The St. Nicholas Church (; ) is the main

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the Kotka Orthodox Church in

Kotka Kotka (; ) is a town in Finland, located on the southeastern coast of the country at the mouth of the Kymi River. The population of Kotka is approximately , while the Kotka-Hamina sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is th ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, surrounded by the Isopuisto park The church was built between 1799 and 1801 according to the drawings of architect Jakov Perrin. The church dates back to the time of the active years of the sea fortress of Ruotsinsalmi, when the Russians built the Ruotsinsalmi–

Kyminlinna Kyminlinna (literally, 'the castle of Kymi') is a fortress located in the northern part of island of Hovinsaari in Kotka, on the south coast of Finland. Kyminlinna is part of the South-Eastern Finland fortification system built by Russia afte ...

double fortress in the Kymi parish and a fortress town was created on Kotkansaari. The church is the oldest building in present-day Kotka, and it is a notable representative of

neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

in Finland. The church was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker, the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Myra Myra (; , ''Mýra'') was a city in Lycia. The city was probably founded by Lycians on the river Myros (; Turkish: ''Demre Çay''), in the fertile alluvial plain between, the Massikytos range (Turkish: ''Alaca Dağ'') and the Aegean Sea. By the ...

. St. Nicholas is one of the most respected saints of the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church, the second-largest Christian church in the world * Oriental Orthodox Churches, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a confessional Presbyterian denomination loc ...

, he is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of travelers, sailors and fishermen, among others, and also the patron of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and many other countries and cities.

History

Before the current stone church, there have already been other Orthodox shrines in the Kymi region. The first Orthodox wooden church was located in the northern part of Kotkansaari, next to the

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

. The church is mentioned as consecrated in 1795. In the same year, on the day of St. Nicholas, December 6, 1795, Count

Alexander Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

is mentioned as having visited the church and even read an

epistle An epistle (; ) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The ...

text in connection with the service. The stone church of St. Nicholas was eventually built next to the wooden church. The stone church of the new St. Nicholas was consecrated on October 14, 1801. Due to his illness, Jakov Perrin, who drew up the church's drawings, apparently never got to the site in Ruotsinsalmi to supervise the construction, because Perrin fell ill in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

and died on May 23, 1800. In his place, the architect Miller, who worked in the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

, also had to travel to the Ruotsinsalmi Fortress. In addition, Miller designed the

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

of the church.

Old cemetery

Next to the church was a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

, a small part of which has been preserved with its monuments. Well-known officers of the Ruotsinsalmi Fortress, such as Deputy Admiral and Knight Nikolai Khrushchev, Commander of the Fortress Ivan Kononovich and Major General and Knight Fedor Timirjazev, among others, are buried in the cemetery.Vangonen 2013, p. 32.

Sources

References

External links

{{commons category, Saint Nicholas church (Kotka), St. Nicholas Church, Kotka
Pyhän Nikolaoksen kirkko - Museovirasto
(in Finnish)
Pyhän Nikolaoksen kirkko - Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko
(in Finnish)
Pyhän Nikolaoksen kirkko – Visit Kotka-Hamina
(in Finnish)
St. Nikolaus Orthodox Church Kotka – Discovering Finland
Kotka Churches completed in 1801 19th-century churches in Finland 19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Finnish Orthodox churches

History

Old cemetery

Sources

Further reading

References

External links