Tohmajärvi Church

The Tokhmayarvi Church was built in 1751 on the site of an Orthodox chapel by Sortavalian architect Eskil Sollenius ( fin . Eskil Collenius ). Initially, the church was no different from the others: on each wall of a cruciform in plan of the building there was a large semicircular window. On the ridge of the roof was installed needle spire. The building was renovated at the beginning of the 20th century under the direction of A. E. Ollikainen ( fin . AE Ollikainen ). The church was also repaired in 1785, 1850 and 1956. The last repair was carried out in 2005-2006. The free-standing bell tower was built in 1760. The shingle roof was renewed in 1990 ^[2] .

The inner area of ​​the church is 576 m², it has 700 seats. At the request of the church abbot R. Norrgren ( fin . R. Norrgren ), the master of monumental painting Mikael Toppelius ( fin . Mikael Toppelius ) was invited to paint the church with frescoes. Works on the painting went on for a whole year, from 1783 to 1784. As such, the church stood until the end of the XIX century. After numerous restorations in the church, only two original works by the painter have been preserved - the altarpiece “Crucifixion” and the fresco of the Holy Trinity above it. At the last, God the Father is depicted as an old man, which is generally not characteristic of the traditions of ecclesiastical art ^[3] . The organ of the church was made in 1956, at the organ factory Kangasala ( fin . Kangasalan urkutehdas ). It has 17 main and two additional registers ^[4] .

At the beginning of the 20th century, talks were being held in Tokhmayarvi about moving the church closer to the village, but in the end it was decided to restore the former temple ^[3] . This restoration can be considered the largest in the history of the church. Remains of parishioners, resting under the floor of the church, were reburied, and a lantern was installed instead of the spire. The walls of the church were lengthened and windows were set in two floors. The ceiling of the church is supported by an arched wooden arch ^[1] .

At the church site is a memorial complex. Mass graves and memorial monuments to soldiers killed in the Winter (1939–1940) and the Soviet-Finnish War (1941–1944), the monument “To those left in Karelia”, a monument to the inhabitants of the Tokhmayarvi who died in the Finnish Civil War , a monument to those left after the Soviet-Finnish war in Russia, the municipality of Palkyarvi, a gravestone to the Finnish bishop of the Kuopio diocese Eino Sormunen, monuments to the vogts Gabriel Vlenienius and Gustav Jarnefelt, as well as a monument to those who died during the famine in Finland (1866–1868). In 2006, the church celebrated its 250th anniversary ^[1] .

The Tokhmayarvi Church is part of the historical cultural complex of Kirkkoniemi ( fin. Kirkkoniemi ). The museum department of Finland ( fin. Museovirasto ) has included it in the list of places of architectural heritage of national importance ^[5] .