Konevsky Monastery

In the Middle Ages, the island was considered holy by the Finnish tribes who particularly revered a huge boulder in the shape of a horse's skull, weighing more than 750 tons.

It was a miraculous image of Mother of God, brought by St. Arseny from Mount Athos and representing Christ playing with a dove nestling, symbolizing spiritual purity.

The golden age of the monastery came with the 19th century, when its fame spread to the imperial capital and the island was visited by eminent visitors from Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Dumas and Fyodor Tyutchev.

As a consequence of its high profile, the monastic community could fund extensive building projects, starting with the construction of a new cathedral in 1800–09.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the monastery passed to the newly independent Finland, and came under the jurisdiction of the autonomous Finnish Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The previous day the monks had been evacuated to the interior of Finland, taking the holy icon with them, but leaving the iconostasis, church bells, and the library.

In 1940, the monks bought an estate named Hiekka (‘Sands’) from the Saastamoinen company in Keitele, and the monastery continued to function there until 1956.