[4] After Helsinki was made into the capital of Finland in 1812, Alexander I decreed in 1814 that 15 percent of the salt import tax were to be collected into a fund for two churches, one Lutheran and one Orthodox.

[8] Used in construction of the cathedral, 700 000 bricks were brought over in barges from the Bomarsund Fortress that had been demolished in the Crimean War.

[8] Based on the wishes of Alexander II, the church was dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God (uspenie).

The icon of St. Nicolas – The Wonder Worker was stolen on 16 August 2007 between midday and 1 p.m. in broad daylight while hundreds of tourists were visiting the cathedral.

[13] The icon, 45 by 35 centimetres (18 in × 14 in) in size, had been placed in a kiota (a glass covered protection frame) and weighed a couple of kilograms.

[14] Another icon, Theotokos of Kozeltshan was stolen in June 2010, but it was later recovered in February 2011 from a hiding spot in the ground.

But in February the next year, one of the jailed robbers had a change of heart and admitted to it all and revealed the location of the icon.