Jaakkima Kirk

The ruins of Jaakkima Kirk stand on a hill that locals call Church Hill, in the Lakhdenpokhsky municipal district of the Republic of Karelia, three kilometers from the town of Lakhdenpokhya and close to the shore of Lake Ladoga. Since 2019 the surviving walls of the ruined Lutheran church have housed the museum "City of Angels" (Gorod Angelov).

History of the kirk

The Lutheran parish of Jaakkima has existed since the first half of the 17th century, when the first wooden church was built in the village. In 1832 the parish assembly decided to replace it with a new, grander stone church, and construction was completed in 1851 to a design by the architect Carl Ludwig Engel. The church was built of red brick and decorated with arched windows and round rose windows in its walls; it was enormous, able to hold up to 3,000 worshippers at once.

After the Soviet-Finnish war the building came under Soviet control, and the kirk was put to uses far from its original purpose: at different times it served as a prisoner-of-war camp, then as a dormitory, and later as a warehouse for the local trade administration. In 1977 a fire destroyed the wooden roof, the bell tower and the floors between storeys. Since then the kirk has stood in ruins — roofless, but with walls that still keep their original shape.

The "City of Angels" museum

In 2019 an open-air museum called "City of Angels" opened among the ruins of the kirk. Its exhibits are wooden angel sculptures made by craftsmen from Russia and other European countries. The figures stand both inside the surviving walls of the former church and outdoors next to them. In February 2021 the collection was joined by a new sculpture, a girl angel.

The museum's keeper tells visitors tales and stories connected with the place, visitors can photograph themselves against the ruins, and in the evening the sculptures are lit up. Visitors can leave a donation toward restoring the historic kirk building.

Getting there

Jaakkima Kirk and the "City of Angels" museum are three kilometers from Lakhdenpokhya, at the address: Republic of Karelia, Lakhdenpokhya, Lenina Street. A contact phone number for the museum is 8 (921) 558-26-04.