Once a year the bleak, severe landscape of the Valaam archipelago radically changes its character - wild plants and flowers cover the islands’ rocky slopes along with the monastery’s splendid fruit gardens which were planted by monks hundreds of years ago in the Karelian taiga. The Valaam islands are one of the most striking examples of how man-made beauty can enhance a natural environment. The contrast of island nature lost in Lake Ladoga along with venerated Orthodox shrines attract thousands of tourists and pilgrims every year.