazarevsky monastery near Great Novgorod, but there is no unambiguous evidence to support the hypothesis. In early December 1876 the manuscript was brought to Moscow by a peasant from Arkhangelsk region and was