Kamenka (; ) is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

(a logging depot settlement) in

Vyborgsky District Vyborgsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. *Vyborgsky District, Leningrad Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Leningrad Oblast *Vyborgsky District, Saint Petersburg, an administrati ...

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, it is located on the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

to the west of Kirillovskoye railway station. Population: Within the framework of municipal divisions, it is a part of Polyanskoye Rural Settlement (with the administrative center in Polyany) in Vyborgsky Municipal District. The Nikolayevsky artillery range (now Bobochinsky military tank training range) has been situated to the east of Kamenka since 1913. The

138th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade The 69th Guards Motor Rifle Krasnoe Selo Order of Lenin Red Banner Division (, Military Unit Number, MUN 02511) is a formation (military), formation of the Russian Ground Forces. It is stationed in the Leningrad Military District, in the village o ...

, formerly the 45th Guards Motor Rifle Division, is located here.

History

From the 1323

Treaty of Nöteborg The Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as the Treaty of Orehovsk (; ; ), is a conventional name for the peace treaty signed at Shlisselburg Fortress, Oreshek (; ) on 12 August 1323. It was the first agreement between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic ...

the area was a part of Sweden, administered first as a part of the ''Mohla'' (''Muolaa'') and since 1445 ''Nykyrka'' (''Uusikirkko'')

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, until the cessation of its parish to Russia in the 1721

Treaty of Nystad The Treaty of Nystad, or the Treaty of Uusikaupunki, was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of Russia and the Swedish Empire on in the then Swedish town of Nystad (, in th ...

alongside the Karelian Isthmus part of the

Viborg and Nyslott County Viborg and Nyslott County (, ) was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721. The county was named after the castle towns of Viborg () and Nyslott (, literally ''New Castle''), today located in the towns of Vyborg in Russia and Savonl ...

. In 1812, the parish was reincorporated to the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

alongside other

Old Finland Old Finland (; ; ) is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), and which were united as the Vyborg Governorate in 1744. During the Finnish War ...

(areas of Finland which Russia had acquired in 1721 and 1743, prior to the transfer of the remaining Finland from Sweden to the Russian Empire as an autonomous realm). The village was first mentioned in 1348. A church (initially Roman Catholic and since the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and was not definitively decided until the Uppsala Synod of 1593, in the wake of an attempted Counter-Re ...

Lutheran) dedicated to

Saint Birgitta Bridget of Sweden, OSsS ( – 23 July 1374), also known as Birgitta Birgersdotter and Birgitta of Vadstena (), was a Swedish Catholic mystic and the founder of the Bridgettines. Outside Sweden, she was also known as the Princess of Nericia ...

was built in the village during the Middle Ages. Over time the church began to crumble, and the local peasants would have wanted to build a new church, but the priesthood were reluctant. By 1781 the church was in such a bad shape that it was no longer considered suitable for renovation, and the wooden beams were sold to the peasants. The last (Lutheran) burials were conducted to the adjacent cemetery also in 1781. An Orthodox church dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

was built into the village in 1853. It was burnt down during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

. The Orthodox church also had a small cemetery, which is in ruins nowadays. A sawmill was built on the site of the old Lutheran church in the early 1900s, which caused anger in the locals, as during its construction bones from the old Lutheran cemetery were discovered. The Nikolayevsky artillery range to the east of the village was founded for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

in 1913. When Finland gained independence in 1917, the village, being a part of the Grand Duchy, became a part of independent Finland. In 1933 a public school was opened in the village. Prior to the complete evacuation of inhabitants in 1939 due to the

, there were 159 houses in the village, of which 145 were inhabited. During the interwar years, the artillery range was known as

Perkjärvi Kirillovskoye (; ) is a settlement on Karelian Isthmus, in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, near the European route E18, and an important station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad, being the final destination of many electric pas ...

artillery range when it was administered by the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

until the 1940

Moscow Peace Treaty The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War, upon which Finland ceded border areas to the Soviet Union. The ...

which ceded the

to the Soviet Union. During the interwar years, it was the main artillery range of the Finnish Army. The name Kamenka was assigned by the Soviet Union to the village from 13 January 1949. A new orthodox church was built in Kamenka in 2001, dedicated to the

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

. In 2011 Finnish and Russian archeologists discovered what are supposedly the foundations of the old Lutheran church.

References

{{Authority control Rural localities in Leningrad Oblast Karelian Isthmus Military installations of the Soviet Union