Monastery Museum

In June 2019, a magnificent, thoroughly renovated monastery museum was opened in Valamo Monastery, showcasing the monastery's history and ecclesiastical artifacts. The monastery museum is one of the most important entities presenting Orthodox culture and life in Finland. Its collection provides a significant cross-section of monastic life and Orthodoxy. A large part of the immeasurably valuable artifacts are presented in the museum for the first time.

The museum is located on the lower floor of the Culture Center's exhibition hall and can be accessed by stairs and elevator. The entrance to the Culture Center has a wheelchair ramp.

Admission fee 12 € / adult. Free for those under 18 years old. (with the same ticket to the art exhibition).

For groups, the museum is available by prior arrangement even outside opening hours.

The monastery's story and history are told through paintings, objects, and photographs. On display are the monastery's oldest textiles, imperial donations, and crosses, headgear, and gospel books used by the clergy from the 19th century.

Among the most significant treasures of the sacred artifacts are the diamond cross donated by Emperor Alexander I in 1822 and the communion cloths donated by Countess Amalie Adlerberg in 1864, the silver brocade fabric of which is decorated with, among other things, red polished corals, gold coils, gilded small pearls, carnelians, as well as agate and jasper plates.

The museum's icon collection is interesting and extensive. In addition to the monastery's own rarities, the significant icon collection of Katri and Harri Willamo of the Valamo Foundation is extensively presented. A cross-section of the entire Willamo collection is on display: from eras, themes, to material-technical implementations. At its core are folk icons painted in the 19th-20th centuries, whose simple and colorful style has only recently begun to be understood.

In 2015, 75 years had passed since nearly two hundred monks were evacuated from Valamo on Lake Ladoga in the winter of 1939-1940 due to the war, first to Kannonkoski in Central Finland and from there in the summer of 1940 to the village of Papinniemi in Heinävesi, where the monastery bought the Saastamoinen manor as a new location for the monastery.

When the monastery's then-board, led by Hegumen Hariton, went to view the Saastamoinen manor for sale, to their surprise, a small icon of the monastery's founders, the Venerable Sergius and Herman of Valamo, was found on the wall of one of its main building's rooms. It had arrived at Papinniemi manor in the 1920s in a peculiar way. Prince Henry of the Netherlands had been visiting Finland, and the manor owner, Minister Saastamoinen, had hosted the esteemed guest in Valamo on Lake Ladoga, from where the icon had been given to the prince as a memento. After that, the guest had been brought to rest for a couple of days at the Saastamoinen manor, where the icon had been forgotten by the prince. The minister placed the icon on the wall, and when the monks saw the icon and heard the story, they understood that this was a sign from God that the monastery should settle here, because the monastery's founders, the Venerable Sergius and Herman, were already here through that icon. This icon was among the first to be saved from the main building's fire.

The exhibition on display in Valamo presents a cross-section of daily monastic work and ecclesiastical life from the 18th century to the present day.

The exhibition well illustrates the monastery's rapid rise from the ashes into a respected great monastery with many workshops and valuable donations. Liturgical objects; icons and church textiles, demonstrate the high technical and artistic level of Russian handicrafts and art industry.

Contact information

Driving directions and transport connections

Invoicing addresses and bank details
Accessibility statement

Visiting hours

Valamo Monastery is open year-round. Services' visiting hours vary by season.

In the newsletter, we inform you about Valamo Monastery's current events, upcoming proceedings, and institute courses. Subscribe to the monastery's newsletter

Visitor feedback

How was your visit to Valamo Monastery? We would appreciate feedback on the services you used.

Thank you and welcome again!

Monastery Museum