Photo: foma.ru
Posted on 07/31/2021 6:15:09 PM PDT by marshmallow
Photo: foma.ru
One of the most recognizable images of Russian Orthodoxy, the wooden Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Kizhi Island in Karelia, has finally reopened to the public for the first time in 41 years.
More than 100 unique specialists labored over the 15-year restoration of the 22-domed church, for which the A. S. Rakhmanov All-Russian Center for the Preservation of Wooden Architecture was created, reports the Russian Ministry of Culture.
The head of the Ministry, Olga Lyubimova, attended the reopening ceremony.
The church is scheduled to be re-consecrated on its patronal feast on August 19. The last service in the church was celebrated in 1928, before it was closed by the godless authorities. Services will now be held once a year on the feast of the Transfiguration. Since 1980, pilgrims and tourists could only view the church from the outside.
“The long-running restoration of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, as well as the majestic gilded carved iconostasis, is an example of the titanic work of our domestic masters of wooden architecture and restorers,” Minister Lyubimova said.
Photo: foma.ru
(Excerpt) Read more at orthochristian.com ...
How interesting!
So Godly worship only happens one time a year! Quite the way to serve your community.
What good fortune that the Stalinists did not destroy the place, they might have done so if it had not been on an isolated island (I think the island is in Lake Ladoga which is almost as large as the smaller Great Lakes). I suppose they felt it was easy enough to keep people away. Now they are gone and the church is opening again. I think the once a year service is again because of the isolated location. This would be a pretty grim place to visit in the winter.
Checked out the info and the island is in Lake Onega, which is a fair sized lake too, located to the east of Lake Ladoga.
It’s protecting an old and vulnerable structure they worked hard to restore. I know of a couple of churches here that have an old sanctuary building that yet only use for weddings and holidays.
Thanks for the post. Never even heard of Kurelia until I got some stamps from when the Finns ran things.
*Beautiful old Russian church ping*
Perhaps an Orthodox ping?
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