Ladoga Lake is the largest lake found in Europe and has on the northern side many islands. The largest of these islands is the Valaam, which is a round about thirty-six square kilometers. This name is Finnish and when translated means ‘the high land’, it has also been ascribed to the name of the pagan god Baal or the prophet Balaam. It has also been said that before the Christian Finno-Ugric and Slavic peoples lived on the Ladoga Lake shores, the island was a place of pagan ‘sanctity’.