PETROZAVODSK, August 16. /TASS/. Construction of a road to the petroglyphs in Karelia’s White Sea District is completed, Governor Artur Parfenchikov said in a post on VKontakte social network.

"Construction of the road to the petroglyphs in completed," the governor wrote. "The road now connects two groups of petroglyphs — Besovy Sledki and Zalavrugu. The work <…> is done well and in time."

The road is 840 meters long. Another project to develop infrastructures of the White Sea petroglyphs is to build a bridge across the Kisly Pudas Brook. In late July, UNESCO inscribed the White Sea Petroglyphs along with the Karelian Petroglyphs on its World Heritage List. The local authorities hope these factors will attract more tourists to the region and the locals will receive new jobs.

TASS wrote earlier that a renovated dome over the Besovy Sledki Petroglyphs opened in May. The local government plans to make a path there, which will take tourists to the drawings, to make the accent lighting and to create leisure areas. The complex will have a visitor center, a hotel and a caf·. The federal budget will invest in the project 630 million rubles ($8.6 million) over four years.

Karelia’s petroglyphs, a form of rock art, are images created by removing a part of rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading. The White Sea group — Besovy Sledki — of 470 figures was discovered in 1926. Later on, a few more hundred images were discovered next to that group. Another big group of petroglyphs is on Lake Onega’s eastern shore — it has more than 1,200 drawings.

On July 28, the 44th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session chaired by China unanimously decided to inscribe Russia’s Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea on the UNESCO World Heritage List.