Tarbagatai Old Believers

The Old Believers split from the Russian church in the seventeenth century over Patriarch Nikon's reforms and were persecuted for centuries; groups from the western borderlands were deported to Transbaikalia in the 1760s, moved as whole families, which is why they are called Semeiskie, from the word for family. They kept the old liturgy, the old books, beards, dress and a ban on tobacco and alcohol, and lived in closed villages with painted wooden houses, carved window frames and bright interiors. Their singing - unaccompanied polyphony, several independent lines rather than harmony under a melody, carrying pre-reform forms lost elsewhere - was listed by UNESCO in 2001. Tarbagatai has a museum run by a local priest, and villages in the district receive visitors for singing, a meal and a house tour. It is a living community, not a display, and the arrangements are made with the families involved.

What to look for

• The polyphonic singing - unaccompanied lines preserving pre-reform forms, UNESCO listed.
• The painted houses - carved frames and bright interiors in the village streets.
• The old books - pre-Nikon liturgical texts kept in the community.
• The 1760s deportation - families moved here as whole households and settled together.

When to go

May to September. Half a day. Visits and performances are arranged in advance through the villages.

Good to know

This is a living religious community with its own rules; visits are arranged, not spontaneous, and photography inside houses and services needs asking. Some hosted programmes are performed for tourists and vary in depth. Roads are slow and buses infrequent.

Nearby

Ulan-Ude is about an hour north; Ivolginsky datsan is on the other side of the city.