Valamo is an Orthodox monastery located in Heinävesi. Over the last decades, it has transformed into the most significant cultural centre for Finland’s Orthodox Christians. Tradition has it that the Monastery of Valamo was founded in the 12th century or no later than the 14th century. Two saints who led an ascetic life on the Valaam Island in Lake Ladoga, Sergei and Herman of Valaam, are revered as being its founding fathers. The monastery was evacuated in 1940 during the Winter War and it is currently located in Papinniemi, Heinävesi.

Visitors to the monastery’s cultural centre and the historical exhibition on Valamo can learn more about the history of the Monastery of Valamo and on the ecclesiastical artefacts that were saved from Valamo on Lake Ladoga. The exhibition presents a cross-cut of the everyday work done when living in a monastery and on ecclesiastical life from the 18th century to the present. The exhibition also shows the rebuilding of the monastery in Heinävesi, its ecclesiastical and social relationships and its publishing activities. The liturgical items reveal the high level of technical and artistic expertise that the Russian craft and design industry had achieved.

Only some of the monastery’s treasures are on display. These artefacts are mainly from the 19th century, although some are even from the 17th and 18th centuries. Similar objects are usually not seen, even in church, as the communion objects, the benediction crosses and the ecclesiastical textiles are stored in the sanctuary and the storage areas. The old artefacts are still in use, even though most of them are rarely used.