The horse-stone is a huge boulder of gray granite with quartz veins, discovered on the island of Konevets in the Leningrad region. The weight of the stone is about 750 tons, but nothing is impossible for nature: many thousands of years ago it was brought in by a glacier that descended from the Scandinavian mountains. Over time, the glacier melted, and the stone remained in this place.
Once upon a time, during the times of pagan beliefs, Konevets served as an excellent pasture for horses. People believed that the boulder, shaped like the head of a sleeping horse, protected their herds from various ailments and all kinds of adversity. In gratitude, the locals annually sacrificed a horse on this stone to thank the spirits of the island. That is why the boulder was dubbed the horse-stone, and the island - Konevets.
At the end of the 14th century, the Monk Arseny appeared on the island. He said that this place is "thicker than a dense forest, surrounded by demonic horror." Arseny spent the whole night in prayer, and in the morning he made a procession around the stone with the icon of the Virgin in his hands, after which he sprinkled it with holy water.
Legends say that the spirits groaned out of the stone, turned into black crows and flew away to the opposite bank of Ladoga, which has since become known as the Devil's Bay. In memory of this event, a small wooden chapel was built on top of the stone.