Kizhi Island, Republic of Karelia, Russia, July 26, 2021
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
The iconostasis contains more than 100 authentic icons from the 17-19th centuries.
During the opening of the church, employees of the Kizhi Museum and the restorers were awarded.
The Church of the Transfiguration was built in 1714 and is designated an object of cultural heritage of federal significance. It also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List together with another church and bell tower from the 18th-19th centuries.
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